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DeSantis was hardly alone in avoiding the subject at CPAC, where Russias offensive just hours old drew only glancing interest at one of the partys most prominent gatherings of the year. Even in a country where conflicts abroad rarely animate the electorate, it was one of the starkest indicators in decades of how far foreign policy has fallen on the Republican agenda. No longer is the GOP the party whose president once told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down this wall.

Today, said Ryan Horn, a longtime Republican strategist in the Midwest, Ronald Reagan is probably rolling around in his grave.

In Washington, D.C., the GOPs governing class has largely responded to Russias aggression by calling for sanctions, such as President Joe Biden is imposing, while faulting the Democratic president for doing too little, or for not acting quickly enough framing that dovetailed with the partys long-running attempts to cast Biden as weak.

But at CPAC, there was no sign Ukraine represented anything more important than that, despite its extraordinary geopolitical implications. As the conference opened, Russia was bombing Ukraine. Vladimir Putin, with a nuclear arsenal at his disposal, was warning the West that interference would result in consequences you have never seen. Dozens of people had been killed, and financial markets were reeling.

Ukraine drew mention from some Republican politicians. Yet attendees heard more about banned books, Marxist leftists, Covid mandates and the fantasy that the 2020 election was rigged. It was a reminder that the economy and domestic culture wars are more likely to define the midterm and 2024 presidential election than fearsome conflict abroad.

Jim McLaughlin, a veteran Republican pollster, said that in combination with the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last year, Ukraine adds to the general overall feeling that this administration and this president look weak. Former Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis said that politically for Republicans, Its going to be a big deal for us.

But as a stand-alone issue, its different. Of Ukraine, said Rory McShane, a Republican strategist, Its too complicated a situation to campaign on.

Attendees shop at a booth at a trade show at CPAC on Friday.|John Raoux/AP Photo

The Republican approach to Ukraine is a reflection of the partys evolution, with the GOP divided in its assessment of the war and its vision of Americas role in the world. There are pro-sanction lawmakers. And then theres the America First set influential with base voters, such as Foxs Tucker Carlson and conservative activist Charlie Kirk, founder of the youth movement Turning Point USA.

The U.S. southern border matters a lot more than the Ukrainian border, Kirk said to applause on Thursday, CPACs opening day. Im more worried about how the cartels are deliberately trying to infiltrate our country than a dispute 5,000 miles away in cities we cant pronounce, in places that most Americans cant find on a map.

Former President Donald Trump, still the leader of the Republican Party, has failed to provide his followers a coherent direction. On Tuesday, he described Putin as genius and savvy. On Thursday night, he said only, If I were in Office, this deadly Ukraine situation would never have happened!

Trump may offer more substantive remarks when he appears at CPAC on Saturday, though his record includes nothing to suggest he will chart a unifying course for the party. Trumps coziness with Putin during his presidency disturbed even some Republicans.

Paul Ryan, then the Republican House speaker, said Trump must appreciate that Russia is not our ally after Trumps infamous joint press conference with Putin in 2018, where Trump suggested the U.S. was to blame for its tensions with Russia and declined to rebuke Putin for the countrys interference in the 2016 election.

Still, Republicans are waiting for Trump to lay down a marker. In some ways, the GOP is more deferential to him than it was in 2018, and the risk of crossing him is extreme, with Trump intervening in primaries across the midterm electoral landscape and with the prospect that he may run again in 2024. If Trump offers any direction on Ukraine, Republicans will come under intense pressure to follow his lead.

I think within the Republican Party theres a lot of people looking to see what Trump will say, said Bob Heckman, a Republican consultant who has worked on nine presidential campaigns. The only common denominator right now among Republicans is that its all Bidens fault What feeds it is the instinct to want to say that everything Biden is doing is wrong. So, if you want to make the argument that Biden has been feckless and weak, which I think is correct, then you have to be for some kind of strong response yourself. Yet the Trump wing of the party hasnt traditionally been for strong foreign responses, so I think everybodys trying to figure it out right now.

He said, Were going to see whether or not people who understand foreign policy, like Pompeo, Nikki Haley and Mike Pence, to give you three names, whether they gain more respect from speaking intelligently on this, or whether they get marginalized.

The only common denominator right now among Republicans is that its all Bidens fault.

Bob Heckman, Republican consultant

Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator from Nebraska and defense secretary in the Obama administration, suggested Americans may not yet fully appreciate the significance of Russias war on Ukraine, unlike any foreign conflict since World War II. But over the course of what will be a tough time for the next few months, maybe longer, he said, theyll start to understand it, because consequences are going to back up in this country just like every other country.

It will force people to come to their senses as far as realizing how important this day is in the world, he said.

If that happens, the Republican electorate may demand a more cogent foreign policy vision from the partys leaders than Trump has offered so far. But if it doesnt, they may not have to do much more than echo him or, as DeSantis did on Thursday, say nothing at all. Foreign policy traditionally ranks low on the list of American voters concerns.

Foreign policy rarely resonates with voters unless Americans are dying, said Whit Ayres, the longtime Republican pollster. Its usually overwhelmed by the economy, the pandemic, education, all these other domestic issues. That doesnt mean people arent paying attention. But when it comes to voting issues, domestic policy normally trumps foreign policy, unless Americans are dying overseas.

Republicans expectation that voters will be consumed with concerns other than Ukraine was nowhere more evident than CPAC. During a rare session devoted to the conflict, Trumps former deputy national security adviser, K.T. McFarland, was discussing the price of oil and Putins ability to finance a war when Right Side Broadcasting Network cut away from its livestream of the event.

It had an interview to air instead with John Schnatter, the founder of Papa Johns.

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At CPAC, Ukraine takes a back seat to the culture wars - POLITICO