We have spent most of this week here at Political Tribune reporting on Donald Trump’s deeply disturbing public praises for Russian dictatorial President Vladimir Putin.
Even before the mounting tensions between Ukraine and Russia reached an earth-shattering, life-altering head late last night, we were all painfully aware of where the situation was headed, and Donald Trump chose to spend his time heaping his admiration on his favorite dictator, rather than doing anything to try to diffuse the impending attack, or even just simply keeping his mouth shut.
Earlier this week, the one-term, twice-impeached former president very publicly praised President Putin during an interview on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show — where he referred to the heinous dictator as “savvy,” described Putin’s military tactics as “genius,” and even went so far as to suggest that the US should employ something similar at our southern border.
Already, Trump’s public flattery of Putin was bad enough to leave the ultra-Conservative Fox News network scrambling to do some serious, spur-of-the-moment damage control, ultimately claiming that the ex-president was merely “trolling the media” with his pro-Putin comments.
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But Trump himself put that notion to bed without a single second thought when his glorification of the Russian dictator only seemed to further inflame after Putin officially invaded and attack the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv — even as Putin directly threatened any nation who dared to retaliate against him with “consequences” that essentially amount to nuclear attacks.
To be quite frank, Trump’s rhetoric and behavior surrounding this mounting catastrophe are more than any sane human being can defend — even his own former people.
Retired Marine Corps general and former Trump chief-of-staff, John Kelly, made an appearance on The Lead with Jake Tapper today and expressed his utter disgust, dismay, and genuine confusion at the Republicans who continue to praise the likes of Vladimir Putin. And while Kelly didn’t mention anyone specifically by name, his former boss certainly fits the bill, and when the shoe fits…
“We’ve heard a lot of prominent Republicans – both in politics and in conservative media – praising Vladimir Putin, even calling him a genius,” Tapper stated during the segment, clearly referencing ex-president Trump and his recent “genius” remarks about Putin. “What’s your response when you hear that?”
“Disbelief,” Kelly answered. “He’s a tyrant. He’s a murderer. He has attacked an innocent country whose only crime is that they want to be free and democratic and they’re working in that direction and have been working in that direction.”
The former Trump chief-of-staff went on to describe Ukraine as a “cooperative country,” due to their ceding of their nuclear stockpile back in the 1900s, as well as the country’s prior deployment of peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan and Africa.
“Is Putin smart?” Kelly went on to explain, “Yes. I mean, tyrants are smart. They know what they’re doing. But that’s–I can’t imagine why someone would look at what’s happening there and see it [as] anything other than a criminal act. I don’t get it, Jake.”
I don’t get it either.
Watch the clip from CNN here:
“I can’t imagine why someone would look at what’s happening there and see it (as) anything other than a criminal act.”
Former Trump White House chief of staff retired Gen. John Kelly reacts to some GOP members praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/lmG4Y6tRKE
— CNN (@CNN) February 24, 2022
Featured image via screen capture
