February 24, 2022 10:21 AM UTC

Republicans Cheer Putin, Blame Biden as Russia Attacks Ukraine

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• by: Colorado Pols

Last evening (morning in Ukraine), Russia launched a full invasion of the former Soviet territory. While some Republicans said the right things about supporting Ukraine and pushing back against aggression from Russian President Vladimir Putin, most had…different ideas.

First, here’s former President Donald Trump saying that Russia invaded Ukraine because of the 2020 Presidential election in the United States:

Laura Ingraham and the former president are blaming Biden for Russian aggression. Sick and twisted stuff. pic.twitter.com/u8dl7Fw9tt

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 24, 2022

This is the same Trump who earlier this week called Putin a “genius” for preparing to invade Ukraine with a “peacekeeping force.”

As MSNBC explains:

“As an American, I am angry and saddened,” the former president said of the conflict. “It happened because of a rigged election.”

Yes, as a deadly international crisis unfolds, what really matters to the head of the Republican Party is his pitiful Big Lie.

In the same on-air appearance, he admonished his own country’s leaders — Trump condemned what he saw as the Biden administration’s “weakness and stupidity” — before suggesting that he believed U.S. troops were part of last night’s military offensive. It fell to Laura Ingraham to explain that it was Russians, not Americans, that had launched an amphibious attack.

That’s right: Trump thinks the United States is sending troops into Ukraine (it is not).

Meanwhile, as Chase Woodruff of Colorado Newsline reports, right-wing pundits in Colorado are using the Russian invasion as an opportunity to PRAISE VLADIMIR PUTIN:

Much of Colorado’s far right is defending Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which they consider a deep state puppet complicit in election fraud.

Here’s FEC United’s Joe Oltmann minutes ago: “I’ll stand on the side of Russia right now, 100%, two times on Sunday.” pic.twitter.com/N1VpeA1QRQ

— Chase Woodruff (@dcwoodruff) February 24, 2022

Similarly, the Colorado Republican Party thinks this is a fine time to blame President Biden for Putin’s decisions. Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) is echoing Trump’s rhetoric:

Congressperson Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert (R-ifle) agrees with Lamborn, issuing a full statement to talk about how everything is Biden’s fault (Boebert also seems to think that approving the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada would have stopped Putin from invading Ukraine, or something).

And then there’s Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley), who may not even be paying attention to what’s happening in Eastern Europe:

Republicans are all over the place on Russia/Ukraine in part because there is no consensus among Congressional leaders about how they should respond.

Finally, here’s an interesting reminder from Kyle Clark of 9News:

As Russia invades Ukraine at the “request” of separatists inside the country, I recall Colorado GOP State Rep and US Senate candidate Ron Hanks saying foreign governments could help keep President Biden out of office in January 2021. https://t.co/lwHfvzITNa #copolitics

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) February 24, 2022