Where was Rick Scott when Ukraine needed him?

Rick Scott, last seen calling for raising taxes on the poor and ending federal programs (read: social security and Medicare) after five years, has demanded that President Joe Biden do more to help Ukraine.

But if help depended on Florida’s junior senator, Ukraine would be in even more trouble.

Start with the latest example.

Last week, the Senate passed a spending bill to keep the government operating through Sept. 30. The legislation includes $13.6 billion for Ukraine.

Scott was one of 31 Republicans who voted against the bill. So did Florida’s other GOP senator, Marco Rubio.

But Scott has been especially hyperbolic. Sending American ground forces to Ukraine, he said, should not be “off the table.” If Biden doesn’t supply planes or enforce a no-fly zone, Scott said, “he will show himself to be absolutely heartless and ignorant of the deaths of innocent Ukrainian children and families.”

Scott might point out that he asked for a separate vote on the Ukraine money. Since the House had passed the bill, however, altering it would have meant another House vote and more debate, causing a shutdown and delaying the money for Ukraine.

Now let’s go farther back for a better example of Scott’s hypocrisy on Ukraine.

Two years ago last month, former President Donald Trump was on trial in the Senate. The House had impeached him for withholding $391 million for Ukraine until President Volodymyr Zelenskyy investigated Biden. Trump had linked the money to the investigation during a July 2019 phone call.

Removing Trump would have showed American solidarity with Ukraine against Russia. It would have rebuked Vladimir Putin, who tried to influence the 2016 election to help Trump.

But Mitt Romney was the only Republican who put country over party. Scott called the trial “a fiasco” and “theater.” After declaring that would not vote to convict, Scott said, “My conscience is clear.”

In the context of Russia’s invasion, however, that decision looks even worse.

Trump’s defenders cite Zelenskyy’s comment in September 2019 that “nobody pushed me” to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter. Zelenskyy said that during a public meeting with Trump.

In private, things were different. Four months earlier, the Associated Press reported, staff members at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv learned of a meeting at which Zelenskyy asked his top aides and an American for advice “on how to navigate the difficult position he was in … “

Ukraine needed the $391 million that Congress had approved. Zelenskyy, though, didn’t want to involve his country in the 2020 election.

Eventually, though, Zelenskyy relented. He was prepared to announce an investigation of Burisma, the gas company that had put Hunter Biden on its board. Another investigation would focus on Trump’s lie that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the election to help Clinton.

According to news reports, Zelenskyy planned to go public during a Sept. 13, 2019 interview on CNN. Two days before that, however, the aid was released. Zelenskyy canceled the interview.

All this information was available to Scott, Rubio and the other Republicans who refused to hold Trump accountable. It was a pattern. They didn’t push back hard in 2018, when Trump took Putin’s word over U.S. intelligence agencies about election interference.

Scott and Rubio had one final chance to show Ukraine and all Western-aligned nations that the world’s leading democracy believes in democracy. But they failed to convict Trump for trying to stay in office by subverting the Constitution.

With Ukraine, Trump’s tactics have become Putin’s tactics.

Each man starts with a lie. I won the election. Ukraine threatens Russia.

Then comes the propaganda. In the

U.S., it’s Fox News, Newsmax, OAN and other far-right outlets. In Russia, it’s stateowned media.

Finally comes demonization of dissent. Trump smeared those who revealed the “favor” he demanded of Zelenskyy. Putin passes laws to punish purveyors of “fake news,” meaning the truth.

Recently, Scott was asked repeatedly whether Trump should condemn Putin, whose invasion he called “genius.” Scott ducked the question three times, finally saying that Republicans are “focused on making sure we get the Senate back.”

Scott already has revealed how dangerous that prospect is. As for Ukraine, Scott wants Biden to risk World War III by confronting Putin. Why couldn’t Scott risk only a GOP conflict by confronting Trump?