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After Vladimir Putin’s Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine roughly three years ago, the response from American officials was immediate, bipartisan, full-throated and unambiguous: The United States stood with our Ukrainian allies,
The response on Capitol Hill was not, however, quite unanimous. When the House easily passed a nonbinding resolution in support of Ukrainians in 2022, for example, three Republicans opposed the measure. When the House passed a bill directing the Biden administration to collect evidence of Russian war crimes, six Republicans voted against it. When the House passed a largely symbolic measure, pressing the White House to support Ukraine through confiscated Russian oligarchs’ assets, four Republicans opposed it. When the House passed a resolution condemning Russia for kidnapping Ukrainian children, nine Republicans voted against it.
This far-right contingent was small but consistent, and its members stood out. In fact, as regular readers might recall, it wasn’t long before this GOP faction picked up some unflattering nicknames.
Then-Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, for example, labeled this group the Republican Party’s “Putin wing.” The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called them the “GOP’s pro-Putin faction.” A Washington Post report added that these Republicans have formed “what some Democrats (and even critics on the right) have labeled ‘Putin’s Caucus.’”
This contingent, however, was easy to shrug off in 2022 as relatively inconsequential. The faction’s members launched fights that they inevitably lost. They were seen, rightfully, as a fringe GOP offshoot, far from their party’s mainstream, making an unpersuasive case.
Three years later, the Republican Party’s “Putin wing” isn’t on the GOP fringe, it’s in the Oval Office.
Donald Trump has spent much of his second term in the White House positioning his administration against our Ukrainian allies, accusing Ukraine of “starting” the war that Russia started, excluding Ukrainian officials from diplomatic talks about Ukraine’s future, vouching for Putin’s trustworthiness and interest in “peace,” and repeatedly labeling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator,” all while echoing Kremlin talking points — again. The American president even said he’s prepared to reward Russia by welcoming it back into the G7.
It was against this backdrop that The New York Times reported:
The United States is opposing calling Russia the aggressor in the war with Ukraine in a Group of 7 statement being drafted to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, four senior officials from countries involved said on Thursday.
According to the Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, Canada’s delegation to the G7 circulated a draft statement that “used language that retained the pro-Ukraine tone the group of allies adopted after the full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.”
At that point, according to the New York Times and a related report from The Financial Times, the Trump administration’s delegation edited the draft, removing phrases “that could be interpreted as being pro-Ukraine.”
After this reporting reached the public, Trump appeared on a Fox News radio program, where host Brian Kilmeade seemed to launch an effort to guide his guest into criticizing Putin. The Republican president ignored the coaching.
“I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you,” Trump said during the on-air appearance, referring to Zelenskyy. “He makes it very hard to make deals.”
Soon after, Trump spoke to a group of governors at the White House, where he proceeded to chide Ukraine some more.
As we’ve discussed, presidents only get so much political capital. Trump is investing his in support of Putin’s authoritarian regime in Moscow.
One can only assume that the House GOP’s “Putin wing” is delighted to welcome the president as a member.