The Simple Economics of the War in Ukraine Republicans Can’t Understand

Defeating Russia today is cheaper than defending against a victorious Russia tomorrow.

The war in Ukraine has been like any war — horrible. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have died, and all of this is thanks to Russia and its fascist leader, Vladimir Putin. If there is a God, Putin will spend eternity alive in an acid bath. Glory to Ukraine!

There is another side of the story that Republicans in Congress, however, are missing. It’s really just basic math, folks. I guess that is why it is so difficult for them to understand. The inherent Republican inability to understand consequences, like what happens if we add one number to another (it changes by the value of that number) or what happens when dividing, subtracting, or multiplying? These are all simple mathematical functions, but they are tricky for modern Republicans nonetheless.

Let’s take a quick look at the math behind the war in Ukraine. Over the past two years, the United States has given the country close to $70 billion in aid, of which $46 billion has gone directly to military support. Some estimates say the Russian army has lost 90 percent of the pre-war army dedicated to fighting in Ukraine and defending the western parts of Russia. The losses to…