McConnell deals set­back to ‘iso­la­tion­ist’ Repub­li­cans on Ukraine

Sen­ate Minor­i­ty Leader Mitch McConnell (R‑KY) deliv­ered an unmis­tak­able rebuke of the Repub­li­cans opposed to fur­ther fund­ing for Ukraine on Tues­day.
He brought along 31 GOP votes for the leg­is­la­tion, nine more than vot­ed for an ear­li­er ver­sion of the leg­is­la­tion in Feb­ru­ary and, most sig­nif­i­cant­ly, a major­i­ty of his con­fer­ence in the Sen­ate.
He denies that the vic­to­ry, which seemed very much in doubt just two months ear­li­er, has per­son­al sig­nif­i­cance. He is step­ping down as Repub­li­can leader at the end of the year and as one of his final acts resolved to get the for­eign aid, which also includes mon­ey for Israel and Tai­wan, through Con­gress.
“This is not about me. This is about our coun­try and the free world,” he told reporters at a press brief­ing Tues­day after­noon.
But McConnell in no uncer­tain terms framed the vote as an inflec­tion point in a rag­ing bat­tle between two wings of the par­ty: the Repub­li­cans car­ry­ing the tra­di­tion­al man­tle of “peace through strength” an …