The future Fox News star Tucker Carlson-soon to be Russia’s preeminent champion in U.S. White nationalists had acclaimed Putin as a savior of Christian civilization for years before the Trump campaign began.īut back then, none of this ideological or opportunistic pro-Putinism was all that connected to the world of electoral politics or mainstream conservative thought. A lucrative online marketplace for pro-Moscow messages and conspiracy theories already existed. High-profile conservatives accepted free trips and speaking fees from organizations linked to the Russian government pre-Trump. Buchanan-style reactionary nationalism exercised a strong influence on many of the next generation of rightist writers and talkers.īy the mid-2010s, groups such as the National Rifle Association were susceptible to infiltration by Russian-intelligence assets. As early as 2013, the prominent social conservative Pat Buchanan had written a column that seemed to hail Putin as “one of us,” an ally in the fight against abortion and homosexuality. Trump himself received a shade over 46 percent of the popular vote-a slightly larger share than John McCain got amid the economic catastrophe of 2008, but less than Mitt Romney in 2012, John Kerry in 2004, and Al Gore in 2000.Īnne Applebaum: The American face of authoritarian propagandaĮven if Trump had lost, there would still have been an enlarged constituency for American Putinism among far-right ideologues and social-media influencers. In the election, Republicans lost two seats in the Senate and six in the House. After the Access Hollywood tape leaked, many prominent Republicans, including then-Speaker Paul Ryan, distanced themselves from Trump. If Trump had not caught a lucky bounce in the Electoral College in November 2016, he’d have gotten the Rohrabacher treatment too. McCarthy responded, “Swear to God.” (Dana Rohrabacher was a Republican House member from California, a notorious Putin apologist, and a joke figure among his caucus colleagues despite almost 30 years’ seniority in the House, he was kept away from major committee assignments.) Kevin McCarthy, a future House speaker, was inadvertently recorded in a June 2016 meeting with other Republican congressional leaders, saying, “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.” Some in the room laughed. Trump changed all that-with a lot of help from pro-Putin voices on Fox News and right-wing social media.Ī t the beginning of Trump’s ascendancy in the GOP, even his future allies in Congress distrusted his pro-Russian affinities. Only about 20 percent of Democrats expressed confidence in Putin in a 2015 Pew survey, and 17 percent of Republicans. As for Putin personally, his rule was condemned by overwhelming majorities of both parties. After the annexation, Republicans were more than twice as likely as Democrats to describe Russia as “an adversary” of the United States: 42 percent to 19 percent. In a Pew Research survey in March of that year, 58 percent of Republicans complained that President Barack Obama’s response was “not tough enough,” compared with just 22 percent of Democrats. Russia invaded eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea in spring 2014. Pre-Trump, Republicans expressed much more hawkish views on Russia than Democrats did. Ukraine’s expendability to congressional Republicans originates in the sinister special relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Only Ukraine is treated as something to be bartered, as if at a county fair. They would never say that tax cuts must wait until after the border is secure. But who on earth sets a price that could stymie something they affirmatively want to do? Republicans have not conditioned their support for Social Security on getting a border deal. The notional answer is that Republicans must have a border-security deal as the price for Ukraine aid. Yet somehow this allegedly united commitment is not translating into action. Supposedly, all leaders of Congress are united in their commitment to Ukraine-so the new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, insists. T he White House and Senate continue to work frantically toward a deal to supply Ukraine before Congress recesses for Christmas.
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