How the biggest pro-Trump Republicans seriously misread the Russia moment
In late January, as Russia’s troops amassed along Ukraine’s borders, many of the GOP’s most Trump-friendly figures preached caution over confrontation. According to Axios’ reporting, the GOP’s up-and-comers feared they would “alienate the base” of the Republican Party by pushing too hard against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his ambitions for Europe. They thought they had their finger on the pulse of an ascendant movement within the Republican Party. They were wrong.
“You’d think we would have learned our lesson by now when it comes to policing the world and ‘democracy building’ thousands of miles away,” said Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters. “I gotta be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance asserted, citing domestic border security and opioid addiction as more pressing national emergencies. Even after Moscow moved troops into Ukraine, the avatars of populist Republicanism continued to remind right-wing voters that they should care more about cultural conflict than the real thing. “Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Has he shipped every middle-class job in my town to Russia?” Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked incredulously. “Is he teaching my children to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Is he trying to snuff out Christianity? Does he eat dogs?”
If the aperture through which you view conservative politics is narrowed to the point that it is limited to only Trump’s presidency, this is a defensible political strategy. After all, the former president still enjoys the affection of a critical mass of Republican voters, and Trump’s rhetoric when it came to Russia was reliably favorable toward Putin. But the MAGA wing of the GOP misjudged the mood on the American right when it came to Russia.
When President Joe Biden gifted Putin a bipartisan summit in June 2021, CBS News/YouGov found 62 percent of Republicans described the Russian leader as “unfriendly” or “an enemy.” Fully two-thirds of GOP respondents agreed with the idea that Biden “should take a tough stand” against Russia. In late January, the Pew Research Center found that this sentiment had not abated. Most self-identified Republicans called Russia a “competitor,” while another 39 percent described Russia as an “enemy.” Moreover, Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s border represented either a “major” or “minor threat” to U.S. interests.
Last month, on the eve of Russia’s invasion, another CBS News/YouGov survey found that only 9 percent of Republicans supported Russia over Ukraine while nearly 60 percent of Republicans accused Biden of being “too friendly” toward Putin. And today, with Russia on the march, Quinnipiac pollsters found that 74 percent of GOP voters don’t think Biden’s response to the invasion of Ukraine has been tough enough. Two-thirds of Republican respondents support accepting Ukrainian refugees into the country and the same number back a ban on importing Russian oil, even if it means higher prices at the pump.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/russia-trump-s-greatest-republican-allies-drastically-misread-signs-n1291736
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