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Opinion

Republican support of Russia began with Donald Trump

Dr. Rashad Richey National TV Political Analyst, Talk Radio Host, Univ. Prof.
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It is rather remarkable to see some republicans and their supporters become so blinded by their partisanship that they are now throwing their support behind Vladimir Putin and his indefensible invasion of Ukraine. That’s right: conservatives are so committed to opposing Democrats that they would rather praise the Russian leader who is being accused of war crimes and whose end game may still not be fully known.

This assault on democracy has been praised by members of the Republican party in America: Donald Trump, calling Vladimir Putin smart, a genius while Trump was president of the United States. He’s the guy who lifted sanctions from Russia…check the record. A bipartisan vote of the House of Representatives had to vote to condemn Donald Trump lifting the sanctions. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, US Congresswoman out of the state of Georgia, keynotes a white nationalist conference just a few days ago. Before she took her position on the stage that crowd was shouting, “PUTIN, PUTIN!” They had just given a round of applause for Russia because [Nick] Fuentes, their leader and a known white nationalist, told them to. Marjorie Taylor-Greene keynotes that function. And it does not send chills through the body of everyone in there. It has become acceptable. It has become more than tolerable.

There was a time when a global conflict like this would unite Americans no matter their political beliefs. Think back to 9/11 and the bipartisan sentiment that permeated the country. We’re nowhere close to that now, and we can thank Trump for that. He is what led to this division among conservatives in their attitude toward Putin. Can you imagine any Republican politician during any of the Bush presidencies or during the Reagan years actually speaking at a convention where people were chanting the name of the Russian leader? Can you imagine any Republican president not condemning Moscow for an unprovoked invasion like Putin’s?

I can’t either.

Do not allow the ideology of politics to evaporate the humanity that’s inside of you. A disturbing trend has been happening in this country. Republicans siding with Vladimir Putin Republicans singing the praises of Russia, Republicans who are for this unlawful attack in the Ukraine. This assault on democracy has been praised by members of the Republican party in America. Donald Trump, calling Vladimir Putin smart, a genius while Trump was president of the United States. He’s the guy who lifted sanctions from Russia, checked the record. A bipartisan vote of the house of representatives had to vote to condemn Donald Trump lifting the sanctions. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, US Congresswoman out of the state of Georgia, keynotes a white nationalist conference just a few days ago. Before she took her position on the stage that crowd was shouting PUTIN, PUTIN. They had just given a round of applause for Russia because Fuentes, their leader and a known white nationalist, told them to. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, keynotes that function. And it does not send chills through the body of everyone in there. It has become acceptable. It has become more than tolerable.

And now they are agreeing with Putin and his assault on democracy invading sovereign territory. 74% of Americans believe that what Russia is doing is wrong. That’s based on the Yougov poll recently done, you know how hard it is to get 74% of Americans to agree on anything in this political era, but they seem pretty United behind the idea that what Russia is doing is wrong. Now what happens I’m anti-war. But what happens when we live in a world that’s so divided that even our domestic politics, our domestic politics starts to implode in the midst of international conflict. Usually an international conflict would bring Americans together. It is continuing to divide us even more.

Dr. King put it this way. When he protested the Vietnam War, he said, war has a way of desensitizing us in America. When America is involved in international conflict policies, social policies and progress, it takes a backseat to the war interest. And the psychology of those in America tends to harden toward their American brothers and sisters. Where did this start? Donald J. Trump look at the trajectory. Republicans and Democrats were virtually United as it related to the Kremlin until Donald J. Trump became president, Democrats and Republicans were United on the idea that you cannot invade a sovereign independent democracy until Donald J. Trump became president while he did not split the of Democrats. He definitely split the ideology of conservatives. So my question is this, why do you support who you support in the international conflict? And remember, Ukraine did nothing to provoke assault. And for those who are saying, well, doc, you know, it used to belong to Russia. Anyway, Ukraine used to belong to Russia, which by the way, it’s not really factually true. If you believe that sentiment, if you believe that linear logic, then that means you’re okay with Mexico going and getting Texas back. Those are my thoughts.

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