The latest polling from YouGov shows that 37% of registered voters would like to decrease or eliminate military aid to Ukraine, while 49% want to increase aid (20%) or keep it at the current levels (29%). That leave 14% who have either never heard of Ukraine or are just unsure. Why have Republicans gotten behind Putin in such extraordinary number? Oh, I forgot… among Republicans, 60% want to decrease (47%) or end military (49%) aid to Ukraine.
So what’s up with the Russo-Republicans? The far right fringe tends to see Putin as a strong leader standing up to the "woke" left and the Democratic Party. Like Trump, they even admire his authoritarian style and his willingness to crack down on dissent and they share his conservative social values— opposition to abortion and opposition to LGBTQ equality. Christian nationalists and QAnonists like Marjorie Traitor Greene in particular have been taught to look at Putin as a defender of traditional Christianity and Western civilization. Many are ignorant of history and have no clue what happened when the West attempted to appease Hitler and when the League of Nations failed to take any action when Japan invade Manchuria and Italy invaded Ethiopia. Historically, appeasement has always been a risky strategy and I can’t think of a single instance in history where it worked out well for the appeaser in the long run.
Yesterday, Julian Barnes reported that American officials said they are convinced that Putin intends to try to end U.S. and European support for Ukraine by using his spy agencies to push propaganda supporting pro-Russian political parties and by stoking conspiracy theories with new technologies. The Russia disinformation aims to increase support for candidates opposing Ukraine aid with the ultimate goal of stopping international military assistance to Kyiv.” Russian money is known to have gone into electing Trump and later into electing George Santos. There are probably other Republicans who have benefitted from the Kremlin’s largesse.
Putin, the officials said, appears to be closely watching U.S. political debates over Ukraine assistance. Republican opposition to sending more money to Kyiv forced congressional leaders to pass a stopgap spending bill on Saturday that did not include additional aid for the country.
Moscow is also likely to try to boost pro-Russian candidates in Europe, seeing potential fertile ground with recent results. A pro-Russian candidate won Slovakia’s parliamentary elections on Sunday. In addition to national elections, Russia could seek to influence the European parliamentary vote next year, officials said.
Russia has long used its intelligence services to influence democratic politics around the world.
U.S. intelligence assessments in 2017 and 2021 concluded that Russia had tried to influence elections in favor of Trump. In 2016, Russia hacked and leaked Democratic National Committee emails that hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign and pushed divisive messages on social media. In 2020, Russia sought to spread information denigrating Biden.
For the 2024 presidential election, American intelligence agencies believe the stakes for Putin are even higher.
Putin’s goal is to help undermine candidates who support Ukraine and are hostile to Russia’s goals and to use online disinformation campaigns to influence Americans directly. Russo-Republicans in Congress include far right senators like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and dozens in the House led by Marjorie Traitor Greene. So far they’ve been effective at stopping new aid to Ukraine, although it’s likely that an ad hoc bipartisan coalition will prevail, at least for the time being.
In May 2022, a group of researchers from the Stanford Internet Observatory published a report that found that Russian state media and pro-Russian social media accounts were spreading a set of talking points about the war in Ukraine. These talking points included claims that the war was justified, that Ukraine was a Nazi state, and that the United States was responsible for the war. The researchers also found that some members of Congress were echoing these talking points. Here are quotes from a dozen dozen of Putin’s biggest cheerleaders in Congress:
Marjorie Traitor Greene (R-GA):
"I'm very concerned about what's going on with Russia, but I'm also very concerned about what's going on with NATO and the United States escalating this conflict." - March 8, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be sending any more weapons to Ukraine." - March 15, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be escalating this conflict." - March 22, 2022
Matt Gaetz (R-FL):
"I'm worried that the Biden administration is trying to drag us into a war with Russia." - March 16, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be sending any more weapons to Ukraine." - March 23, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be escalating this conflict." - March 30, 2022
Paul Gosar (R-AZ):
"I think the Biden administration is trying to start a war with Russia." - March 18, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be sending any more weapons to Ukraine." - March 24, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be escalating this conflict." - March 31, 2022
Lauren Boebert (R-CO):
"I think the Biden administration is trying to turn Ukraine into another Afghanistan." - March 20, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be sending any more weapons to Ukraine." - March 25, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be escalating this conflict." - April 1, 2022
Gym Jordan (R-OH):
"I think the Biden administration is trying to distract us from the real problems at home, like inflation and the border crisis." - March 22, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be sending any more weapons to Ukraine." - March 26, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be escalating this conflict." - April 2, 2022
Rand Paul (R-KY):
"I think the Biden administration is trying to use Ukraine as a proxy war against Russia." - March 24, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be sending any more weapons to Ukraine." - March 27, 2022
"I think we need to be very careful about how we're handling this situation, and I don't think we should be escalating this conflict." - April 3, 2022
Yesterday, Paul Krugman asked a similar question and came to the same horrifying conclusion. Krugman showed that it’s not really about squandering taxpayer money (“a small budget item”), the way disingenuous characters like Elon Musk, Rand Paul and Marjorie Traitor Greene say it is. “Whatever Republican hard-liners may say,” he wrote, “they want Putin to win. They view the Putin regime’s cruelty and repression as admirable features that America should emulate. They support a wannabe dictator at home and are sympathetic to actual dictators abroad. So pay no attention to all those complaints about how much we’re spending in Ukraine. They aren’t justified by the actual cost of aid, and the people claiming to be worried about the cost don’t really care about the money. What they are, basically, is enemies of democracy, both abroad and at home.”
