A poll from online pollster YouGov for the Economist shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin has a favorable rating among Republicans who voted for President-elect Donald Trump that has risen to 35 percent. Meanwhile, President Obama’s favorable rating is just 9 percent among Republicans.
2016 summarized: pic.twitter.com/HSU0EEo4UQ
— Meow (@onambiguity) December 31, 2016
How The Republican Party Got Here
Putin’s praise of Trump and Russia’s alleged hacking of the Democratic National Committee, which swayed the election in Trump’s favor, seems to have greatly increased Republicans’ favorability towards Russia’s leader.
I’m pretty sure that sentence just had Ronald Reagan spinning in his grave.
In fact, Trump’s love of Russia and Putin has put much of the Republican Party in an awkward position. This forced them to choose between supporting an adversarial foreign nation, or going against the sentiments of their president-elect.
Vladimir Putin was enormously unpopular with Republicans before Trump’s campaign.
This latest poll, along with the general hemming and hawing of Republican politicians, has clearly shown that the GOP is at odds with its fundamental beliefs. Elected officials are unsure of how to react to their party’s leader and his legion of followers who support a hostile foreign leader more than they support our current president.
Frankly, I’m not sure how to react to this either. The bipartisan split has become so wide that neither side can see each other.
Trump Doubles Down
When Putin declined to retaliate against the sanctions the Obama administration announced this week against Russia, Trump tweeted his praise of the Russian leader. The The Russian embassy in the U.S. actually retweeted Trump’s praise:
Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2016
It’s like we’re living in the Twilight Zone. If Republicans don’t reel this insanity in quickly, the Trump presidency is going to be a very frightening time for anyone who has the ounce of common sense it takes to be wary of Russia and Vladimir Putin.
Watch the video below for more information on Trump’s praise of Vladimir Putin’s retaliation delay.
Featured image credit: The Kremlin via Wikimedia Commons/CC-By-2.0
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