XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism, rec.arts.tv   
   XPost: alt.survival, talk.politics.misc, soc.culture.russia   
   From: liamhardshell@bikerider.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.   
   >Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.   
   >   
   >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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   >week   
   >   
   >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)