America needs to confront why so many political & media elites actively supported a brutal invasion by a flailing authoritarian petrostate against a sovereign democracy. And how Republican Party establishment & mainstream media provided the necessary cover to get US to this point
(1) Republican Party leadership in early 90's realized that they either needed to have more popular policies, or chip away at the democracy, to maintain a grip on power: they chose the latter. As their policies became more extreme, their attacks on democracy became more extreme.
(2) Entire Republican & mainstream media elite treated politics as a game, where the only thing that counted was power & money: no one considered the human impact to non-elite or long-range implications for all of US of their extreme polices or growing authoritarianism.
Then along came Trump, an obviously unqualified, corrupt, cruel, wannabe authoritarian, and the Republican elite just treated his regime as a natural progression, and the mainstream media treated it as a game (don't take him seriously or literally, right?)
Minutes before Putin's military swarmed into Ukraine, MSM was examining Trump praising Putin as a "genius" for his "real-estate" grab as just part of the game, not once stepping back to think it is *insane* that a former US president publicly praising authoritarian conquest.
Creeping authoritarianism is not something we should just accept as a naturel part of a democracy: it is literally the end of the democracy, and the mainstream political, media, corporate elite should be able to take firm stance against it. Also, elites: politics is not a game.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
@truescotsman7 Sorry, should have said right-wing and/or Russian trolls ... You guys are so good at catching technical details, thanks for keeping me on my toes!
Quick rehash: I tweeted earlier today about the 52 of 53 Republicans who voted in February of 2020 that blackmailing Ukraine (withholding appropriated military materiel in exchange for anti-Biden propaganda) was not abusing power (i.e., all good) were useless hypocrites today.
Here is the roll-call senate.gov/legislative/LI…. Now apparently some folks are concerned because this vote did not actually stop the aid (which I did not say it did), just affirmed these 52 Republican senators are cool with the blackmail.
In February 2020, just 2 years ago, 52 of 53 Republican senators voted to allow (then) President Trump to block congressionally authorized sale of critical military supplies to the courageous President Zelensky of Ukraine, unless Ukraine manufactured anti-Democratic propaganda.
Whatever those 52 senators say now about how tough they're on Putin (criticizing Biden for not being tough enough) is insulting & useless BS until they acknowledge & apologize for their vote to allow Trump to blackmail Zelensky for their support of authoritarianism over democracy
This not going to stop Russia from eventually capturing Ukraine if Putin is willing to absorb a horrific loss of Russian & Ukrainian lives, but (1) this ensures the fight will extract a much higher cost than Putin expected (2) portents a bloody & costly occupation.
Russian trolls out here saying all Ukraine needs to do is surrender to Putin, and all of this suffering & death will end, but Ukrainians know that a Russian occupation will also have suffering & death history.com/news/ukrainian…
"The Ukrainian famine—known as the Holodomor, a combination of the Ukrainian words for 'starvation' and 'to inflict death'—by one estimate claimed the lives of 3.9 million people, about 13 percent of the population ...
2016: Russia cyber-attacks US to help elect Trump; Republicans gut anti-Russian policy from platform
2017: Republicans obstruct investigation into ongoing Russian cyber-attack on US
2018: Trump prostates himself to Putin in Helsinki, declaring his trust of Russia over US
2019: Trump withholds military aid to Ukraine, trying to blackmail them into creating anti-Biden propaganda, Republican back Trump's blackmail attempt
Throughout Trump Presidency: Trump undermines NATO military alliance
2021: Trump attempts coup against US
2022: Trump praises Putin's invasion of Ukraine calling Putin "genius" & "savvy"
Republicans, who backed all of this, claim Putin attacked sovereign democracy Ukraine (after swearing it wouldn't happen) because Biden not tough enough on Putin
Republican position of cheerleading Russian autocrat Putin's invasion of the sovereign democracy Ukraine, while advocating for our potential invasions of Canada and/or Mexico is unique mix of insane, absurd, unpopular, dangerous for US.
Republicans will argue that public cheerleading of Russian invasion of Ukraine & possible US invasion of Mexico come from Trump, and that they are sadly unfamiliar w/ any words that come out of his mouth, but since he their Dear Leader & likely 2024 nominee, I take him seriously.
Imagine telling someone just a few years ago that autocratic Russia would invade a neighboring democracy and (1) Republicans would be rooting for a bloody Russian victory (2) Democrats would be for sending military aid to democracy, sanctions, but against US military engagement.
Likely 2024 Republican nominee: "I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine - of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. So Putin is now saying, "It's independent,' a large section of Ukraine. I said, 'How smart is that?' 1/6
Likely 2024 Republican nominee (con't): And he's gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That's strongest peace force... We could use that on our southern border. That's the strongest peace force I've ever seen. There were more army tanks than I've ever seen. 2/6
Likely 2024 Republican nominee (con't): They're going to keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here's a guy who's very savvy... I know him very well. Very, very well. By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable. 3/6