Top congressional Republicans called Putin a “thug” who is violating international law and urged President Biden to hammer Russia with tougher sanctions, while some also argued that Putin wouldn’t have formally invaded Ukraine if Biden didn’t project “weakness” and pursue “appeasement.” Former President Donald Trump called Putin’s invasion “genius” and “wonderful.” Some GOP congressional hopefuls shrugged.
“Conservative media has been equally divided,” Sahil Kapur and Alex Seitz-Wald report at NBC News. The Wall Street Journal editorial page urged tough action against Putin while “Fox News host Tucker Carlson has for weeks been leading the charge against taking action to stop Russia.” On Tuesday night, Carlson asked why viewers should “hate” Putin, since he isn’t doing things like promoting critical race theory or selling fentanyl.
“In 35 seconds here, Tucker Carlson basically said: ‘Putin isn’t your enemy. Your fellow American is,'” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) recapped. “This is beyond dangerous, to say the least.” Chess champion and prominent Putin critic Gary Kasparov tweeted about Carlson, “If [Putin] knew who you were, he’d call you a useful idiot.”