Travis Gettys is a senior editor for Raw Story based in northern Kentucky. He previously worked as a web editor for WLWT-TV and a contributing writer for the Kentucky Enquirer, and he also wrote for the award-winning Sadly, No! blog. He has covered national, state and local politics, breaking news, criminal investigations and trials, sports and a variety of community issues, with a special emphasis on racial justice, right-wing extremism and gun safety.
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough slammed Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for taking Russia's side in its war against Ukraine.
The Alabama Republican praised Russian president Vladimir Putin and blamed the United States for the invasion of Ukraine, saying that Donald Trump could negotiate an end to the conflict "in a matter of weeks," and the "Morning Joe" host was gobsmacked by the GOP senator's support for an American enemy.
"You've got a senator from the state of Alabama that is parroting Russian state media talking points, attacking the United States, blaming the United States for Russia's invasion of a sovereign country, who is not a member of NATO, and we had deliberately not made them a member of NATO," Scarborough said. "You hear Tuberville talking about Vladimir Putin being 'at the top of his game,' attacking American media as propaganda and not hearing -- I mean, he and Tucker Carlson are lined up -- again, I don't know when being pro-Russia, being pro-KGB, being pro-invasion for a guy who is a war criminal."
Scarborough, who graduated from the University of Alabama and represented the Florida panhandle in Congress, wondered what Tuberville's constituents thought of his remarks.
"Do they love that?" Scarborough said. "Do they have Putin fan clubs down in Fairhope? I know Alabama pretty well, and the Alabama that I knew were old -- gee, they were kind of Reagan Republicans. They believed in a strong America, they didn't love Russian dictators. But here Tommy Tubervillle is parroting Russian talking points, just flat-out parroting them, and this is the same guy that all of our military leaders said was undermining the readiness of the United States armed forces for about a year."
"This guy is bad for America's military," Scarborough added. "This guy is bad for America's strength. All you have to do, just ask people who were serving in uniform and they'll tell you."
Scarborough pointed to Donald Trump's long history of praising Putin and seeking his favor, and he said Tuberville and other Republicans were following his shameful lead.
"Did they also praise the fact that you have a Wall Street Journal reporter who is still being captured, still living in gulags?" Scarborough said. "What does Tommy Tuberville say, Tucker Carlson? What do they say that Evan Gershkovich is still in a Russian gulag, a Wall Street Journal reporter still in a gulag and you have Tommy Tubervillle and you have Donald Trump carrying Vladimir Putin's water."
"You know, by the way , how remarkable, we're showing these pathetic, sad, weak pictures of Donald Trump from Helsinki, you ought to retell that story as well," Scarborough said. "But how shocking that you had to say in response to a senator blaming the United States of America for Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, you had to say, well, of course, we all know, it was not the United States' fault for Russia invading Ukraine. The fact that you had to clean up a Republican United States senator's words who is blaming the United States for Putin invading Ukraine shows just how sick this ultra-MAGA brand of Republicanism is."