April 15, 2024 | Reading Time: 5 minutes
Maga chooses Putin over Zelensky and needless devastation over freedom
This is who they are, writes Stephen Robinson.
Editor’s note: The following essay first appeared in The Play Typer Guy, Stephen’s newsletter about politics and the arts. –JS
Republicans have abandoned Ukraine. Ending Vladimir Putin’s invasion required the bare minimum assistance from the US — no boots on the grounds, no lives lost, just write some damn checks. However, maga is fully in Putin’s camp. They might as well trade in the flag pins for those distinctive fur caps.
“The months-long delay in US military assistance to Ukraine will become a case study in US strategic self-destruct,” CNN anchor Jim Sciutto posted on social media Wednesday. “The commander of US European Command told lawmakers that the Russians are currently firing five times as many artillery shells as the Ukrainians, and that number will go up to 10 to one ‘in a matter of weeks.’”
President Biden requested additional, much-needed aid for Ukraine last October and since then Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has dithered and stalled, seemingly more worried about keeping his temp-to-perm job than helping a US ally. (I repeat, Russia is not our ally.)
“Moscow Marjorie“
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is an active agent for Russia’s interests. Her anti-Ukraine position is not simply misguided “America First” isolation. She’s overtly pro-Russia.”Moscow Marjorie
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is an active agent for Russia’s interests. Her anti-Ukraine position is not simply misguided “America First” isolation. She’s overtly pro-Russia.
“Let’s talk about what this really is, Steve: This is a war against Christianity,” Greene ranted on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast. “The Ukrainian government is attacking Christians; the Ukrainian government is executing priests. Russia is not doing that; they’re not attacking Christianity. As a matter of fact, they seem to be protecting it.”
These are such obvious lies and distortions you’d think Greene was brainwashed like Patty Hearst. More than 100 religious sites in Ukraine have been destroyed during Russia’s invasion, and attacks against members and supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have increased since Putin’s war began. I don’t think Greene’s ever personally visited Russia, so apparently Putin was able to scrub that dried pea rattling inside her skull via Zoom.
During an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday, former Republican Congressman Ken Buck had few kind words for his former colleague.
“My experience with Marjorie is, people have talked to her about not filing articles of impeachment on President Biden before he was sworn into office, on not filing articles of impeachment that were groundless made on other individuals in the Biden administration, and she was never moved by that,” he said. “She was always focused on her social media account, and Moscow Marjorie is focused now on this Ukraine issue and getting her talking points from the Kremlin and making sure that she is popular and she is getting a lot of coverage.”
Buck abruptly resigned from Congress last month, and quitters might book prominent guest spots on CNN, but they don’t have votes in the House of Representatives. Greene still does, and she maintains significant influence over GOP leadership. It’s arguably somewhat sexist to suggest Greene’s primary motivation is attention. Sure, malignant narcissism is probably one of her many character flaws, but I think she authentically embraces a white Christian nationalist ideology.
Whose speakership is it anyway?
Former House Speaker and current public citizen Kevin McCarthy foolishly agreed to a rules change that allowed any random fool to trigger a motion to vacate the speakership. He still blames Matt Gaetz for his downfall, no matter how embarrassing it is to admit that you were outmaneuvered by the latter half of Beavis and Butt-head. (At a Georgetown University event on Tuesday, McCarthy said the reason he lost his precious gavel was that “one person wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old.” It’s quite the dysfunctional operation over there.)
Johnson didn’t bother changing this ridiculous rule, and when he actually passed a bill with Democratic support, Greene threatened to trigger her own motion to vacate. She then ghosted Johnson and wouldn’t return his calls. She’s so very busy and important, as you can tell from her deranged social media posts about how earthquakes and the eclipse are God’s divine retribution. (Earthquakes are definitely a bad scene, but as far as the wrath of God goes, an eclipse seems more like a minor inconvenience.)
Greene finally agreed to see Johnson, and they met Wednesday for 70 minutes, which was likely excruciating for both of them. Fresh flowers were reportedly provided for the meeting. Of course, he might’ve just wanted to fill the room with a pleasant aroma, a necessary distraction when trapped in an enclosed space with Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Afterward Greene told reporters, “[Johnson] discussed having a kitchen cabinet group that would be a group of advisors for him, asked me if I was interested, and I said I’ll wait and see what his proposal is.” (Remember, she’s very busy and important.)
“Right now, he does not have my support,” she continued. “It’s a lie to say that if I vacated him, we would be handing it over to Democrats. We have the majority. The only way that happens is if Republicans vote for Hakeem Jeffries or refuse to vote for a Republican speaker.”
Republicans currently have a one-seat majority, and there have been days recently when they were technically in the minority because of absences. Obviously, removing Johnson creates the risk that Jeffries could become speaker through the GOP’s sheer dumbness, but it’s also likely that the GOP will just fail to pick a replacement. It took them three weeks last time.
Getting more of nothing done probably suits Greene just fine. She told Johnson during their meeting that she opposes any further Ukraine funding, as well as the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). She talks a lot about the border, but she won’t even condition Ukraine aid with a monster border security package. That’s primarily because Trump — the traitor in chief — thinks any action on the border right now would benefit Biden.
Ukraine is falling
This might play out like an over-the-top primetime soap opera, but Congress’s failure to pass Ukraine aid is hardly high camp. Human lives are at stake. Anti-maga conservative David Frum condemned the House’s self-inflicted paralysis and although he’s no fan of the space lasers lady, he reserved his full contempt for Mike Johnson.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene is a licensed clown of American politics,” Frum said on CNN. “But … I don’t think we should make her the center of the story. In order to keep his job, Speaker Johnson is willing to sell out the cause of Ukraine … Ukraine men and women in combat are dying, and cities are being destroyed. All because of Speaker Johnson’s determination to keep his job … He doesn’t have a Ukraine strategy. He has a ’save his job’ strategy.”
Johnson wants to keep a job that has no profit in it but the name. If you’re taking orders from Marjorie Taylor Greene, you’re not a leader, you’re a flunky’s flunky. You don’t even rate the black t-shirt with “GOON” written on it.
“His determination to save his job is losing a war,” Frum added, “and his job’s not that important. He’s not that important, and I don’t think we should allow him to villainize Marjorie Taylor Greene when he’s the main protagonist in the most shameful episode in American foreign policy in two generations.”
Obviously, Frum wouldn’t include Iraq here, but Johnson’s conscience and honor are just as non-existent as Saddam Hussein’s WMDs.
There’s a great deal of anti-Ukraine, pro-Putin propaganda within the GOP. A couple months ago, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville outright blamed the US and our allies for Russia invading Ukraine and not Russia, which invaded Ukraine. Democratic Senator Angus King compared the anti-Ukraine rhetoric to the Nazis’ attempts to convince Americans to look the other way as they roiled through Europe.
Last week, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that if Congress doesn’t approve aid, his country could very well lose the war. However, the misery that maga would’ve inflicted upon Ukraine wouldn’t end there.
“If Ukraine loses this war, other countries will be attacked. This is a fact,” Zelensky said.
But maga has chosen Putin over Zelensky, and needless devastation over freedom.
This is who they are.
Stephen Robinson is the publisher of The Play Typer Guy, a newsletter and podcast about politics and the arts. Follow him @SER1897.
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