Democrats See Trump's Pro-Russia Comments As a Political Gift.
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 2 years ago • 28 commentsBy: Nicole Gaudiano (Business Insider)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive at a joint press conference after their summit on July 16, 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. Chris McGrath/Getty Images
- Democrats decried Trump's praise for Putin as "undermining national security" and "near treasonous."
- But his comments also represent "a great opportunity for Democrats," one pollster said.
- Americans, and particularly those who are older, will not side with Russia, the pollster added.
Get a daily selection of our top stories based on your reading preferences. LoadingSomething is loading. Email address By clicking 'Sign up', you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Democrats say former President Donald Trump has done "amazing damage" to himself politically with his pro-Russian comments as Vladimir Putin carries out his invasion of Ukraine.
Democrats decried Trump's praise this week for Putin's "savvy" and his "genius" tactics in Ukraine as "undermining national security" and "near treasonous."
But his statements also represent "a great opportunity for Democrats," Democratic pollster Celinda Lake wrote in an email to Insider.
Americans, and particularly those who are older, will not side with Russia, she said. And, she added that Trump is also in the meantime reminding people of his "dangerous ties" to Russia and the disruptions to US elections.
"It reveals Biden to be a strong, patriotic leader," Lake said. "And Trump to be a self-centered politician who will sacrifice anything for his own advancement."
It's not just Trump embracing Putin. Other Republicans who have made pro-Russian comments have included Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who asked why "permanent Washington" hates Putin so much and who downplayed the current conflict as a "border dispute" before changing his tone on Thursday to blame for Putin.
Trump and Carlson "going out of their way to fawn over Putin" makes President Joe Biden's job harder from a policy standpoint as he tries to present a united front against Putin's invasion of Ukraine, said Brad Bannon, a pollster for Democrats, progressive issue groups and labor unions.
"However, from a political standpoint, it's manna from Heaven for Biden," Bannon said. "Here you've got Putin invading a fledgling democracy that can't defend itself. And meanwhile, you have the most prominent and visible Republicans in the country, you know, taking Putin's side and so it's a major political hit against the Republicans."
Republicans at the conservative CPAC conference in Orlando have been blaming Biden for Putin's invasion of Ukraine, saying he didn't invade any countries while Trump was in office. Trump also made the unfounded claim that it wouldn't have happened if he had still been president, even though Trump's first impeachment in 2019 was tied to his withholding of aid to Ukraine as the country battled Russian-backed aggression.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates hit back against Trump's comments on Wednesday, tweeting from his official account: Two nauseating, fearful pigs who hate what America stands for and whose every action is driven by their … own weakness and insecurity, rubbing their snouts together and celebrating as innocent people lose their lives."
Trump's latest "genius" and "savvy" comments won't "wear well" and will resurface every time there is an atrocity or civilians are killed, said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist and host of the podcast "That Trippi Show." His statements will hurt him politically with independents and some Republicans, and even so, he will likely double and triple down on them, he said.
"I think Trump did amazing damage to himself," Trippi said.
Eric Schultz, who served as deputy White House press secretary during the Obama administration, called the Republican Party's embrace of Putin "one of the saddest developments in US politics in decades" after having stood up to anti-democratic forces around the world.
"Voters seek reassurance, strength, competence, and that's what they're seeing right now from this White House," he added.
President Joe Biden at the Washington, DC, on January 27, 2022. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Bipartisan solidarity
A congressional delegation that attended the Munich Security Conference on February 21 was in "bipartisan solidarity" on how the US should respond to Putin's aggression, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Insider. Plenty of Republicans support Biden's approach "and are also cringing at the fact that Trump has perverted their party when it comes to issues like this," he said.
Van Hollen, a former chairman of the Senate Democrats' campaign arm, said Democrats must "appeal to the patriotism of Americans."
"I think most Americans would cringe at the idea that a former president is siding with the Russian leader against the United States and our NATO allies," he said. "I just think we have to keep raising that point."
Trump's "appalling comments should make every, I think, reasonable American shudder," said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat and key ally of Biden's, on Friday after returning from a week in Europe. They also provide a "distracting reminder" to US partners in Europe that, while he was president, "he repeatedly insulted, berated, undermined the partnership of NATO, our G-7 and EU allies. He actually called the EU an enemy of the United States."
But Coons said it's time to move beyond Trump's comments "and focus on President Biden's clear and forceful leadership and on the way that a bipartisan majority of the Senate supports him in his efforts to strengthen our determination to oppose Putin and Putin's aggression in Europe."
Tags
Who is online
64 visitors
There is a whole subset of traitorous right wingers.
Democrats say a whole lot of things which aren't true.
Got any more cartoons?
I know you do, because that seems to be your main way of debating.
I see cartoons are your preferred method of debate.
Have fun with it.
I'll look for a more formidable adversary.
One that can back up their claims with words, not little pictures.
Good...
Since you appreciate cartoons, here are a few:
He was speaking to an audience predisposed to lap it up.
Which does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to make his statement less true.
His statement was BULLSHIT PROPAGANDA which gets repeated ad nauseum by idiots and by reactionaries posting on social media sites.
Yawn.
Attempting to hide the truth of his statement--which many leftists continue DAILY to prove correct----won't change the absolute truth of what he said.
I get that it is probably hard to accept, but acceptance isn't necessary to those who live in cocoons, blissfully ignorant but assured they know all. The rest of us know the truth, and pitiful attempts to hide it won't stop us from knowing and seeing daily examples.
Typical leftist tactic to name call when confronted with the truth. Sad little lemmings.
Your comment is pathetic, but we are all aware that reactionaries use their typically condescending remarks to disguise their deep-seated feelings of inferiority and lack of self worth.
Arrogant, ignorant reactionaries waste everyone's time posting so much meaningless drivel it's no surprise how many people here now have them on ignore.
Hypocrisy much?
Doubling down?
Classic!
Tuckio Rose Carlson's treachery has been broadcast unedited on Russian television.
I've got to admit, Carlson seems to have gone off the deep end lately. Generally why I don't care for pundits of any stripe. They all do this. Some more than others.
It really is sickening to watch as they grovel at a putrid piece of shit murderous dictators feet.
To them "wokeness" is the worst thing on earth (next to black lives mattering).
The deep depravity of the Putin worshippers - Trump, Pompeo, Carlson - is more than sickening.
Yep, but what do you expect from a guy that puts in sanctions and then after they fail completely says the sanctions were never meant to stop Putin from attacking and to get back with him in a month to determine how effective they are? I am sure all the Ukrainians were glad to hear about his concern for them and will get back to him in a month if they are still alive.
And they should see it as a gift. Problem is it's mostly partisan posturing which is what one should expect during an election year. I don't think it's going to make a big difference in November but we shall see.
It won’t.
Democrats can TDS pontificate all they want. Americans vote with their pocketbooks and our pocketbooks are under assault right now and it won’t get better any day soon under Biden policies. Those policies will force it to get worse.
Each day November becomes more and more of a blood bath for Dems. Some here might not survive it with what little sanity they may still be able to muster.
"and focus on President Biden's clear and forceful leadership and on the way that a bipartisan majority of the Senate supports him in his efforts to strengthen our determination to oppose Putin and Putin's aggression in Europe."
While there are some countries spending time and money building up their armies and planning land grabs The democrats are using their time attacking innocent statues, teaching children they are racist in a racist society and focusing on the correct pronoun to use,
Putin and our other adversaries are laughing at our weakness and realizing now is the time to move.
In this action, Putin has proven to be a fuckin idiot - a tactician on the order of Sadam Hussein. Trump’s praise has to prove the last straw.
Just tell Trump that there are no KFC's, McD's, or golf courses in Russia and he will no longer support Putin.
"Voters seek reassurance, strength, competence, and that's what they're seeing right now from this White House," he added."
And Brandon has displayed none of that.