After Navalny’s death, a ‘Reagan Republican’ comes to breakfast

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Michael McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed confidence that Congress would step up for Ukraine at a Monitor Breakfast with reporters.

Troy Sambajon/The Christian Science Monitor

Michael McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaks with reporters at a Monitor breakfast at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington DC on February 16, 2024.

February 20, 2024

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Washington

Moments before our breakfast with Rep. Michael McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the news broke: Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny had died in prison, according to Russian state media.

Chairman McCaul, a 10-term Republican from Texas, has been a big proponent of sending additional military aid to Ukraine, now almost two years into the Russian invasion. Many in his party, including former President Donald Trump, resist more aid to Ukraine. I wondered how Mr. Navalny’s death might affect the dynamic of that funding battle in Congress.

Vladimir Putin is “a bad actor,” Mr. McCaul said, comparing the Russian autocrat to Hitler. “It’s a sad day. I hope out of [Mr. Navalny’s] death will come something to send a message to the world and to the American people about who Mr. Putin really is.”

In the end, Mr. McCaul predicted, military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan would come through, and he doesn’t rule out a deal on southern border security: “We’re a great nation, we can do both.”

For fuller coverage of the Monitor Breakfast, please click here. Our coverage of Mr. Navalny’s death can be found here.

Mr. McCaul also answered a question I had been eager to ask: Would he be willing to serve in a second Trump administration?

“I’d consider it. The track record’s been interesting,” he said, chuckling, an oblique reference to Mr. Trump’s tumultuous tenure. Never mind that Mr. McCaul is a self-described “Reagan Republican” (read: internationalist) while Mr. Trump leans “America First.”

After the breakfast ended, a few of us chatted with the chairman informally, including a German reporter who was eager to know: Is all the talk about Taylor Swift possibly helping President Joe Biden win reelection just a “media thing,” or do Republicans really consider her a threat?

Mr. McCaul laughs. “I don’t know!” Are his five children fans? “Oh yeah, they love Taylor Swift.”

Watch the full Monitor Breakfast here on Youtube.

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