Fascist scum for Putin
By 
At the time of George W. Bush’s illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, it was essentially impossible to find anybody in America, no matter how passionately opposed to the war itself, who was willing to speak a good word about Saddam Hussein.
Today we have a situation in which an equally deplorable and far more dangerous dictator is invading a neighboring democracy, without even bothering with the sort of ridiculous lies about “self-defense” that the Bush administration mongered to our ever-credulous elite media, and the leader of one of America’s two major parties is praising this tyrant to the skies:
Shortly before Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled the start of a military operation in Ukraine, former President Donald Trump continued to lavish praise on the leader.
Speaking at a political fundraiser held at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump admired the Russian dictator’s strategic success.
“I mean, he’s taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions,” Trump said. “I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country — literally a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in.”
As Russia’s military began its assault on Ukraine, explosions were heard in Kyiv and Kharkiv, cities that are home to millions of Ukrainians. American intelligence agencies have warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could result in the deaths of 50,000 civilians, 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 10,000 Russian troops. The war between the two neighbors could also trigger a massive refugee crisis across Europe.
Shortly before Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled the start of a military operation in Ukraine, former President Donald Trump continued to lavish praise on the leader.
Speaking at a political fundraiser held at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump admired the Russian dictator’s strategic success.
“I mean, he’s taking over a country for $2 worth of sanctions,” Trump said. “I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country — literally a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in.
As Russia’s military began its assault on Ukraine, explosions were heard in Kyiv and Kharkiv, cities that are home to millions of Ukrainians. American intelligence agencies have warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could result in the deaths of 50,000 civilians, 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 10,000 Russian troops. The war between the two neighbors could also trigger a massive refugee crisis across Europe.
On Tuesday, Trump made headlines by praising Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine to support Russian-backed separatists in Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
“This is genius,” he said on a radio program. “So Putin is now saying it’s independent — a large section of Ukraine. I said, how smart is that? And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. 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. They’re gonna keep peace, all right.”
This is a situation that is every bit as unambiguous as that on September 1, 1939. I suppose that various Republicans will make vague mouth noises today about how Putin’s destruction of a neighboring country is a bad thing, but will there be any actual consequences to Donald Trump for his treasonous aid and comfort to revenant Russian imperialism, and its fascist ethno-nationalist leader?
Of course not, because Donald Trump is a fascist ethno-nationalist himself, who sincerely admires Vladimir Putin, not despite his vices, but precisely because of them.
The time for pretending is long past. You either stand with Putin, or you oppose him and everything he represents. Donald Trump — and far more significantly the current version of America’s Republican party — stands with Putin, no matter what mealy-mouthed lies Republican Congressional “leaders” may mutter today, precisely because Putin’s brand of reactionary authoritarian ethno-nationalism is also theirs as well, in all meaningful particulars.
The enemy isn’t just invading Ukraine: it has invaded the American body politic, and it must be extirpated like the cancer that it is.