Ever since Donald Trump assumed the presidency with the support of Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader has enjoyed a confoundingly high favorability rating among the Republican base.
According to an Economist/YouGov poll published last June, 18 percent of Republicans held a favorable view of Putin. The same pollster found in January, as Russian troops massed on Ukraine's border, that 62 percent of Republicans regarded Putin as a stronger leader than President Biden.
The GOP started going downhill in 2002, as we watched Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney determining a war in Iraq for no good reason and the Bush Administrations out of controlled spending. The Republican Party's embrace of autocrats such as Putin, and their leader Trump who seems to have an unfathomable affection for Putin that seems to have swayed the minds of many Republicans.
Putin is a murderous dictator who wants to reconstitute the Soviet Union, which was dedicated to the death and destruction of the United States.
Regardless of GOP views going forward, it is essential that the U.S. do everything in its power to assist the Ukrainians in their life-or-death struggle with the Russian dictator. The fate of that beleaguered country and our NATO allies hangs in the balance.
While Vladimir Putin certainly has people operating within the United States to promote his interests clandestinely, he has plenty of characters, in the Republican Party who do so perfectly openly.
read full article: Vladimir Putin provides an eye-opener for his GOP fans in America (msn.com)
