Trump moves praise for Putin closer to the mainstream of the GOP
After Donald Trump proclaimed this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “stronger leader” than President Obama, many Republicans quickly condemned or distanced themselves from the remarks.
But by Friday it became clear that a significant number of Republicans agreed with him. Not for the first time, Trump has pulled an idea from the political fringes into the mainstream.
His praise of Putin in particular — and a “strongman” style in general — has alienated some of
the party’s most experienced foreign-policy hands while stoking no visible backlash from its voters.
When confronted with Trump’s remarks, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence — Trump’s running mate and once a harsh critic of the Russian president while in Congress — said it was “inarguable” that Putin had stronger leader than Obama. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), an outspoken Trump backer on Capitol Hill, said the candidate “may be playing it very smart” by feeding Putin’s ego.
And Hugh Hewitt, a conservative radio host who helped moderate several primary debates, went on MSNBC and Twitter on Friday to label Putin an “evil man” who had nonetheless “served his country’s national interest better” than the sitting U.S. president had served his.
The atmosphere is a far cry from four years ago, when Republicans rallied around GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney after he declared Russia to be the United States’ “number one geopolitical foe” and called Putin a thug.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-moves-praise-for-putin-closer-to-the-mainstream-of-the-gop/2016/09/09/ccf2853c-7693-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html?wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1#comments
No Pence. Putin's the one feeding Trump's ego. Why do you hate America?
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