Roman Karpishka of Latham holds a Ukrainian flag during rally at Cohoes City Hall in March 2022 — just weeks after the Russian invasion began.

In a statement released four days shy of three years ago, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik denounced the “unwarranted and unjustified” invasion of Ukraine “by a gutless, bloodthirsty, authoritarian dictator. Vladimir Putin is a war criminal and deranged thug. We must stand with democracies under assault.”

We're not highlighting Ms. Stefanik’s statement because its sentiments were out of the mainstream. To the contrary, the invasion of Ukraine was one of the too-few incidents in recent years that managed to cut through this nation’s partisan divide, for the obvious reason that only those on the fringe would have taken the side of the Russian dictator.

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What a difference three years make. On Tuesday, President Donald J. Trump said Ukraine’s leadership had in that time failed to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion and

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