Washington Post columnist Max Boot said Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that he believes former President Donald Trump saying Russian President Vladimir Putin a genius for invading Ukraine is a “gut-check moment” for Republicans.
Boot said, “It is staggering to think that it was a few days ago that former President Donald Trump described Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine as an act of genius. He described it as a really smart move. That is staggering. This is the most popular political leader in the Republican Party. Tucker Carlson, the most popular broadcaster within the Republican Party, is just as pro-Putin. You would think that this could be an opportunity for a reorientation, a gut check, a turning away from the direction that the Republican Party has been on for several years.”
He added, “But you know I thought the same thing after January 6, the insurrection, the attack on the Capitol. I thought finally this might make Republicans come to the senses and break with Trump. You would think that now seeing the kind of hell that Putin and his criminal regime unleashed on the poor people of Ukraine might cause Republicans to think, ‘Well, why are we following fans of Putin? Why are we going down this path when we have a proud heritage as a Republican Party of standing up to Russian and Soviet aggression, resisting what Ronald Reagan called the Evil Empire?’ So this is really a gut-check moment for the Republican Party.”
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