Mitt Romney has finally said what the rest of the world has known for some time. There are members of his party who are morons -- and proud white supremacists. Jennifer Rubin writes:
The divisions within the GOP are stark and becoming unsustainable. In the first group are a tiny handful of Republicans who opposed Trump, supported his impeachment (at least the second one), condemned his assaults on the NATO alliance and denounced his Putin-worship. Other than Romney, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has remained a consistent defender of democracy and opponent of Trump and Putin — and Cheney has been merciless when it comes to their apologists. (“As Russian forces invade Ukraine, Russian TV features Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo and Tucker Carlson praising Putin,” she tweeted on Friday. “Putin is evil. Every American watching what’s happening in Ukraine should know that.”)
It is noteworthy that Romney and Cheney avoid any anti-Biden gibberish, a cheap way for Republicans to appear pro-Trump and pro-MAGA by implication but at the risk of once more undercutting democracies and weakening a united front against Putin.
Then there are the Republicans who are pro-Putin:
From House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to staunch Trump apologist Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to the entire Republican Party apparatus (which keeps up a constant stream of juvenile insults directed at Biden), the largest group of Republicans now vilifies Biden for being too weak, despite a unified and robust response from the West that has succeeded in making Putin a pariah. These were the people who suggested there was nothing wrong with Trump’s call in 2019 attempting to extort Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (now a national hero and international symbol of courage).
Some Republicans get so confused they lose track of who’s on Ukraine’s side. Taking the prize for incoherence, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) bizarrely attacked Democrats — such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and others who played a role in Trump’s impeachment for betraying U.S. security interests and extorting Ukraine — for weakening Ukraine.
Some right-wing pundits become apologists for Putin’s cringeworthy defenders. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Danielle Pletka (who defended voting for Trump in 2020) claimed that former secretary of state Mike Pompeo “misspoke” when he repeatedly praised Putin. (NBC foreign affairs reporter Andrea Mitchell appeared flabbergasted, pointing out that Pompeo fawned over Putin more than once.) Self-humiliation is no barrier to hypocrisy.
The third category of Republicans — including Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Fox News’s Carlson (disclaimer: I’m an MSNBC contributor) — remains supportive of Putin. A flock of right-wing media personalities echo their namesake America Firsters of the 1930s, who insisted we had no dog in Europe’s war. (Consider what would have occurred if Trump had been elected in 2020. Ukraine, perhaps the Baltics too, would be cooked, and the West would be in disarray.)
The time is coming when Romney and Cheney will have to cut ties with their party:
How long can Romney and Cheney tolerate the cognitive dissonance required to remain in a party aligned with Trump and Putin apologists? There comes a time when a united front means putting aside partisan differences and doing whatever it takes to stop a pro-Putin, pro-Trump faction from returning to power.
If they don't, they'll have sold their souls.
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2 comments:
One thing that's rarely brought up in these stories is the criminal element. It's well documented that before becoming president Trump spent a decade laundering money for the Russian mob. The mob was running its operations out of a Brooklyn catering hall owned by Michael Cohen's uncle. Indeed, that's how Cohen became Trump's fixer.
When it comes to the Russian mafiya, the capo di tutti capi is Putin himself, and it should come as no surprise that he's got his hooks deep into Trump. Hence the secrecy and destruction of notes during meetings and phone calls between the two when Trump was president. That's why Trump has never said a bad word about Putin.
But Trump is far from the only Republican compromised by Russia. In 2018, eight GOP congressmen spent the 4th of July visiting Russia. Among them were strident Trump and Putin supporters Ron Johnson and John Kennedy. What they discussed was never clear, but RoJo claimed loosening the sanctions that followed Putin's seizure of Crimea was on the agenda. The Russian media marveled at how they groveled before Putin.
Now, the pro-Putin, pro-Trump faction of Republicans amounts to all of them, minus a handful of exceptions. Destroying Putin is the only way back as far as I can see, and even that may not be enough.
Cap
Destroying Putin is certainly necessary, Cap. But from what I can see, the Republican Party should be vaporized.
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