Why Is the GOP Siding With Putin?: TH
- Why Is the GOP Siding With Putin? Thom Hartmann, Daily Kos, April 7, 2022. -Ed.
The Republican Party is committed to tearing America apart by pitting us against each other. Why would they do this? Here’s a clue: 63 Republicans voted this week against a resolution in support of NATO. Yes, they voted for Putin’s side of the war. Seriously. Although it’s been largely ignored by American TV media, you can read all about it over at The Washington Post in an article by Aaron Blake titled: “Why 30 percent of the House GOP voted against reaffirming NATO support.”
Their unflinching support of Putin comes shortly after Koch Industries announced they would be joining Halliburton and Cargill among the handful of American companies staying in Russia. It’s easy to understand a privately held company that’s not accountable to public shareholders choosing to defy the Biden administration and world opinion by staying in Russia to squeeze out more profits. It’s also arguably unsurprising that Koch subsidiaries would stay in Russia, given that the family’s patriarch, Fred Koch, made his initial fortune helping build out Stalin’s oil infrastructure back in the day.
What is surprising, though, is that 63 Republican members of Congress would vote this week against a resolution in support of NATO. Which raises the question that America media seems to be ignoring: Why? Why would 63 Republican members of Congress seemingly join with Koch and Halliburton in refusing to go along with censuring Russia? Is it possible they share a fondness for Putin’s authoritarianism, white ethno-nationalism, contempt for one-person-one-vote democracy, hatred of LGBTQ people, and contempt for both science and the rule of law? Or were these Republicans just moving their feet when their morbidly rich paymasters yelled, “Dance!”? Or both?
That Republican vote against NATO comes just a few days after a Koch-affiliated nonprofit sent out a memo filled with what some would describe as pro-Putin talking points on the war. Judd Legum broke the story yesterday at his Popular Information site, noting the memo advised its readers that “overly-broad sanctions rarely work as intended and often strengthen the authoritarian regimes.” Its authors add, according to Legum, that it’s important for Russia to achieve a partial “victory” in their war of aggression. It’s been 43 days since Putin declared war on an independent democratic republic that represented no military threat to Russia whatsoever...
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