Maddow Weblog | On Ukraine, GOP’s Vance pushes claims that Russia desires to listen to

It’s been a few weeks since Home International Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul was surprisingly candid about one in every of his social gathering’s route. “I believe Russian propaganda has made its approach into america, sadly, and it’s contaminated a great chunk of my social gathering’s base,” the Texas Republican complained.

Lower than every week later, the Home Intelligence Committee’s Republican chair, Ohio’s Mike Turner, echoed the sentiment, conceding that a few of his GOP colleagues are peddling rhetoric that’s “straight coming from Russia.” Quickly after, former Protection Secretary William Cohen, a longtime GOP lawmaker, said he believes many congressional Republicans are actually working as “the arm of Vladimir Putin.”

If these rebukes had been designed to discourage GOP officers from making the type of public feedback the Kremlin desires to listen to, they don’t look like having their supposed impact.

On Friday, for instance, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast and continued to hawk the identical rhetoric she’s pushed since Russia invaded Ukraine greater than two years in the past. “Vladimir Putin has not stated he desires to go march throughout Europe and take Europe,” the Georgia Republican said, as if the Russian autocrat is a reputable supply of knowledge.

The identical day, The New York Instances revealed an op-ed from Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio — a persistent opponent of U.S. assist for Ukraine, and a person who has professed his total indifference to Ukraine’s future — which argued {that a} Russian victory is inevitable.

The truth is much extra complicated. Certainly, simply hours after the Ohioan’s op-ed reached the general public, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner revealed a notable item to social media, noting simply how a lot injury Ukraine did over the course of the primary two years of the battle to Russia’s army capabilities.

Whether or not the Virginia Democrat was directing his message to his GOP colleague was unclear, however the missive nonetheless countered Vance’s case for defeatism. The concept Russia is just too robust and dominant to lose, so the West ought to merely enable Putin to participate of japanese Europe by pressure, is belied by current proof.

The Senate Republican nonetheless saved happening the identical path, sitting down with CNN’s Jake Tapper yesterday and arguing that america ought to encourage Ukraine to “take a defensive posture,” as an alternative of launching counteroffensives towards their Russian invaders.

It fell to the host to remind his guest, “The counteroffensive is inside Ukraine, although. They’re not looking for land from Russia.”

It’s seemingly that officers in Moscow had been happy with Vance’s newest rhetorical push, however Individuals must be far much less impressed.

This text was initially revealed on MSNBC.com