About time...long past time, in fact--that we acknowledge that Putin is not our friend..he is our adversary!
Congressional Republicans quietly grumbled for four years that former President Donald Trump’s passive rhetoric about Russia didn’t match the severity of his administration’s actions targeting the Kremlin.
President Joe Biden’s more aggressive public posture toward Vladimir Putin is begrudgingly refreshing for Republicans — and it’s something they wish they saw from Trump.
Now, President Joe Biden’s more aggressive public posture toward Vladimir Putin is begrudgingly refreshing for Republicans — and it’s something they wish they saw from Trump.
“Clearly, Putin is a malign force in the world. He is a terrible leader. He is thuggish in his behavior. And I’m glad we’re pushing back,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership and the Intelligence Committee.
Indeed, Biden is already striking a different tone. According to the White House, the president confronted Putin during a phone call this week over Russia’s malign activities, including its alleged bounties on American troops in the Middle East, the suspected poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and the massive cyberattack targeting the U.S. government and the private sector.
“President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies,” the White House said.
The shift is a welcome development on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, where lawmakers were consumed with scandals and investigations about Trump’s relationship with Moscow. And it underscored Biden’s efforts to keep Russia at bay, neither mending nor further inflaming the relationship between the two countries.
“Maybe Biden’s approach will serve us better. We’ll have to see,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said. “Certainly this president’s rhetoric, maybe in the first week or two, is different. Whether there’s a different relationship or outcome remains to be seen.”
On the campaign trail, Biden harangued Trump as a Putin apologist, and the former president often drew criticism from his own party, especially after he contradicted and undermined the U.S. intelligence community when he said he believed Putin’s denials of election interference.
Republicans lauded Biden’s consistency, but they said the new administration should maintain the Trump team’s robust policies against Russia, which included expelling Russian diplomats. To the chagrin of many in the GOP, those actions were often overshadowed by the former president’s deferential posture toward Putin, including his persistent efforts to downplay the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election.
Congressional Republicans quietly grumbled for four years that former President Donald Trump’s passive rhetoric about Russia didn’t match the severity of his administration’s actions targeting the Kremlin.
President Joe Biden’s more aggressive public posture toward Vladimir Putin is begrudgingly refreshing for Republicans — and it’s something they wish they saw from Trump.
Now, President Joe Biden’s more aggressive public posture toward Vladimir Putin is begrudgingly refreshing for Republicans — and it’s something they wish they saw from Trump.
“Clearly, Putin is a malign force in the world. He is a terrible leader. He is thuggish in his behavior. And I’m glad we’re pushing back,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership and the Intelligence Committee.
Indeed, Biden is already striking a different tone. According to the White House, the president confronted Putin during a phone call this week over Russia’s malign activities, including its alleged bounties on American troops in the Middle East, the suspected poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and the massive cyberattack targeting the U.S. government and the private sector.
“President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies,” the White House said.
The shift is a welcome development on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, where lawmakers were consumed with scandals and investigations about Trump’s relationship with Moscow. And it underscored Biden’s efforts to keep Russia at bay, neither mending nor further inflaming the relationship between the two countries.
“Maybe Biden’s approach will serve us better. We’ll have to see,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said. “Certainly this president’s rhetoric, maybe in the first week or two, is different. Whether there’s a different relationship or outcome remains to be seen.”
On the campaign trail, Biden harangued Trump as a Putin apologist, and the former president often drew criticism from his own party, especially after he contradicted and undermined the U.S. intelligence community when he said he believed Putin’s denials of election interference.
Republicans lauded Biden’s consistency, but they said the new administration should maintain the Trump team’s robust policies against Russia, which included expelling Russian diplomats. To the chagrin of many in the GOP, those actions were often overshadowed by the former president’s deferential posture toward Putin, including his persistent efforts to downplay the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election.
