With the Ukraine crisis dominating headlines and sparking fears of a global conflict, Republicans are scrambling to convince voters that the tense geopolitical situation is President Joe Biden s fault. But conservatives just cant agree on what Biden is doing wrong.

The partys most powerful elected figures, like top House Republican Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), say Biden is too weak. They want him to take tougher actions to frighten Russian President Vladimir Putin , who has deployed more than 100,000 troops to Ukraines borders in recent weeks in apparent plans to invade.

Biden has shipped military equipment to Ukrainian forces, threatened Putin with unprecedented sanctions and rejected Moscows demand to forswear new alliances with countries such as Ukraine that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. But Biden has emphasized that he wants to defuse tensions diplomatically, offering to make concessions on Russian concerns, including U.S. deployments in Europe, and supporting European allies efforts at negotiation between the Russians and Ukrainians.

Still, conservative luminaries (and GOP power brokers) Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham of Fox News say Biden is moving toward an all-out nuclear war with Russia to aid the hawkish military-industrial complex and argue Ukraine is irrelevant to Americans. Some of their far-right allies, notably commentators Candace Owens and Benny Johnson, claim the flare-up in Europe is being driven by shadowy elites , including Bidens own family, whom Republicans have baselessly accused of profiting off U.S. policies in Ukraine.

There is quite literally no Russian threat. Biden crime family is trying to expand their business empire in the region, Owen tweeted on Monday. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) endorsed that theory on Tuesday, saying Biden wanted to spark a war as Moscow carried out fresh military exercises.

Adding to the confusion, some Republicans want to have it both ways. According to Donald Trump Jr., Biden is both too feeble to deter a Russian invasion and too eager to start a war for his own corrupt reasons.

The GOPs mess is the latest result of its ongoing identity crisis. That Republican dilemma could help Democrats shed their fear of being seen as soft on national security, allowing them to offer a strong alternative message, and could change the shape of the U.S. foreign policy debate for good.

Breaking with Republican orthodoxy, former President Donald Trump slammed Americas traditional claim to global leadership and its longstanding allies, instead frequently trying to withdraw from international involvement and endorsing the narratives of rivals, particularly Putin. That approach bolstered the minority in the party, chiefly libertarians, who want the U.S. to be more restrained abroad, and Trumps constant repetition of those ideas highlighted them for GOP voters.

Today, Trump still dominates the GOP. And whether from personal conviction or simply for ambition, some conservatives are still pushing ideas that echo his often in shocking ways.

According to The Washington Post , one Republican lawmaker serving on the House Foreign Affairs Committee recently outraged their colleagues by texting a group chain about an article on arms supplies for Ukraines defense and asking, Why is Biden being allowed to provoke Russia?

Conservatives are creating sympathy well beyond Washington for Moscows viewpoint, which overlooks the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and Russian support for Ukrainian separatists to instead portray Ukraine and its Western partners as threatening Russia. On Monday, multiple people called the office of Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) to urge him to support Russias position.

Some callers said they learned about the situation from Carlsons Fox News show, Malinowski told HuffPost in a Tuesday interview.

Callers are being spun up to believe that were about to go to war with Russia for Ukraine, and of course thats not true, Malinowski said. Were taking Ukraines side appropriately and mobilizing our allies to impose sanctions against Russia while giving Ukraine arms and ammunition to defend itself. That said, its been Americas policy in the world since World War II to try to prevent dictatorships from changing borders with tanks.

There is no obligation that could force the U.S. to enter a war to defend Ukraine. But, according to Carlson, who has millions of viewers, a conflict could occur due to American hubris and lobbying by Ukrainian politicians and U.S. defense firms. In his telling, Americans should not see any difference between Ukraine and Russia or any Russian responsibility for potential bloodshed.

Ingraham, who follows Carlson on Fox News daily broadcast schedule, is telling her fans that the U.S. risks another hopeless crusade and Republicans must resist the war machines temptation.

Ironically, it was during Trumps presidency that the U.S. most recently neared the kind of extinction level confrontation that conservatives now pin on Biden. In mishandling the complex U.S. relationships with Iran and North Korea , Trump flirted with major wars at least twice while elsewhere encouraging more brutal American military action abroad and impunity for violence by Americas partners.