Opinion: Trump’s stance on Russia haunts the GOP
The problem is that the low-hanging fruit of condemning Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, is not a unanimous position within the GOP. During his presidency, Donald Trump continually shocked the world with his refusal to publicly condemn Putin.
Most unsettling was the moment in Helsinki in July 2018, when Trump stood side-by-side with the autocratic leader and defended Russia from allegations that it had attempted to interfere in the 2016 election, despite the findings of US intelligence agencies. “President Putin says it’s not Russia,” Trump explained, “I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Trump was more intent on delivering strong words about Democrats and the FBI than he was about the person standing beside him. Indeed, there were many times during his four years in office when Trump lavished praise on Putin, as he did for other autocrats who have threatened democracy.
And that was not all. Throughout his presidency, Trump repeatedly made disparaging remarks about the NATO alliance, which is now emerging as the critical firewall that will protect the rest of Europe from the ambitions of a brutal leader.
Though Trump’s first impeachment proceeding now feels like a mere blip in his chaotic presidency — especially after his second impeachment following the Capitol insurrection on January 6 — the issues raised in the hearings and trial are incredibly damning.
As Greg Sargent recounts for the Washington Post, Trump took steps that hurt Ukraine. He spread the conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election. And he had the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, removed from her post despite her distinguished reputation.
This was a damaging decision as the nation’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, started his term and congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine was frozen at a critical moment.
Trump also withheld a meeting with Zelensky, with word sent a meeting depended on his assistance digging up dirt on the US president’s future election opponent Joe Biden. Finally, Trump empowered Rudy Giuliani, his former attorney and New York City mayor, to be a prime mover on this area of policy. As former National Security Council Official Fiona Hill testified to the House Intelligence Committee, the president had a team conducting its own shadow diplomacy, trying to connect Ukraine to Trump’s own reelection needs.
Trump’s record on Russia is bigger than himself. It’s a party problem. It is important to remember in the first impeachment trial, nearly every House and Senate Republican stood firmly behind the president. “We will reject this incoherent case that comes nowhere near justifying the first presidential removal in history,” then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proclaimed.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called the impeachment a “sham process.” Only Utah’s Mitt Romney voted in favor of convicting on one article of impeachment, calling Trump’s actions “the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.”
There was no mystery as to what Trump’s position was on Russia. Even as he maintained sanctions, his actions played a major role in…
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