A week after he broke with the majority of House Republicans and voted to send $60.8 billion in aid to Ukraine, Representative Max Miller took the stage at a performing arts center in his Ohio district bracing for backlash.
Instead, Mr. Miller, a first-term congressman who spent four years in the White House as a top aide to former President Donald J. Trump, was greeted at a town hall-style meeting on Saturday in the city of Solon with a sustained round of applause. Several attendees stood to publicly thank him for his vote, and a line of locals queued up afterward to shake his hand.
“Anything we can do to support the Ukrainian victory over the Russian invasion would be a positive thing for the world,” said Randy Manley, a retiree from Strongsville, Ohio, who said he planned to vote for Mr. Trump in November.
Miller’s deal is “the government and establishment political parties have failed you” which has extensive resonance with rural communities. He and many Republicans like him have zero competition electorally, so they can bounce around issues however they (or their donors) please.
Keep in mind the sanctions on Russia over Ukraine has opened up a massive oil export industry for the United States. The oligarchs do have an incentive to stave off resolution.
Ohio doesn’t have oil. We have some fracking, but our fossil fuel is coal
Right, and Ukraine isn’t in Ohio either. But when the oil industry needs congressional votes for, say: keeping or expanding Russian sanctions, Millers the type of guy they’ll donate to through a PAC.