Donald Trump’s willingness to condemn Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and align his administration with Russia’s Vladimir Putin sparked an immediate international controversy so severe that even some congressional Republicans carefully expressed disagreement with their party’s president and his dangerous radicalism.
But some of the most notable GOP rebukes came from former members of Trump’s own team. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, for example, said the president’s comments describing Zelenskyy as “a dictator” are “classic Russian talking points.”
The South Carolinian — Trump’s principal rival for the GOP nomination last year — added that her former boss’ position is “exactly what Putin wants.”
Haley wasn’t alone. Mike Pence, the president’s former vice president, also took issue with Trump’s ridiculous claim that Ukraine “started” the war that Putin started. NBC News reported:
“Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war,” Pence wrote in a post on X. “Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.” … “The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth,” Pence wrote.
For good measure, the Indiana Republican added a link in his online missive to a Fox News article from February 2022 with a headline that read, “Russia Invades Ukraine in Largest European Attack Since WWII.”
It was apparently intended as a reminder that it was Russia, and not its Ukrainian neighbors, that instigated the ongoing and deadly crisis.
This was not a one-off. As a report in The Hill noted, Pence also criticized Trump on Ukraine earlier this month, warning that Kyiv could be under Russian control if the U.S. abandons it. “Mr. President, Ukraine will only ‘be Russian someday’ if the United States abandons them to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal invasion. As you just said, ’When America is Strong the World is at Peace.’ Stand Firm,” Pence wrote. “If Ukraine falls, it will only be a matter of time until Russia invades a NATO ally our troops will be required to defend,” he added.
A few weeks before that, Pence’s new advocacy organization, Advancing American Freedom, began a lobbying campaign of sorts, urging Republican senators to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Cabinet nomination — not because of Kennedy’s fringe and conspiratorial views about science and medicine, but because the former Democrat used to champion abortion rights. This, of course, came on the heels a 2024 campaign season in which Pence — whose life Trump put in danger on Jan. 6, 2021 — refused to back his party’s presidential ticket, urged Republicans to reject the “protectionist tariffs” that Trump is so fond of, and told a group of voters in New York, “I have real concerns about the direction of the Republican Party today.” It’s not exactly a secret that Trump has achieved a dominant level of power and control over the contemporary GOP, but he still faces some pockets of partisan resistance. In a dynamic without precedent in the American tradition, one of the president’s most notable intraparty foes is the former Republican vice president who served at his side for four years.
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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