Putin’s invasion of Ukraine abetted by “conservatives”
Vladimir Putin’s lunatic speeches of the past few weeks have led precisely to where we all knew they were headed—to a war on the sovereign nation of Ukraine.
Listening to Putin’s rambling blather, filled with fictional history, angry vituperation, grievance-fueled arrogance, pseudo-religious fervor, and spiteful self-righteousness, I’m struck by the similarity of his rhetoric to that of—American Republican politicians.
Tom Cotton, Ted Cruise, Ron Johnson, Ron DeSantis, Majorie Taylor Greene—a whole flock of right-wing ignoramuses use the same rhetorical excesses as Putin. Why is that?
Because, as I pointed out in four earlier posts, it is in the DNA of Republicans to worship power.
And to American Republicans, Putin looks like the power incarnate. He doesn't let himself get distracted by the trappings of society like law, respect for others, or justice. He just takes what he wants and doesn’t waste any time about it.
This is why American Republicans flocked to Trump. His unconcern for “political correctness,” for not cheating, for not taking advantage, for not breaking the law showed Republicans what they most wanted to see: the “strength” of someone who wields power unscrupulously.
Republicans admire Trump because he gets what he wants and gets away with breaking all the rules. They wish they could have that kind of power.
And so it’s no surprise that the Trumpists and the Fox News hacks started admiring Putin around the time Trump got into the White House. They were enthralled with the external similarity between the two. They both used power shamelessly and got away with it.
After Trump’s demise, Republicans started playing up Putin and other autocrats. Such tyrants were “strong” because of their flagrant use of power. Joe Biden, on the other hand, had to be “weak” because he wouldn't use power indiscriminately and preferred to abide by the rules of civilized societies.
And now, after Putin has launched the biggest land war in Europe since World War II, there are still Republicans in America admiring Putin and abusing Biden.
Apart from their appalling indecency and anti-patriotism, these Republicans and continuing to abet Putin.
They appear on American TV talking down Biden and showing “respect” for Putin’s “savvy” and “determination.” I won’t insult your intelligence by listing examples. You can find all you need here.
Putin loves TV appearances by Trump, Mike Pompeo, Tucker Carlson, and other Republican idiots. He spreads them all over Russian media as evidence that the West agrees with him.
And he’s partly right. Republicans and right-wing zealots agree with him because they are power-crazed. They dream of being able to take anything they want, do anything they want without having to pay any consequences for it. They fantasize about being little Putins themselves, and they have been getting more and more public about behaving like tin-pot dictators.
It’s a feedback loop of power-mongering. Putin promoted Trump in order to get a pass on some of his evil actions around the world. Trump taught Putin that leaders could be much more arrogant and vicious in office and get away with it. Putin learns that lesson and become the first international thug to invade a sovereign European nation since World War II. Now Republicans and Fox News jerks are learning from Putin that it’s OK to support wars of empire in American politics. They are sucking us all down into a whirlpool of evil.
So, yes. Republicans are abetting Putin. They can’t help themselves. They hate Democrats so much that it warps their souls. They can’t even love America enough to admit that wars of empire should have been put to bed seventy years ago. It undercuts their hatred too much for them to be Americans before Republicans.
It’s time for me to talk about the root of all this “conservative” BS. In my four earlier articles, I showed how every flaw in the Republican soul goes back to the love of power. But I also hinted that there is sometime more fundamental than power-madness, something that kindles and stokes it.
It’s time to talk about that. And to show how it fuels both “conservatism” and its logical endpoint—despotism.
That is coming in the next few posts.