Are Republicans As Patriotic As Democrats?
It’s time for a reckoning on the patriotism — or lack thereof — for many Republicans and the right wing media. The Republicans have falsely preened as phony patriots for years and now many of them are siding with Russia. As I’ve discussed here on numerous occasions, many Republicans have been prolonging the pandemic.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has thrown the issue of the GOP’s patriotism into sharp relief. We’ve witnessed the bizarre spectacle of numerous prominent Republicans siding with Russia or rationalizing the invasion of Ukraine. This is a major shift since the Cold War era since Republicans (justifiably) regarded themselves as anti-Soviet. Just what would account for this bizarre and disturbing shift in public opinion?
We need to start our inquiry with Donald Trump — the GOP’s undisputed leader. Trump is still the runaway GOP frontrunner. A January Harvard/Harris poll indicated that the disgraced former one term president led Ron DeSantis by something like a 57% to 12% margin. Mike Pence tallied 11% among Republican voters. Moreover, Trump has an 81% approval rating among Republicans per a recent YouGov poll.
Trump has supported Russia during the Ukraine crisis. Shortly before Russia’s invasion, Trump -said the following about Putin: “I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. … I said, ‘How smart is that?’” Here’s a guy who’s very savvy.” “I went in yesterday, and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius,’” Trump told “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” in an interview. “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”
Trump doubled down his support of Putin again shortly before the invasion: “I said, ‘How smart is that?’ He’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper,” added the disgraced ex-president, who regularly lavished praise on Putin during his failed presidency. “That’s the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to keep peace, all right.”
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump again praised Putin and called him. “smart.” Trump: “I mean, he’s taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. I’d say that’s pretty smart.”
At the CPAC convention over the weekend, the former TV reality star again said that Putin was “smart,” that NATO was “not so smart,” and that our leaders are “dumb.” The former TV reality star won the straw poll at the CPAC convention by an overwhelming margin of 59% to 28% over Ron DeSantis.
Republican elected officials have largely remained silent about Trump’s unpatriotic remarks. The Washington Post conducted dozens of GOP Congressional offices about Trump’s praise for the Russian strongman. Virtually all of them failed to respond to inquiries about the disgraced former president’s remarks or made evasive comments that failed to address the issue. Per the Washington Post: “One exception was Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a frequent Trump critic, who said in a statement that there is not a “ thing praiseworthy about Putin. He’s a tyrant; he’s got the blood of innocent civilians on his hands; he’s a serial liar; he wants to undo the fact that the Soviet Union lost the Cold War; he’s a murderer with absolutely no regard for human life. Whether you vote red or blue, every American should understand Putin is evil.”
Another exception to the general cowardice of elected Republican officials is Senator Mitt Romney. The 2012 GOP presidential nominee showed rare courage for a Republican with this exchange on CNN over the weekend: Mitt Romney, on Republicans praising Putin: “It’s unthinkable to me. It’s almost treasonous.” Dana Bash: “Treasonous is a big word… would that include the former president?” Romney: “Well, I said it’s nearly treasonous.”
It’s not enough for the other Republican leaders to denounce Putin and Russia — they must also repudiate Trump’s support for Russia. Silence is complicity and cowardly. The lack of criticism of Trump by most elected Republican officials sends a powerful message to rank and file Republican voters.
It’s not only Trump who is a Russian stooge -we’re also seeing staunch support of Russia from Fox News’ most popular entertainers. On November 10, 2021, Tucker Carlson said: “Why would we take Ukraine’s side and not Russia’s side?” Subsequently, in a 14-minute rant in December 2021, Carlson defended Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine. Carlson claimed that Putin “just wants to keep his western borders secure.”
Incidentally, Russian TV has reported on Trump’s praise of Putin to justify the invasion and has repeatedly featured Carlson’s remarks. (I’m old enough to remember when Jane Fonda visited North Vietnam and many Republicans called for her to be tried for treason.)
Fox News — like Donald Trump — is a significant opinion leader in the Republican Party. Republican elected officials take their lead from Fox and appearances on Fox are coveted by the D.C. Republicans. Performing on Fox is a high priority for a GOP member of Congress.
The support of Russia by Trump and Fox News has had a profound impact on Republican attitudes towards Putin and Russia. “It used to be that Republicans and Democrats generally had a very strongly, broadly disfavorable view of Putin, but after 2016 — after Putin helped defeat Hillary Clinton … Republicans no longer see Putin as a geopolitical foe,” said Craig Harrington, research director at Media Matters for America, a liberal group that tracks conservative media and messaging. In a Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted between January 20 and 24, 62% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said that Putin is a “stronger leader” than Biden. An infinitesimal 4% of Republicans regarded Biden as a stronger leader than the Russian dictator.
Former Mitt Romney 2012 campaign manager Stuart Stevens summed up these disturbing developments very well: “Fact pattern is clear: Russians supported Trump. He won. He embraced Putin. The GOP now has a dominant pro-Putin faction led by Tucker Carlson. In modern history of Western democracies, there has never been such a successful infiltration of a major party by a hostile foreign power.”
“You may wonder, what can I as an everyday citizen do to help? There is something. Putin’s war will raise, is raising, the cost of fuel and food. Be ready to explain that to friends and neighbors when Putin-friendly talkers and politicians try to blame our elected leaders. You’ll hear contrary from Putin-friendly candidates and talkers, but … under President Biden’s leadership, the United States remains the world’s number one producer of both oil and natural gas — and a net exporter of both. US is firmly energy independent, and can help allies.” Former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum.
As an everyday citizen we can also contribute by volunteering for Democrats running for office. It’s not enough to simply vote, we must also contribute our time and money. The stakes couldn’t be any higher in 2022. Democracy and freedom are on the ballot. Now let’s get it done!
P.S. — You’re going to want to save this post for when Trump and his propaganda machine try to rewrite history.