In a seismic shift against Trump’s favorable views of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump’s overt lie that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “a dictator,” GOP Senators Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) publicly spoke out against Trump’s views.
Senator Wicker, the Ranking Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told a reporter that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a criminal who is not to be trusted in peace negotiations about Russia’s war on Ukraine.
When asked about the way the U.S. conducted peace negotiations with Russia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and specifically how the U.S. excluded Ukraine and America’s NATO allies from the talks, Senator Wicker said Ukrainians should “definitely” be at the table in any peace negotiations, and European interests should be “considered and carefully weighed.”
When Sen. Wicker was asked if Putin can be trusted in peace negotiations, Wicker answered,
“No. Putin is a war criminal and should be in jail for the rest of his life, if not executed.”
When asked similar questions, Senator Kennedy responded that,
“Vladimir Putin has a black heart. He clearly has Stalin’s taste for blood. And there are some people in this world that are not mixed up, they’re not confused, they’re not sick, it’s not that their mama or their daddy didn’t love them enough. There’s bad people and they hurt other people, sometimes for enjoyment, and they take other people’s stuff, and some of those people run countries, and one of them is Vladimir Putin. He’s an evil man.”
Senators Wicker and Kennedy were joined by North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who said “Putin is evil and has to be stopped.” Tillis told reporters (video),
“First off, clearly Vladimir Putin is responsible for this war. He started lying about ‘special exercises’ in October before he invaded nearly 3 years ago, he lied about a ‘special military operation,’ he had every intent to occupy all of Ukraine. HIs decision has resulted in the murder, rape, torture and kidnapping of untold numbers of Ukrainians. I don’t know how more plainly I can say that, and I said essentially the same thing when I was in Ukraine.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said (video), “I would certainly never call Zelensky a dictator.”
Screen shot from the linked video
Senate Majority Leader John Thune also broke with Trump, saying that there is ‘no question’ who started the conflict in Ukraine, and adding “Russia is the aggressor here.”
A headline in The Moscow Times said “Trump’s Ukraine comments echo Kremlin talking points.”
Now all has changed, with both Presidents ‘diplomats’ pandering to the media. One meeting, and the Republican support for Ukraine vanished. I guess that does it for Zelensky, probably Zalushnia is probably next up. He is popular and was a good commander, but it is sad to see Ukraine fall. I am actually worried now about the Baltic’s safety. It’s 5:00 somewhere … here.
I applaud the members of Congress who have had the courage to speak out in support of Ukraine. I am concerned, however, about the significant damage to the peace process that has already been done by our President. He has openly stated that Ukraine caused this war and challenged the legitimacy of its leadership. In doing so, he has destroyed our credibility as an “honest broker” in this process. At the very least, he should be censured for his actions. I am 76 years old and a lifelong member of the Republican Party. I never believed that I would be ashamed of that fact. Until today.
So, you’re one of those old-school Republicans; all about fiscal conservatism, strong defense, and doing what was right. Back from when the GOP fought for the Civil Rights Act.
Thanks for what you’ve done, and I’m sorry for what they’ve done to your party’s legacy.
Thank you. I was active in the civil rights movement in the sixties. But I held on to my view that we needed to be good stewards fiscally.
BREAKING NEWS!
SOME REPUBLICANS DISAGREE WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP!!!
This isn’t the place to cry about it.
Clap for upholding the constitution? Oh how much lower can our expectations go?
He’s only one month in, and already declared himself King; I’d say it’s going to be a precipitous drop.
Congratulations to GOP (and Democrat) lawmakers who spoke out against Vice President’s dreadful words and actions regarding Ukraine and scores of our allies. GOP legislators who spoke up know that they risk losing bought-and-sold primaries (by Elmer Musk). MAGA brownshirts also present a danger to competent Republicans.
It’s nice to hear, and cause for hope, but I’ll believe it when I see them do something against his orders in the name of reason, sanity, and the interests of -every- American.