Certain Republicans are continuing to loudly criticize President Joe Biden amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis to the point that GOP’ers are essentially playing right into the ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, from the specific point of Russia’s interest in keeping Ukraine out of NATO, which Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) apparently supports, to the broader notion of depicting U.S. leadership as weak and frazzled. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) — who, it’s worth noting, is an active member of the military in addition to his Congressional service — spoke out against an anti-American stunt from the official House GOP Twitter account this week, characterizing a post in which those behind it described Biden as weak as a disgrace.
The original House GOP post included an image of Biden walking away from speaking to reporters and said that the scene was “what weakness on the world stage looks like.” Kinzinger pointedly chimed in as follows:
‘As still “technically” a member of house Republicans, let me, with all my might, condemn this damn awful tweet during this crisis. You can criticize policy but this is insane and feeds into Putin’s narrative. But hey, retweets amirite?’
Ret. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, whose area of expertise includes policy relevant to the Russia-Ukraine stand-off, recently made a related point, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin feels as though he has an opening for action in relation to Ukraine in significant part because of the divisions that have been fostered in the United States by Trump and certain allies of his. As Vindman explained things, he has “every reason to believe that if we had not had an insurrection on January 6, because of President Trump, President Putin would not believe that there’s an opportunity, there’s a vulnerability in the United States. The hyper-polarization that Trump continues to nourish in the United States helps… [Putin] has major talking heads on Fox News, like Tucker Carlson, pandering to his interests, drawing false equivalencies between the U.S. and Russia. Really kind of fanboying over authoritarianism.”
The Republicans are setting up a "heads we win, tails you lose" dynamic on Ukraine. They want to attack Biden for being weak and attack him if sanctions lead to higher gas prices.
The only question is whether the press continue will continue to pretend the GOP is on the level
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) February 23, 2022
Meanwhile, Russian authorities recently announced troop deployments into regions of Ukraine that the Russian government has now recognized as independent countries, contrary to the facts on the ground. The Biden administration has unveiled sharp economic restrictions on the areas — banning any U.S. person from launching any new investments there — alongside sanctions targeting interests including major Russian banks. Biden also stated this week that he had “authorized additional movements of U.S. forces and equipment already stationed in Europe to strengthen our Baltic allies, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.” There are no apparent plans for a U.S. military presence within the boundaries of Ukraine to counter both current and potential Russian aggression, although the Biden administration has been providing military aid to authorities in Ukraine.
NBC News: Two sources familiar with the matter says President Biden has interviewed three finalists for the Supreme Court vacancy, Ketanji Brown Jackson, J. Michelle Childs and Leondra Kruger. @NBCNews
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 23, 2022
