Tag: trump putin
Raskin Squelches Greene And The Republican ’Trump-Putin Axis’

Raskin Squelches Greene And The Republican ’Trump-Putin Axis’

Shortly after a routine congressional outburst Wednesday from a Trump-aligned Republican, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland uttered a phrase that should quickly become a Democratic staple: the Trump-Putin axis.

The GOP offender was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Who knows exactly what she said—who even cares? It's Raskin's response that matters.

"The gentlelady said something about the Russian hoax—I accept the heckling, Mr. Speaker," Raskin said from the well of the House floor. "If she wants to continue to stand with Vladimir Putin and his brutal, bloody invasion against the people of Ukraine, she is free to do so, and we understand there is a strong Trump-Putin axis in the gentlelady’s party."

For the past several months, I have been trying to identify attack lines Democrats can leverage against Republicans ahead of the midterms, and this particular phrase accomplishes so much in so few words—it's just killer.

First, linking Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin passes the smell test. Every reality-based voter (the only ones we can reach) knows that Trump has been a loyal and dedicated Putin bootlicker for many years, including using his White House perch to do Putin's bidding on the global stage for four years. What makes Trump’s actions even more grave now is the fact that Putin has turned himself into a global pariah through his butchery in Ukraine.

Second, "axis" is a potent word that Americans immediately get due to its historical underpinnings. From the disgraced Axis powers of World War II to President George W. Bush's "axis of evil," Americans inherently know "axis" is a word anchored in ignominy. Regardless of whether one agrees with Bush's 2002 adaptation of it, his relatively recent usage helps.

Finally, as GOP congressional members and aspiring candidates continue to embrace Trump across the country, frequent reminders of the "Trump-Putin axis" is very simple shorthand for evoking all the turmoil Trump brought into the White House along with the consequences presently playing out in Ukraine. There's no need to belabor the point, Democratic base voters are crystal clear about Trump's corrosive effect on international relations, and at least some Trump-Biden voters actually defected in 2020 for that very reason. Trump's Putin sycophancy may play well to the GOP’s white nationalist base, but it's pretty cringey to that slice of reality-based Republicans. Some of them even voted for a Democrat in 2020 because of it.

So the term is really a twofer, reminding both the Democratic base why their votes matter and reality-based GOP voters why their party's continued loyalty to Trump has dangerous and despicable real-world consequences. Perhaps those GOP voters, particularly in swing districts, will defect again if they find their candidate too repulsive, or maybe they’ll just stay home. Either one is a win for Democrats.

So yeah, Democrats should start hitting the term on the regular forthwith.

Printed with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump Asks Putin For ‘Dirt’ On Hunter Biden

Trump Asks Putin For ‘Dirt’ On Hunter Biden

Only the Republican Party is capable of continuing to make this noxious irrelevant windbag still relevant. Donald Trump is out with a new "exclusive" interview in Just The News (i.e. couldn't get a real outlet to bite) in which he calls on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release damaging information about Hunter Biden's financial dealings in Eastern Europe.

Trump cited a 2020 claim by Senate Republicans that Hunter, President Joe Biden's son, received a $3.5 million payment in 2014 from a Russian oligarch. The younger Biden has denied the claim and neither Senate Republicans nor Trump have ever provided evidence indicating such a payment would have been corrupt or illegal, according to CNN.

But who cares about the facts—it sounds seedy. So why not just go ahead and solicit dirt on the sitting President of the United States from a U.S. adversary making war on the West, not to mention the very notion of American democracy. I mean, it's not like Trump is orchestrating a coup or anything, even though a federal judge has concluded he "likely" did orchestrate a coup on January 6.

In the Just The News interview, Trump questioned why the alleged payment was made.

"I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it,” Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Trump, the guy who was impeached for trying to extort Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Hunter Biden, wants answers... from Putin!

Um, just for context, there's a war going on. Putin launched it. And after a series of epic strategic missteps, he's mostly getting his ass handed to him by a heroic but much smaller and less-resourced Ukrainian military along with thousands of brave civilian fighters who picked up a gun to defend their country. So Putin may be a tad preoccupied right now. Perhaps he'll find a few moments down the road to humor Trump.

Honestly, could Trump be any smaller and more irrelevant at this moment in history? Putin's not a "genius" and his invasion wasn't "a great negotiation" that went bust. Putin's a maniac who is so removed from reality he blundered his way into making Russia an international pariah with a crippled economy and a disgraced military.

Read the room, Trump.

Good god, Trump cannot remain in power (to borrow a phrase)... except in the Republican Party, where irrelevance and stupidity reign supreme.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Why Backing Putin May Destroy Trump’s 2024 Candidacy

Why Backing Putin May Destroy Trump’s 2024 Candidacy

By invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has united the world against him, torched his economy, exposed the incompetence of his military, and jeopardized his hold on power. He's also done serious harm to his faithful friend Donald Trump.

Of course, Trump has contributed to this damage, as he often does. After the invasion began, he praised Putin's "genius" and remarked, "He's taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. I'd say that's pretty smart." Trump couldn't wait to remind Putin of his unconditional devotion.

That supine posture can't be appealing to anyone this side of Tucker Carlson. It looks especially foolish and craven next to the brave defiance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And it provides additional evidence for Republicans that nominating Trump in 2024 could be a fatal blunder.

In most ways, the next election looks promising for the GOP. According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, only 42 percent of Americans approve of Joe Biden's performance, while 57 percent disapprove. Inflation is surging, and the Fed's efforts to contain it could trigger a recession. The poll found that 46 percent of Americans plan to vote for a Republican in this year's House elections, compared with 41 percent who prefer a Democrat.

Republicans are likely to have another advantage in 2024. Biden will be 81, which will not be a selling point. Should Biden decide not to run, he has no obvious heir — and the GOP nominee won't have the burden of unseating an incumbent president.

Nominating Trump would squander much of the party's advantage. He has already lost the popular vote twice. The record of losers who are renominated is dismal. Republican Thomas Dewey lost to Franklin Roosevelt in 1944 and to Harry Truman in 1948. Democrat Adlai Stevenson got trounced by Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956.

It was in reference to Dewey that Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, said, "Any woman knows you can't make a souffle rise twice."

Republican Richard Nixon managed to win after falling short on his first try, but he had to wait eight years. Only one losing incumbent has ever made it back to the White House — Grover Cleveland, in 1892.

Trump already appears to be losing influence in his party. A recent YouGov poll found that 85 percent of Republicans regard Russia as an enemy — up from 51 percent in 2017.

The National Journal's political columnist Josh Kraushaar reports that he "is staring at a real chance that his endorsed candidates go zero-for-three in competitive Senate primaries in May." In that case, Republicans who feared his wrath may feel emboldened.

On top of these drawbacks is the former president's record of deference to a tyrant who is angling to be indicted for war crimes. His latest praise of Putin is nothing if not predictable.

From the time he announced his candidacy in 2015, Trump couldn't have been more subservient if he had been courting Putin's daughter. He frequently said that he "would get along with Putin," whom he described as "brilliant" and "a strong leader."

In office, Trump was ever eager to please. He called to congratulate Putin on his 2018 election "victory" — disregarding briefing instructions that said, "DO NOT CONGRATULATE." He lobbied to restore Russia to the G-7, from which it was banished for its 2014 invasion of Crimea.

At a summit meeting in Helsinki, Trump was asked if he agreed with his own intelligence agencies that Putin had meddled in the 2016 election. "President Putin said it wasn't Russia," he replied, as Putin gazed on benignly. "I don't see any reason why it would be." He was mocked as "Putin's poodle," which was an injustice to poodles.

Republicans accuse Biden of inviting Russian aggression with his withdrawal from Afghanistan and other displays of "weakness." Nominating Trump would pretty well nullify that charge.

Biden gets low marks for his handling of the economy but high ones on Ukraine. By imposing stiff sanctions and sending arms to Ukraine but avoiding direct military involvement, he's managed to avoid either appeasement or war. Despite high gasoline prices, his ban on Russian oil imports wins support from 79 percent of voters.

Anyone running against Trump in 2024 will be able to run scathing TV spots showing him repeatedly praising Putin, interspersed with grim footage of Russian tanks and bleeding Ukrainians. The tagline: "A vote for Trump is a vote for Putin."

The GOP has plenty of possible nominees who are not Kremlin stooges. A smart party would choose one of them.

Reprinted with permission from Creators.com

Reagan White House Aide ’Thanks God Every Day’ For Biden Presidency

Reagan White House Aide ’Thanks God Every Day’ For Biden Presidency

Although veteran conservative columnist and former Nancy Reagan speechwriter Mona Charen voted for Joe Biden in the United States’ 2020 presidential election and is a scathing critic of former President Donald Trump, she hasn’t been shy about criticizing Biden’s presidency at times. But in an article published by The Bulwark on March 9, Charen praises Biden’s handling of the Ukraine crisis.

The 65 year-old Charen opens her article with some criticisms of Biden, including his decision to “withdraw precipitously from Afghanistan” and his failure to prioritize “the urgent need to reform the Electoral Count Act.” And Charen also criticizes Biden for “devoting most of his first year to assuaging the demands of the progressive wing of his party.”

But Charen adds, “And yet, I thank God every day that Biden is president.”

“The Russian offensive against Ukraine is the first crisis of his presidency other than COVID, which was ongoing when he assumed office,” Charen explains. “And in this emergency, he has redeemed the hopes of those who voted for competence. The (Biden) Administration’s warnings to Moscow were unambiguous without being hysterical. Our revelations of intelligence unmasking Russian disinformation and false flag narratives were on the nose. Biden’s coordination with European allies was neither bullying nor ‘leading from behind,’ but a skillful presentation of unity. Special kudos to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.”

Charen continues, “Biden’s muscular reaffirmation of the U.S. commitment to NATO was crucial not just for Europe, but for the world. China is taking notes on how the globe is responding to Putin and perhaps thinking twice about trying to conquer Taiwan. By proclaiming American solidarity with Ukraine and our democratic allies around the world, Biden has restored our equilibrium. If Ronald Reagan were still alive, he’d find little to criticize in the Administration’s approach.”

Thousands of people have been killed since Russian troops, following orders from President Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine on February 24. The Biden Administration and his European NATO allies have responded to the crisis with tough economic sanctions against Russia, although Biden has insisted that U.S. troops will not be offering any “boots on the ground” in Ukraine.

Trump and other MAGA Republicans, including Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, “War Room” host Steve Bannon and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have praised Putin in 2022. And Charen makes it clear that she considers Trump one of Putin’s “useful idiots.”

“The Ukraine crisis reminds us that Trump is no run-of-the-mill fool, but a unique combination of stupidity and venality,” Charen writes. “A quick refresher on his relations with Putin and Ukraine leaves little doubt that far from deterring Putin, he was Putin’s most reliable ‘useful idiot’…. Trump was a dupe and a dope…. Trump often repeated Putin’s talking points.”

Charen argues that Trump admires Putin because the Russian president is a strongman.

“Trump is a disturbed human being who is constantly revealing his attraction to violence and ‘strength,’” Charen writes. “Even as Putin was smashing his tanks into Ukraine, Trump fawned over his ‘genius’ and then boasted that ‘I know him very, very well.’ He said it was ‘wonderful.’ He backtracked after a day or two, but doubtless only after being advised that it was politically unwise. But if, God forbid, there were ever a second term, political considerations wouldn’t be dispositive — and the most sinister and credulous man ever to disgrace the Oval Office would be unconstrained. Biden hasn’t been perfect, but he’s a godsend given the alternative.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet