I gotta admit one thought that passed through my mind after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I wondered what would happen if Putin did succeed in winning quickly, if he came in and Ukraine surrendered and it was over in a day, as he had delusionally hoped, thus affirming the worship that way too many Americans have for him. I wondered what if he then said he wanted to take over the United States and I thought about all the armed fucknuts willingly to say they'd rather be led by Putin than Joe Biden and I wondered about the Republican Party, with all the Putin apologists and tyranny humpers, and I thought, "Fuck me. He might have a shot. At least he'd end up stirring up more shit than he has already."
But the myth of Putin, the smart, savvy strategist and technocrat, has been bombed into pieces by a fiasco of an invasion where the best possible outcome is seeming like Russia not completely demolishing the country and massacring people by the thousands. Even that awful outcome, though, is quickly fading as Putin acts like a freaked-out bear who got stuck in Walmart and decides to just fuck everything up, hump the mannequins, and shit on the torn up corpses of the employees. Unless Putin is removed in some way, I'm not even sure at this point that we're not looking at the use of some kind of nukes, from dirty bomb to full-scale ICBM world fuckage. I don't think that will happen, but it's not out of the realm of possibility because that motherfucker is crazier than a shithouse rat right now.
For years, Putin has been appeased by most of the world as a loony asshole who is gonna mostly stay in his lane. And that was embarrassing enough (and let's face it - Democratic and Republican presidents starting with Bill Clinton have been responsible for letting him get away with awful shit while thinking he wasn't really serious about getting the Soviet band back together). Even more embarrassing are the Putin supporters and his fans, who are those who obviously get all moist for some big dictator energy but won't commit to saying they agree with his actions.
Back in the early 2010s, some conservatives, annoyed that LGBT people were heading towards getting the right to marry someone of the same sex, embraced Russia's anti-gay policies, leading to some hot Putin lovin'. In 2013, Pat Buchanan wondered of Putin, "In the culture war for mankind’s future, is he one of us?" because the Russian leader claimed he loved him some Jesus and hated him some gays and was all about white nationalism. This strain of Putin lust continues to this day by people who are just terrible.
Of course, it was with the rise of Putin's pissy poodle Donald Trump (who really was once president of the United States, believe it or not) that nutzoid right-wingers could let their tricolor flag fly. By 2016, 37% of Republicans viewed Putin "favorably," a rise from 10% in 2014, with only 14% viewing him "very unfavorably," down from 51% two years before. 47% viewed him "somewhat or very unfavorably," so not even half of the polled Republicans. Trump chose Putin pal Rex Tillerson for his Secretary of State and batshit Russia lover Michael Flynn for national security adviser, and Trump vigorously rode Putin's jock for all four years of his tragicomedy of a presidency.
And now? Fuck, up until last Thursday, Putin's stooges were proliferating throughout the United States, climaxing in the deranged chant of his name at the Nazi rally called the America First Political Action Conference last weekend. Republicans recently polled said they viewed Putin better than they viewed President Biden. And while we can expect the right-wing media vulture cocks like Tucker Carlson, who always looks like he is trying to figure out where to bury the child's body, to get all high snorting uncut tyranny, it's more alarming that fringe fucks who are elected to Congress, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and others, give aid and comfort to the increasing numbers of Republicans who want a Putin-like government here, with Donald Trump in charge. That's the same Donald Trump who, since the invasion of Ukraine, has called Putin "smart," "genius," and "savvy," while calling NATO and the United States "dumb."
As the war gets more brutal, anyone who ever enabled this shit needs to be called out. George Stephanopoulos made Sen. Tom Cotton, who always looks like he's afraid he's going to get a call from Tucker Carlson for help burying the child's body, very uncomfortable by asking him to condemn Trump's sloppy blow job. That should be the same with every goddamn Republican. Do you agree with Trump on Putin? Do you condemn what he said? Is Trump full of shit or are you?
Because this is the kind of time where silence equals acquiescence, which, ironically enough, is what Putin had hoped would happen with Ukraine. Instead, we see the power of resistance to shift the narrative. As Russia uses banned weapons and talks about public executions, the US media can aid the resistance or give comfort to the domestic enemies.