“Putin’s Lapdog”
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D–CT) claims that President Trump “has become Putin’s lapdog” and “what just happened in the Oval Office was a planned ambush, designed to help a brutal Russian dictator and hurt America’s security.”
IN FACT, Trump and other Republicans have consistently stood up to Putin while Democrats have repeatedly done Putin’s bidding:
- Responding to a comment from Joe Biden, Sarah Palin warned in 2008 that Barack Obama’s “indecision and moral equivalence” about Russia’s invasion of Georgia is “the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.” When she said this, Foreign Policy, “one of the most credible names in international politics and global affairs,” ridiculed her statement as “strange” and reported that “this is an extremely far-fetched scenario.”
- Shortly after becoming VP in 2009, Biden stated at the Munich Security Conference, “It’s time to press the reset button and to revisit the many areas where we can and should be working together with Russia” because “our interests coincide” in “many places.”
- In 2009, Obama canceled George W. Bush’s plans to protect Eastern Europe from Russian aggression by deploying missile interceptors in Poland. Vladimir Putin praised Obama’s decision as “very right and brave.”
- Shortly after Putin was elected president under a cloud of electoral fraud in 2012, Obama put his hand on the knee of outgoing president Dmitry Medvedev and stated the following while unaware that a microphone was recording them, “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved but it’s important for him [Putin] to give me space.” Medvedev replied, “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you.” Obama replied, “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” Medvedev replied, “I understand you. I transmit this information to Vladimir, and I stand with you.”
- In 2012, Obama mocked Mitt Romney for stating that Russia was our “number one geopolitical foe.” During this exchange, Obama famously said to Romney, “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”
- When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, Obama refused to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons and only offered them non-lethal military supplies. This led Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to remark, “Blankets and night vision goggles are important, but one cannot win a war with a blanket.”
- After taking office in 2017, Donald Trump approved the transfer of lethal weapons to Ukraine that Obama had withheld. This angered Russia and led the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister to accuse the U.S. of being “an accomplice in fueling the war.”
- In 2019, Trump enacted sanctions to block the completion of a massive natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany called the “Nord Stream 2.”
- Four months after taking office in 2021, Biden waived Trump’s sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline despite warnings that this “could facilitate a possible Russian invasion” of Ukraine because “Moscow will no longer have to worry about Ukraine’s gas infrastructure to supply its main European customers.”
- Four months after the pipeline was completed, Russia launched a full-blown invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- In March 2022, Biden blocked the transfer of fighter jets from Poland to Ukraine, thus hindering their ability to stop the Russian onslaught.
- In March 2023, Biden’s press secretary refused to answer why Biden hasn’t sanctioned Russian billionaires who had dealings with his son, Hunter. One of these billionaires, who was sanctioned by Australia and the UK, was a personal friend of Putin and owned a company that built drones used to bomb Ukraine.
