President Joe Biden sat down in Geneva this morning with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of an important summit that’s expected to last several hours. As the meeting got underway, the Republican National Committee issued a press statement, letting reporters know the party’s takeaway from the international gathering.
“Giving Putin a meeting is just the latest win that Joe Biden has handed Russia,” the RNC said.
I can appreciate ironic humor as much as the next blogger, but it’s a bit jarring to see Republicans decide that they’re actually the tough-on-Russia party — as if the last four years were little more than a pesky mirage that didn’t really count.
The New York Times reported overnight:
Ahead of President Biden’s summit on Wednesday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in an 18th-century villa, Republicans in Congress and conservative media outlets like Fox News have coalesced around a succinct line of attack: Mr. Biden is weak when it comes to dealing with the Russian leader.
One of the first hints of this line of attack came a month ago, when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) insisted, “Objectively speaking, the Biden administration is shaping up to be the most pro-Russia administration of the modern era.”
I especially enjoyed the “objectively speaking” qualifier — as if the assertion were somehow axiomatically true and Ted Cruz was simply unconscious between 2017 and 2020.
But the confused Texan is hardly alone. The Times report added that “many” other Republicans “have charged that Mr. Biden has been soft on Russia.”
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for example, wrote a piece for Fox News’ website, arguing that Biden was going into today’s summit “with a self-dealt weak hand.” Sean Hannity added this week that the Russian leader “will see firsthand how weak Joe is,” adding that “Putin loves a weak America and a weak American president.”
The Republican base appears to be picking up on the cues: a CBS News poll released over the weekend found that a majority of GOP voters believes Biden is being “too friendly” with his Russian counterpart. It’s easy to dismiss such criticisms on the merits, but more important is the fact that Donald Trump’s presidency existed. The Republican spent his 2016 campaign, and then his entire failed term in the White House, going to uncomfortable lengths to satisfy his benefactors in Moscow. After Trump was defeated last fall, CNN ran a lengthy report that began: President Donald Trump has an Achilles’ heel when it comes to Russia. Over the years, he’s made no secret that he has a soft spot for the country and its authoritarian leader, President Vladimir Putin. Trump has proved that he is willing to reject widely held US foreign policy views and align himself with the Kremlin on everything from Russian interference in US elections to the war in Syria. The report went on to list 37 occasions in which Trump displayed weakness toward Putin’s Russia. The Biden administration “is shaping up to be the most pro-Russia administration of the modern era”? Do Republicans really believe that our collective memories are that short?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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