XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism, rec.arts.tv   
   XPost: alt.survival, talk.politics.misc, soc.culture.russia   
   From: trumptheluser01@hotmail.com   
      
   The Republicans have become the party of Russia. This makes me sick.   
      
      
   Of all the changes that have occurred in our politics since the rise of   
   Donald Trump, the most gut-wrenching for me personally is to see the   
   Republican Party transformed into the Kremlin’s “useful idiots.” As a   
   young refugee from the Soviet Union growing up in Southern California in   
   the 1980s, I was attracted to the GOP because it was the party of moral   
   clarity — the party willing to stand up to the “evil empire.” How far we   
   have come — in the wrong direction.   
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   Today, we have a Republican president who, while reluctantly acceding to   
   sanctions against Russia, incessantly praises its dictator, Vladimir Putin   
   (“a terrific person”); tries to bring Putin back to the Group of Seven;   
   conceals the details of their meetings; undermines Ukraine, a victim of   
   Russian aggression, by harping on its corruption while ignoring Russia’s   
   own kleptocracy; allows the Russians to take possession of U.S. bases in   
   Syria; and propagates Russian propaganda blaming Ukraine for 2016 election   
   interference. Trump is joined in spreading Russian disinformation by his   
   secretary of state and other supporters, such as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-   
   Calif.) and Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), even though the U.S.   
   intelligence community has exposed claims of Ukrainian election   
   interference as a “fictional narrative.”   
      
   Max Boot: I never want to hear about Hillary Clinton's emails again   
      
   Fox News host Tucker Carlson, one of the biggest stars on the president’s   
   favorite television network and an informal adviser to the president, goes   
   even further in expressing his admiration for Russia. Last week, he said:   
   “Why do I care what is going on in the conflict between Ukraine and   
   Russia?! And I’m serious. Why do I care? Why shouldn’t I root for Russia?   
   Which I am.” Carlson claimed to be joking. But then this week, he said:   
   “We should probably take the side of Russia if we have to choose between   
   Russia and Ukraine. That’s my view.”   
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   How did we get to the point where a “conservative” TV star openly sides   
   with an anti-American dictatorship over a pro-American democracy? Most,   
   but not all, of the blame lies with Trump. His affinity for Russia is as   
   deep as it is mysterious. Has he been compromised by Russian intelligence?   
   Is he financially dependent on Russian business partners? Or does he   
   simply admire the way that Putin has destroyed Russian democracy? We still   
   don’t know, because special counsel Robert S. Mueller III did not release   
   any findings from the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation.   
      
   But while Trump’s motives remain murky, his admiration for Russia has been   
   clear from the start. Almost exactly four years ago — on Dec. 18, 2015 —   
   Trump was asked by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough about Putin’s habit of killing   
   journalists and invading neighboring countries. Trump defended Putin as “a   
   leader, unlike what we have in this country,” and said, “Our country does   
   plenty of killing, too, Joe.”   
   Opinion | Impeachment: Why so much is at stake   
   The impeachment inquiry into President Trump has exposed troubling cracks   
   in the political system. (The Washington Post)   
      
   Republicans knew this but nominated Trump anyway. Then, during the summer   
   of 2016, came the Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee, a   
   social media blitz, and other actions designed to change the outcome of   
   the U.S. election. Trump made full use of the stolen DNC emails and he   
   invited Russian intelligence to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails, too   
   (“Russia, if you’re listening”). He also hired a campaign chairman, Paul   
   Manafort, who had a long history of corrupt dealings with Russian   
   oligarchs, and gutted the language concerning Russia in the Republican   
   platform.   
      
   The Republican Party could not have cared less. Senate Majority Leader   
   Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to join the Obama administration in   
   condemning Russia’s attack on our election. The GOP thus became complicit   
   in Russian election interference.   
      
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   In for a kopek, in for a ruble: The Republicans continued defending Trump   
   even after it emerged that he had tried to build a Trump Tower in Moscow   
   while running for president and that members of his campaign’s high   
   command had met with Russian emissaries promising dirt on Clinton.   
   Republicans were not even fazed when Trump fired FBI Director James B.   
   Comey in May 2017 to stop the investigation of “this Russia thing,” or   
   when in July 2018 he was utterly supine before Putin in Helsinki.   
      
   While Republicans are primarily motivated by Trump toadyism, there is also   
   an element of ideological affinity for Russia. While all Republicans were   
   staunchly opposed to the “godless” Soviet regime, some of them admire   
   Putin’s fascist regime, which combines crony capitalism with ultra-   
   nationalism. Putin has marketed himself to credulous conservatives as a   
   champion of Christianity, traditional values and the white race. As my   
   Post colleague Christian Caryl noted, this propaganda has no basis in   
   fact: To take but two examples, Russia has much stricter gun control laws   
   than the United States and a much higher rate of abortion. But Republican   
   Russophilia is so strong that a Russian agent had no difficulty in   
   infiltrating the National Rifle Association. A high-level NRA delegation   
   visited Moscow in 2015 and a group of Republican lawmakers visited Moscow   
   on the Fourth of July 2018.   
      
   The percentage of Republicans who view Russia as an ally has nearly   
   doubled since Trump took office. The party’s transformation into a Russian   
   lickspittle makes me sick; “GOP” might as well stand for “Gang of Putin.”   
      
   That so many Republicans are just fine with it is yet another sign of how   
   a once-grand party has lost its way. By turning into apologists and   
   advocates for a Russian dictator, the Republican Party has become all that   
   it once despised.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)