Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
Stories Chosen For You
LANSING, Mich. — Petition circulators who allegedly forged signatures, leading to five Republican candidates for Michigan governor potentially losing their spots on the primary ballot, should be criminally prosecuted, key political figures from both sides of the aisle said Tuesday. "We have to be serious about putting several people in jail," said Norm Shinkle, one of two Republicans who serve on the Board of State Canvassers. "We have to prosecute." His comments came a day after the Michigan Bureau of Elections reported finding "a substantial volume of fraudulent petition sheets" submitted by...
‘Cult followers’ of Trump embrace Putinism as ‘Red Square Republicans’ fall in line: conservative
May 24, 2022
Republicans are becoming increasingly pro-Putin under a disguise of isolationism, conservative Max Boot wrote for The Washington Post on Tuesday.
"A Pew Research Center poll found that 75 percent of Americans support strict economic sanctions on Russia and 71 percent support sending weapons to Ukraine," he wrote. "That brings us to the bad news: Isolationism — or is it Putinism? — remains disturbingly resilient within Republican ranks. In the Pew poll, more than twice as many Republicans as Democrats said that the United States is providing too much aid to Ukraine."
Boot noted that opposition to aiding Ukraine is the position of some of the biggest names in the GOP, even as Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) supports Ukraine.
"Roughly a quarter of House Republicans and a fifth of Senate Republicans share that view," he explained. "Some of the influential voices opposing aid to Ukraine include former president Donald Trump, Fox 'News' host Tucker Carlson, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Heritage Action for America (the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation), and FreedomWorks (the Koch-supported advocacy organization)."
IN OTHER NEWS: GOP candidates deemed ineligible as massive signature fraud scandal upends Michigan gubernatorial race
Boot drew a parallel between a previous era of isolationism in America.
"It’s hard to take the nationalists’ arguments at face value," he wrote. "Many of the original “America Firsters” in 1940 and 1941 were actually pro-Nazi. Likewise, many of today’s MAGA militants are actually pro-Putin. They favor a hard line against leftist dictatorships such as those in Cuba, Venezuela and China, while advocating de facto appeasement of Russia’s right-wing dictatorship."
He noted the group of "Red Square Republicans" who visited Russia on America's Independence Day in 2018, which included Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), John Hoeven (R-ND), Ron Johnson (R-WI), John Neely Kennedy (R-LA), Jerry Moran (R-KS.), John Thune (R-SD), along with Reps. Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) and Richard C. Shelby (R-AL).
"The attraction of Putin’s Russia for many on the right is the same as Viktor Orban’s Hungary (site of the recent Conservative Political Action Conference). They consider right-wing autocracies — with regressive policies on immigration, multiculturalism, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights and other culture war issues — as models for the United States to emulate," he explained. "Beyond shared beliefs, the MAGA affinity for Putinism is rooted in sordid self-interest: The Kremlin helped Trump win office in 2016 and is likely to aid him again if he runs in 2024. The GOP has become a cult of personality, and the cult leader not only admires Putin but enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with him. So the cult followers fall into line."
Read the full analysis.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Following a shooting Tuesday at an Uvalde elementary school in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said that 14 students and a teacher had been killed.
"He shot and killed horrifically and incomprehensibly 14 students and killed a teacher," Abbott said.
The shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School, which is about 85 miles west of San Antonio. The school has an enrollment of just under 600 students.
The suspect is an 18-year-old who is believed to have been killed by officers. Abbott said he was armed with "a handgun, and he may have also had a rifle."
The suspect also reportedly shot his grandmother. Her condition is unclear.
Watch live coverage, courtesy of KEN5, below:
Active shooter situation at an elementary school in Uvalde; shooter in custody, police say www.youtube.com
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Copyright © 2022 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}