No, Republicans Aren’t the Party of Putin
You have to misread polls of their voters and distort the statements of congressional leaders to find any evidence of support for Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Two of them can read the polls on Russia.
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Republicans are becoming “the party of Putin,” says Alexander Vindman, the former national-security official who helped bring about the first impeachment of then-President Donald Trump. Bill Maher has been describing the party that way for years. Washington Post columnist Max Boot wrote in 2019 that GOP “might as well stand for ‘Gang of Putin.’ ”
It’s a criticism that will grow louder now that Trump has praised the “genius” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s moves against Ukraine and Tucker Carlson, the Fox News talk-show host, has complained that Democratic propaganda has turned Americans against Putin.