Amidst An International Crisis Republicans Put Party Over Country

Day after day the images coming from news outlets - or at least those not not pandering to the knucle dragging GOP base - provide inspiring examples of Ukrainians willing to sacrifice everything to protect their homeland from invasion and to save their democracy. The unity of purpose is nothing short of amazing and ought to send a message to those living in western democracies that there are times when one's political party and jockeying for real or perceived political advantage should be put aside in favor of national unity and protecting the nation's long term interests and other democracies aroundthe globe.  Indeed, in some European nations political foes have done this - e.g., Germany for one example.  Here in the USA, we are sadly continue to see far too many Republicans continuing to put their party ahead of the national interest and instead of working in tandem with the Biden administration constantly attacking and seeking to gain political points.  Indeed, some make the nastiest tawdry whore look virtuous in comparison. Most galling of all is the fact that but for a handful of Republicans - think Liz Cheney and Mitt Romnbey - the majority in the GOP continue to prostitute themselves to Doanald Trump who supported and pandered to Vladimir Putin while trying to destroy NATO and a unified front against potential Russian aggression.  These Republicans like to pretend they are patriots, but clearly they are not. A column in the Washington Post looks at the continued moral bankruptcy of so much of today's GOP.  Here are highlights:

Republicans’ undiminished backing of former president Donald Trump (Russia’s most effective propagandist) — and their acquittal of him for extorting the current international hero, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, by withholding military aid — must weigh heavily on them. Desperate not only to show they really are tough on Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but also that President Biden is weak, they somewhat comically keep complaining that Biden is not doing “enough” to aid Ukraine.

When the first tranche of sanctions against Russia came out, Republicans insisted this was insufficient — only to have both the European Union and the Biden administration layer on, day after day, the most crippling sanctions against a country of this size in history. Then the cry went up to knock Russia off SWIFT, the international bank-messaging system. Biden did one better, cutting off Russia’s central bank.

Despite Republicans’ whining, the tightly coordinated E.U. and U.S. sanctions are bringing Russia’s economy to its knees. The ruble hits a new low practically every day, having lost as of Monday more than 80 percent of its value against the dollar. As the Financial Times reported, “Moscow’s equity markets are suspended, trading in many Russian companies listed abroad is halted, and bonds are almost impossible to trade.” Things are so awful, Russians are now pouring out of the country, and oligarchs are grumbling. (“Russians are fleeing the country as sanctions lead to closed borders, food rationing and the actual threat of a banking system collapse within days,” Forbes reports.)

Then, the Republicans — who just days ago were decrying rising fuel prices — decided that cutting off Russian oil imports would be the telltale sign we really were getting tough on Russia. Yet as former auto industry czar Steven Rattner explains: “That would be a noble — but utterly meaningless — gesture. In 2020, only 0.4% of our crude oil came from Russia (and our imports of oil constituted just 1% of Russia’s oil exports).”

At least for now, the European Union cannot align with the United States on a Russian oil import ban. There simply isn’t excess capacity to make up for the amount of oil and natural gas that Europe imports from Russia.

Republicans also insist we are not doing enough to arm Ukraine. Really? While we are still figuring out how to get fighter planes into Ukrainian hands, “In less than a week, the United States and NATO have pushed more than 17,000 antitank weapons, including Javelin missiles, over the borders of Poland and Romania, unloading them from giant military cargo planes so they can make the trip by land to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and other major cities,” the New York Times reports. U.S. teams are also helping “to interfere with Russia’s digital attacks and communications.”

And the extent and speed of intelligence sharing is jaw-dropping. “In Washington and Germany,” the Times reports, “intelligence officials race to merge satellite photographs with electronic intercepts of Russian military units, strip them of hints of how they were gathered, and beam them to Ukrainian military units within an hour or two.”

Might it be that Biden is doing everything humanly possible short of starting World War III to help Ukraine, and Republicans have no real basis for complaint?

Most Republicans, certainly the right-wing pundits in their media bubble, find it impossible even in times of war to put aside any perceived partisan advantage. In a war critical for the defense of democracy, they’ll keep on searching for something to criticize. So don’t expect the disingenuous whining to stop.

Once again I find myself embarrassed for ever having been a Republican both because of the GOP's behavior in the instant crisis and because the party is pursuing the same anti-gay agenda that Putin utilized to gain the support of Christian extremists in Russia.  Do these Republicans never look in the mirror and realize they are looking at the biggest domestic problem with America today?