What would the John Birch Society say? Barry Goldwater? All those who fought the Cold War? Is the Republican Party now Communist in sympathy?

Good morning. We’re covering the Republican fascination with Vladimir Putin — as well as the U.S.-Mexico border, Gaza and the subway.


Enemy or ally?
Large parts of the Republican Party now treat Vladimir Putin as if he were an ideological ally. Putin, by contrast, continues to treat the U.S. as an enemy.

This combination is clearly unusual and sometimes confusing. It does not appear to stem from any compromising information that Putin has about Donald Trump, despite years of such claims from Democrats. Instead, Trump and many other Republicans seem to feel ideological sympathies with Putin’s version of right-wing authoritarian nationalism. They see the world dividing between a liberal left and an illiberal right, with both themselves and Putin — along with Viktor Orban of Hungary and some other world leaders — in the second category.

Whatever the explanation, the situation threatens decades of bipartisan consensus about U.S. national security.

Already, House Republicans have blocked further aid to Ukraine — a democracy and U.S. ally that Putin invaded. Without the aid, military experts say Russia will probably be able to take over more of Ukraine than it now holds.

If Trump wins a second term, he may go further. He has suggested that he might abandon the U.S. commitment to NATO, an alliance that exists to contain Russia and that Putin loathes. He recently invited Russia to “to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that don’t spend enough on their own defense. (Near the end of his first term, he tried to pull American troops out of Germany, but President Biden rescinded the decision.)

Trump has also avoided criticizing Putin for the mysterious death this month of his most prominent domestic critic, Aleksei Navalny, and has repeatedly praised Putin as a strong and smart leader. In a town hall last year, Trump refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the war.

There are some caveats worth mentioning. Some skepticism about how much money the U.S. should send to Ukraine stems from practical questions about the war’s endgame. It’s also true that some prominent Republicans, especially in the Senate, are horrified by their party’s pro-Russian drift and are lobbying the House to pass Ukraine aid. “If your position is being cheered by Vladimir Putin, it’s time to reconsider your position,” Senator Mitt Romney of Utah said last month.

But the Republican fascination with Putin and Russia is real. The Putin-friendly faction of the party is ascendant, while some of his biggest critics, like Mitch McConnell, who announced this week that he would step down this year as the Republican Senate leader, will soon retire.

(We recommend this article — in which Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, explains that while McConnell sees the U.S. as the world’s essential force, a growing number of Republicans do not.)

In the rest of today’s newsletter, we’ll walk through the evidence of this shift.

Ukraine aid
The Senate has passed an additional $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, with both Republican and Democratic support. But the House, which Republicans control, has so far refused to pass that bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is close to Trump, has not allowed a vote on the bill even though it would likely pass if he did.

A few Republicans have gone so far as speak about Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in ways that mimic Russian propaganda. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused Ukraine of having “a Nazi army,” echoing language Putin used to justify the invasion.

Military experts say that if Ukraine does not receive more U.S. aid, it could begin losing the war in the second half of this year. “Not since the first chaotic months of the invasion, when Russian troops poured across the borders from every direction and the country rose up en masse to resist, has Ukraine faced such a precarious moment,” wrote our colleagues Andrew Kramer and Marc Santora, who have been reporting from Ukraine.
Aleksander Smirnov
House Republicans hoping to impeach President Biden have repeatedly promoted information that appears to have been based partly on Russian disinformation. One example: The Republicans cited an F.B.I. document in which an informant accused Biden and his son, Hunter, of taking $5 million bribes from the owner of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.

But federal prosecutors have now accused the informant, Alexander Smirnov, of fabricating the allegation to damage Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. Smirnov has told the F.B.I. that people linked to Russian intelligence passed him information about Hunter Biden.

A federal judge has ordered Smirnov detained and called him a flight risk.

Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson is not a Republican Party official, but he is an influential Trump supporter, and Carlson has often echoed Russian propaganda. At least once, he went so far as to say he hoped Russia would win its war against Ukraine.

Last month, Carlson aired a two-hour interview with Putin in which Putin made false claims about Ukraine, Zelensky and Western leaders with little pushback from Carlson. In a separate video recorded inside a Russian grocery store, Carlson suggested life in Russia was better than in the U.S. (Watch Jon Stewart debunk those claims here.)

Republican voters
The shift in elite Republican opinion toward Russia and away from Ukraine has influenced public opinion.

Shortly after Russia invaded, about three-quarters of Republicans favored giving Ukraine military and economic aid, according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Now, only about half do.

Republican voters are also less likely to hold favorable views of Zelensky. In one poll, most Trump-aligned Republicans even partly blamed him for the war. Republicans also support NATO at lower rates than Democrats and independents, a shift from the 1980s.

Remember better dead than red? Neither do republicans......

Trump is a Russian asset, they've been grooming and compromising him since the 80s, by now they must have a staggering file on him; just look at all the dirty dealing, cheating and lying WE know about and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Putin can take EVERYTHING away with a wave of his hand and that was on public display after he reminded Trump in their "private" meeting in Helsinki, the entire non-MAGA world saw it when they walked out.

Putin owns Trump.

Since he gave them tax cuts and permission to be racist and sexist again Trump owns MAGA.

By the simple transitive principle, therefore, Putin owns MAGA.

Remember, both the DNC and the RNC were hacked in 2016 by Russian Intelligence.

The "take" from the DNC was given to Wikileaks for use against Clinton.

The "take" from the RNC ensures Putin doesn't get pushback from Republicans.

Here is another one.

The US is dropping food over Gaza.

A people being imprisoned in their own homeland in a concentration camp.

At the same time the US is giving their criminal captors planes and bombs to kill them??!!

It seems that some people will do anything to advance their own aims or political views no matter what the effect on others, or the country.

quote:

Originally posted by nute:
It seems that some people will do anything to advance their own aims or political views no matter what the effect on others, or the country.

Exactly!

And religion, as well praying on other's guilt, play an enormous part!

NitanHitler and his Zionism is a perfect example of this.

I am well acquainted with the Texas GOP. I have never heard anyone sympathize with Putin. I have never heard anyone call Putin anything but a tyrannical dictator.

However, the Texas GOP has bigger things to worry about than Putin, Russia, and Ukraine and that would mostly entail our southern border.

Let the Federal Gvt lock down the southern border with iron-clad security and you will see the focus move back to foreign affairs.

It is like ABC in emergency medicine. Airway, breathing, Cardiac…worry about the broken arm once life is sustained.

Too many unattended crises at home to worry too much about Ukraine and Putin.

And now, the administration has allowed the southern border crisis to become so bad with zero help…that YES the Texas GOP is willing to use aid to Ukraine as a bargaining chip.

Has the GOP embraced Putin? F*** NO!!! Implying such is spreading democrat election propaganda.

Every Texan I know has a rifle ball for Vladimir Putin when the time becomes necessary.

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
I am well acquainted with the Texas GOP. I have never heard anyone sympathize with Putin. I have never heard anyone call Putin anything but a tyrannical dictator.

However, the Texas GOP has bigger things to worry about than Putin, Russia, and Ukraine and that would mostly entail our southern border.

Let the Federal Gvt lock down the southern border with iron-clad security and you will see the focus move back to foreign affairs.

It is like ABC in emergency medicine. Airway, breathing, Cardiac…worry about the broken arm once life is sustained.

Too many unattended crises at home to worry too much about Ukraine and Putin.

And now, the administration has allowed the southern border crisis to become so bad with zero help…that YES the Texas GOP is willing to use aid to Ukraine as a bargaining chip.

Has the GOP embraced Putin? F*** NO!!! Implying such is spreading democrat election propaganda.

Every Texan I know has a rifle ball for Vladimir Putin when the time becomes necessary.

Lane -

The American people at large aren't falling for that. If you're against combining aid packages to include Ukraine, you're a Communist?

But as they do, the nutty left always has and always will practice the art of projection. Whatever it is they are accusing you of, they are practicing.

This link relates to the core issue of the open border, who is responsible for it and what actions they did or reversed to create the chaos we see now.

https://www.nilc.org/issues/im...immigration-actions/

I can never understand American government!

It appears if a law is defeated, it is not dead.

Someone tags it onto another law that gets passed!!??

How the hell is that fair??

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
I am well acquainted with the Texas GOP. I have never heard anyone sympathize with Putin. I have never heard anyone call Putin anything but a tyrannical dictator.

However, the Texas GOP has bigger things to worry about than Putin, Russia, and Ukraine and that would mostly entail our southern border.

Let the Federal Gvt lock down the southern border with iron-clad security and you will see the focus move back to foreign affairs.

It is like ABC in emergency medicine. Airway, breathing, Cardiac…worry about the broken arm once life is sustained.

Too many unattended crises at home to worry too much about Ukraine and Putin.

And now, the administration has allowed the southern border crisis to become so bad with zero help…that YES the Texas GOP is willing to use aid to Ukraine as a bargaining chip.

Has the GOP embraced Putin? F*** NO!!! Implying such is spreading democrat election propaganda.

Every Texan I know has a rifle ball for Vladimir Putin when the time becomes necessary.

Well written Doc, very well written!

I have a very hard time worry about foreign borders while our very own border is ignored!

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
I am well acquainted with the Texas GOP. I have never heard anyone sympathize with Putin. I have never heard anyone call Putin anything but a tyrannical dictator.

However, the Texas GOP has bigger things to worry about than Putin, Russia, and Ukraine and that would mostly entail our southern border.

Let the Federal Gvt lock down the southern border with iron-clad security and you will see the focus move back to foreign affairs.

It is like ABC in emergency medicine. Airway, breathing, Cardiac…worry about the broken arm once life is sustained.

Too many unattended crises at home to worry too much about Ukraine and Putin.

And now, the administration has allowed the southern border crisis to become so bad with zero help…that YES the Texas GOP is willing to use aid to Ukraine as a bargaining chip.

Has the GOP embraced Putin? F*** NO!!! Implying such is spreading democrat election propaganda.

Every Texan I know has a rifle ball for Vladimir Putin when the time becomes necessary.

Well written Doc, very well written!

I have a very hard time worry about foreign borders while our very own border is ignored!

You deserve what you get!

Sticking your filthy nose in every corner of the world

Pay back time!

quote:

Has the GOP embraced Putin? F*** NO!!! Implying such is spreading democrat election propaganda.

So, who buys this shit, then? It ain't democrats

https://www.bing.com/images/se...expw=283&vt=2&sim=11