As Donald Trump continues to position the United States on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine, the international ripple effects are predictable: Democracies around the world are expressing their enthusiastic support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while Russians celebrate — and by some measures, gloat — about having the White House align itself with the Kremlin’s position.
Among Republican officials, however, the dividing lines aren’t nearly as clean.
The American president’s team spent the immediate aftermath of Friday’s fiasco in the Oval Office shining a light on the many GOP officials who, at least publicly, said the debacle was a triumph.
But if Trump is under the impression that his party is united on the issue, he’s mistaken. Republican Sen. James Lankford, for example, appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” and took a position that was largely the opposite of what Americans have heard from the West Wing. The Oklahoman said Zelenskyy is right about Vladimir Putin — whom the senator described as “a murderous KGB thug and a “dictator” — adding, “We’re not turning our back on Ukraine, nor should we.”
Sen. John Curtis made related comments on Friday. “Diplomacy and statesmanship seem to have been checked at the door of the Oval Office today,” the Utah Republican wrote online. “Ukraine is an ally in pursuit of free markets, free speech, and free people — Western values that align with our own. A win for Putin, on the other hand, does not.
But Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski went considerably further than others in the GOP. Politico reported: Sen. Lisa Murkowski delivered a scorching rebuke Saturday of President Donald Trump’s explosive exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a rare voice of Republican dissent as party members lined up in support of the president’s increasingly combative relationship with Ukraine. “I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world,” the Alaskan wrote in a Saturday afternoon post to X.
It’d be an overstatement to suggest the president received overwhelming pushback from Republicans, but there’s no denying the fact that some GOP officials on Capitol Hill are not impressed with Trump’s approach — and some are even willing to say so in public. In the meantime, there are a handful of Republicans who appear to be hedging their bets. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, for example, appeared eager to shake Zelenskyy’s hand on Friday morning and offer support, only to reverse hours later, after Trump lambasted the Ukrainian leader. And then, of course, there’s House Speaker Mike Johnson, who managed to criticize both Putin and Zelenskyy, roughly at the same time, which will likely please no one.
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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