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House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul was surprisingly candid a couple of months ago about one of his party’s serious problems. “I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base,” the Texas Republican lamented.
Five days later, House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, echoed the sentiment, conceding that some of his GOP colleagues are peddling rhetoric that’s “directly coming from Russia.”
The comments came to mind reading this Daily Beast report yesterday.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) argued Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin—who ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 while declaring that the country has no claim to independence and that its people are “connected with us by blood”—doesn’t actually want Ukraine because he already has “enough land.”
The Alabama Republican sat down with Steve Bannon and explained his belief that Putin doesn’t really want to wage war in Ukraine.
After downplaying Russian attacks in Ukraine from recent months, Tuberville said, in reference to Putin, “He doesn’t want Ukraine. He doesn’t want Europe. Hell, he’s got enough land of his own. He just wants to make sure that he does not have United States weapons in Ukraine pointing at Moscow.”
In the same interview, the right-wing senator questioned why the U.S. is backing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Tuberville described as “a dictator.”
All of this echoes the script the Kremlin wants politicians, especially those in the West, to follow.
Making matters worse, of course, is the larger pattern involving the coach-turned-hapless politician. Two years ago, the Alabaman insisted that Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine in order to acquire “more farmland” because “he can’t feed his people.” The idea that Russia was incapable of feeding its population was plainly wrong. The GOP senator either didn’t know or didn’t care — and his new position is that Putin already has “enough land.”
In the months that followed, Tuberville repeatedly said Ukraine couldn’t prevail in a conflict against Russia — another line favored by the Kremlin — so it made sense for the U.S. simply to let Moscow prevail.
Earlier this year, after Putin told Tucker Carlson he’s interested in “peace,” Tuberville suggested that Russia’s authoritarian leader deserved the benefit of the doubt. He argued soon after that it was the U.S. that “forced” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around the same time, the Alabaman appeared on a radio show and said, “You can tell Putin’s on top of his game.” After complaining again that the U.S. was responsible for pushing Russia into a military offensive, Tuberville added, “I can understand what he’s talking about,” referring to Putin.
As recently as April, Tuberville also appeared on Newsmax and accused Ukrainian officials of buying luxury goods with American taxpayers’ money, which also happens to be pro-Russia disinformation.
It’s against this backdrop that GOP senator claimed this week that Putin “doesn’t want Ukraine” — all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding — and Zelenskyy is “a dictator” undeserving of U.S. backing.
All of which leaves me with a lingering question: Why, exactly, is Tommy Tuberville still on the Senate Armed Services Committee?
Between his 2023 blockade that undermined his own country’s military, Tuberville’s ongoing disparagement of the American armed forces and his apparent willingness to say exactly what the Kremlin wants to hear, it’s hardly outlandish to think senators should have a conversation about whether it’s time to revisit his committee assignments.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.