This is an opinion cartoon.
While the world watched in horror as Russia attacked Ukraine, one former president could barely control his enthusiasm.
“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump said in a radio interview with “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.” “He used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’ You gotta say that’s pretty savvy.”
Trump hasn’t been this giddy since he watched a violent mob of his followers attack the U.S. Capitol.
Related: Biden hits Russia with sanctions over Ukraine: ‘Putin chose this war’ - al.com
Related: Russia attacks Ukraine; Putin warns US, NATO of ‘consequences you have never seen’ - al.com
Related: Putin waves nuclear sword in confrontation with the West - al.com
Here’s an excerpt from Jennifer Rubin’s Washington Post column: Opinion | What does Putin want? The same thing Trump sought. - The Washington Post
What does Putin want? His aims go well beyond Ukraine. As the Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum summarizes: He “wants to put so much strain on Western and democratic institutions, especially the European Union and NATO, that they break up. He wants to keep dictators in power wherever he can, in Syria, Venezuela, and Iran. He wants to undermine America, to shrink American influence, to remove the power of the democracy rhetoric that so many people in his part of the world still associate with America. He wants America itself to fail.”
Trump’s foreign policy sought to do much of what Putin wants to achieve, including intimidating Ukraine by withholding vital defensive weapons. Trump, like his role model in Moscow, favored weakening NATO, elevating dictators (from China to Turkey to North Korea to Hungary to Russia), undermining democratic elections, demonizing the media (the best check against power-hungry politicians) and finding common ground with kleptocratic-style governments.
Read all of Rubin’s column here
President Biden hit Russia with a new round of sanctions on Thursday, saying Vladimir Putin “chose this war and that his country will bear the consequences of his action.
Our hearts go out to the innocent people of Ukraine as they try to stand up to this bloodthirsty dictator.
Here are a couple more Trumpy Putin toons from the archives:
Trump’s Russian squawking points - al.com
Trump has Putin grinning like a possum - al.com
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JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix.
