ArcaMax

And it clearly is an anti-democracy movement — Putin and Trump against the major democracies of the West, including America. Last month, it was reported that during a private meeting in 2020, Trump went further than he did Saturday night. He told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that “if Europe is under attack we will never come to help you and to support you.” And, “NATO is dead.”

What is Trump getting out of this? For years, Russia has been pumping disinformation into American social media and by all accounts continues to do so. I feel confident in saying that Russia is not doing it in support of Joe Biden.

While we’re at it, let’s not forget Trump’s and Putin’s favorite media mouthpiece, Tucker Carlson — the darling of America’s anti-democracy movement.

In Carlson’s video explaining his decision to interview Putin last week, Carlson asserted that Putin has been “misunderstood” and that Americans and other English-speaking people are unaware of what’s really happening regarding the war in Ukraine. “No one has told them the truth,” Carlson said. The English-speaking “outlets are corrupt. They lie to their readers and viewers.”

Putin’s purpose in doing the interview was to get the West to make a favorable deal to end the war — a deal exactly like the one Trump and Carlson have been touting: Cement Russia’s control of the Ukrainian territory it has already captured and put a more Russia-friendly government in Kyiv.

I’m old enough to remember when the Republican Party and its spokesmen were intensely anti-communist, anti-Soviet, and anti-Russian. I remember Republican lawmakers blaming Democrats for allowing Russia to occupy and then defeat the revolution in Hungary, in 1956. I remember Republican lawmakers outraged about Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague, in 1968.

Now, a Russian president can invade neighboring Ukraine without any provocation —targeting civilian populations, killing and injuring hundreds of thousands — and what do Republican lawmakers do? They refuse to help Ukraine — encouraging Putin’s aggression elsewhere.

Why? Because of Donald Trump’s love affair with Putin, which turns on Putin’s obvious support for Trump in the 2024 election. And Trump’s increasing control over the Republican Party.

This is what the mainstream media ought to be screaming about — not that a former Trump-appointed Justice Department official turned special counsel thinks Biden’s memory is bad.