Donald Trump and maga Republicans are hypocrites about Russian agression: Genuflecting to Putin is shameful appeasement

Echo opinion published in the Mississippi Daily Journal by 

Mussolini, Hitler and (interpreter Paul Otto Schmidt) British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain September 29, 1938

Genuflecting to Putin is shameful By Dick Polman 

It comes as no surprise America’s mutation of Neville Chamberlain spit in the face of our national honor during his meetup in Alaska with his Russian master, sucking up so shamelessly that any second I expected him to drop to the carpet and lick the mass murderer’s shoes.

Trump’s been doing this since forever. 

What’s just as detestable is formerly tough-on-Russia Republicans have mutely indulged his perfidies, and that oblivious Americans have rewarded him with ever-higher vote totals in three straight elections.

I hate to write this. I’ve spent the summer boating, biking, and hiking, and the last thing I want to do is stew anew about the Putin appeaser, the consummate fraud, the poster child for weakness. But “we are at a perilous moment without equal in the history of this nation, and Trump is demonstrably incapable of confronting it."

I wrote that seven summers ago, when Trump was preparing to meet Putin at a summit in Helsinki. And when they met, Trump told the world that Putin had more credibility than America’s intelligence agencies. In the end, “Helsinki proved that when the stakes are highest, when the nation’s security is threatened by a seasoned enemy standing a few feet away, Trump cannot bring the requisite A-game. And the Republicans who revered Ronald Reagan as The Great Communicator, as the stalwart foe of an ‘evil empire,’ are saddled with a president who verbally waffles in defense of his country.”

Just as Hillary Clinton did during the final campaign debate nine years ago when she stated that Putin “would rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”

What the puppet did in Alaska – rolling out the red carpet, clapping like a cheerleader with pom poms, surrendering to the war criminal’s stance on Ukraine – was merely consistent with his long-established misbehavior. Like in 2016, when he publicly pleaded for Putin to hack Hillarys’ emails (“Russia, if you’re listening…”). Like in 2018, when he trashed the federal indictments of 12 Russian intelligence agents who’d meddled with our 2016 election on his behalf (he called the indictments a “rigged witch hunt”). Like in 2022, when he praised Putin for invading Ukraine (“This is genius…He’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper”). Like when he lauded Putin’s “great charm” and boasted how much Putin “liked me.” 🙄

We may never know whether Vladimir Putin is blackmailing his pathetic supplicant or whether he’s just masterfully exploiting Trump’s grand canyon of neediness. We’re collateral casualties of his mission to reward Putin for the original sin of waging war on an independent nation.

It’d be nice if Democrats could manage to craft a relentless 24/7 message about his soft-on-Russia weakness and the MAGA GOP’s appeasement. 

But somehow that’s too heavy a lift for the perpetually supine blue team. Suffice it to say that if the situation was reversed — if, say, Barack Obama had ever clapped like a trained seal after luring the murderer to American soil — Republicans would already be screaming about treason and citing Article III of the Constitution, which in part defines “Treason against the United States” as “adhering to (our) Enemies, giving them 

Aid and Comfort.” (Maine Writer: In fact, a "dropped microphone" report put President Obama on the media hot seat when he told Russia about how he would have more leverage after his re-election- that made the news cycle for about a full week see New York Times:  "Microphone Catches a Candid Obama")

And, the Grand Old Party (now extinct) Republicans would’ve been right.

Dick Polman is a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia