Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a delegation including his longtime foreign affairs minister Sergey Lavrov to meet with President Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
The stated American goal is to negotiate peace in Ukraine, though the Trump administration also achieves the unstated effect of ending Putin’s international isolation by engaging Russia directly and diplomatically.
Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration (2012-2014) wrote on X: “Admiration by so many Republicans for Putin–a brutal dictator with no respect for human life, individual liberties, or private property, who hates America — is one of the most shocking developments of my life. Never saw that coming.”
Former 2000 GOP presidential candidate and Congressman Joe Walsh (R-IL) replied to McFaul: “Respectfully, not shocking at all. I watched it develop day after day for years. I helped feed it and then pushed hard against it. But it was too late. MAGA IS the Republican Party. And MAGA full on embraces authoritarianism. Therefore, the Republican Party now full on embraces authoritarian. America must accept this truth in order to defeat it.”
Respectfully, not shocking at all. I watched it develop day after day for years. I helped feed it and then pushed hard against it. But it was too late. MAGA IS the Republican Party. And MAGA full on embraces authoritarianism. Therefore, the Republican Party now full on embraces… https://t.co/7z3ntEHZpJ
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 18, 2025
McFaul’s comments about Republicans admiring Putin has been met with resistance from MAGA supporters on X, including one who replied: “Let me guess, your goalpost for ‘admiration of Putin’ is when Americans don’t want to keep sending hundreds of billions of our dollars and equipment to Ukraine.”
McFaul replied: “nope. its when they praise Lavrov just for walking off a plane.”
Though McFaul cites no specific examples, the MAGA Putin admiration he references is in many cases explicit, not hidden beneath the surface.
Useful thread.
— Kai Gehring (@KaiGehring1) November 11, 2024
At some point the MAGA crowd will realize their fantasy of Putin is just a fantasy and he is less interested in protecting Russian minorities than imperial ambition.
How Trump will cope with it will be critical? Denial? Cede to Putin? More support for Ukraine? https://t.co/OfWWcYeJa4
Concerns about the MAGA-Putin alliance rose again among Democrats and national security experts upon the confirmation of Trump’s choice for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who — ostensibly promoting a Russian talking point — said in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine that “this war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns.”
[NOTE: Staunch Putin antagonists still roam Congress, even if they roam on the edges of the center of power. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a longtime Russia hawk, recognizes the new Trump-driven reality in the segment below and enumerates some “tripwires” that should be built into any peace agreement.]
Two weeks after Putin invaded Ukraine with Russian military in February 2022, Lavrov — Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2004 — met with Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba and claimed that Russia “did not attack Ukraine,” and warned that the West’s supply of arms to Ukraine was “dangerous.”
At a press conference after the meeting Lavrov said: “We do not plan to attack other countries; we did not attack Ukraine either. However, we just explained to Ukraine repeatedly that a situation posed direct security threats to the Russian Federation.” At the same time he claimed Russia did not invade Ukraine, Lavrov also repeated Moscow’s claims that Russia was seeking to rid Ukraine of “Nazis.”
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