Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) released a video message this week in which he absolutely tore into the “Putin sympathy” that has been expressed by some Republicans and the complicity that’s been personified by other GOP’ers. He also shared sharp condemnation for the childishness shown by prominent Republicans amid devastating threats to the already fragile global order as it stood — “I mean, there is a genocide going on in Ukraine, and the outrage is over what’s happening in Walt Disney,” Kinzinger remarked. Among other examples of right-wing outrage over Disney, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has taken it in what could be described as a remarkably personal sense that the company expressed opposition to his so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The new legislation restricts classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, specifically targeting LGBTQ people.
⚡️ EU to expand sanctions on Russian elite, expel several Russian diplomats.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell announced on April 5 that the EU will sanction more politicians and businessmen, and declared some officials of the Russian Mission to the EU “persona non grata.”
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 5, 2022
As Kinzinger put it:
‘I’m in here looking at Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who hasn’t really said a word about his members that have shown Putin sympathy. I never could have imagined my party would not just even have somebody that’s showing Putin sympathy but would not vomit them out if they rose their ugly head.’
⚡️ Zelensky addresses UN Security Council: Russia uses veto as a weapon, UN system must be transformed.
He said that the UN had failed to provide security in the world and called for reforming the organization, restoring the “strength of the UN Charter.”
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 5, 2022
As just one example of the right-wing rhetoric that’s essentially propped up Vladimir Putin amid the war crimes in Ukraine that his forces have perpetrated, remarks from Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) casting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a misinformation threat were apparently shared by Russian government broadcasters. And Carlson: well, an early March Russian government document telling media outlets aligned with the Putin regime that it was “essential” to prominently use Carlson in their coverage aptly sums up what’s going on there. Whether it’s supporting Russian lies about biological weapons labs or basically excusing the Putin regime of at least some responsibility for the Ukraine violence, Carlson is a Putin ally. His claimed intentions don’t matter — the alliance with Putin is just the documented result of what he’s saying and doing. Pointedly, Kinzinger added as follows:
‘I’ve got to tell you — we’ve got a bunch of children in this job. We’ve got a bunch of people that sit around — the world order is being challenged for the first time since World War II, and they’re sitting around thinking today about how we can win our next election, what the newest outrage is, what’s the next thing we can do to get people angry and upset and get their money from them for our re-election. We are being governed by a bunch of children — by a bunch of people that are not serious about running the United States of America and truly don’t understand the threat that’s out there, from Vladimir Putin, from China, and from some of these actors in the world that want to destroy our place here. I mean, there is a genocide going on in Ukraine, and the outrage is over what’s happening in Walt Disney.’
Check out Kinzinger’s remarks below:
Here’s the thing. It will get better. We will endure… but we have to recognize the problem to present solutions.
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) April 5, 2022
