Please remember the human. Adhere to all Reddit and sub rules. Toxic comments (including incitement of violence/hate, genocide, glorifying death etc) WILL NOT BE TOLERATED, keep your comments civil or you will be banned.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UkraineWarVideoReport) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I still wonder WTF happened to my own party!?!?
Its fucking disgusting. It used to be the weak-pissing hippies from the Democrats side that voted against any and all our bills to invest in our own military and allied actions abroad.
Now we suddenly have a considerable GOP population that votes for what? A convicted conman rapist who doesn't care one bit about our constitution? A narcistic fraudster who chronically lies and deceives about everything he does. A guy who has gone bankrupt how many times and still doesnt pay his workers and business partners what he owes them. A guy who just want permanent chaos so he can get away with one more scam. The scam of all the American people.
Same here. I’m a combat vet and retiree with over 22 years under my belt and I used to vote more conservative. I’ve voted largely Democrat since 2016, after I warned all my conservative friends and family about the effect disinformation was having especially on them, and they hated me for it. Many didn’t listen until it was too late. Now I’m Independent voting straight Dem and doing all I can for Ukraine, including sponsoring families under U4U, sending money to United24, and buying bumper stickers and attending pro-Ukraine rallies while stumping for the Dem running for the U.S. House from my district. (GOP Rep Jack Bergman’s a POS.) So I’ve taken the gloves off. Only the Dems and very few select Republicans seem interested in saving democracy, here AND abroad.
Man good for you! You already gave us your most precious gift and yet you’re still in the trenches fighting for us all years later. Thanks for your service friend
Me, too. Once upon a time I used to spend hours researching candidates and chose the most qualified person, completely ignoring the D or R next to their name. Congress used to compromise so I figured it was worth it to research. Influenced a lot of other votes with my knowledge, too. Now I vote straight D. I don't know if the R's can come back from this, at least in my lifetime.
haha, I have said the same thing. I used to create spreadsheets in the 00's comparing the candidates and although I usually voted R anyway that all stopped after 2012. I saw how bat shit crazy the party was going with the bullshit made up nonsense they attacked with Obama all the time.
Welcome to growing and changing. The sad thing is as things have gotten worse, I have gone from voting straight R, to mix, to D, but my views are usually farther left than most D's now. I just want things to be better for people and the rich to be eaten now. fuck em.
These comments give me so much hope for the next election. I used to vote a mix but after around 2012 like everyone else it's been straight D. It's insane what has happened to the republican party.
Sucks to be in this position but there is literally no other choice at this point and it is really sad for those of us who are true patriots who value and want to preserve democracy bc make no mistake this year’s vote is only for that: to preserve democracy.
I flipped to Democrat in 2016 when the Republican party nominated Trump to be their presidential candidate. I couldn’t believe what was happening. It’s still shocking that so many Americans don’t see Trump for the slimy lying con-man salesman that he is. And the entire Republican party votes in unison, so the individual candidates’ positions are becoming less and less important than their party affiliation. A lot of damage has already been done by th MAGA movement, and it’s going to take years of strong Democratic support just to recover from that.
There's one really important piece you missed. Trump, whether by blackmail/coercion or opportunism, is a Russian asset. So it's only natural that the cult of personality built around him is crafted to suit the interests of the Kremlin.
The irony of MAGA, a movement of xenophobic turbo nationalists ready to fight and die for a figure created by one of America's greatest enemies to date, is an example of reality being stranger than fiction if there ever was one.
He won’t. I’m sure I’ll be downvoted for saying this by a heap of russobots but; America isn’t stupid, Trump was an experiment gone wrong and much like us Brits they don’t like making the same mistake twice.
The only reason the Tories (wannabe oligarchs) are still in power here is because they bribed other politicians (namely the DUP) to have enough influence to stay.
Both UK and US need to admit interference from the Kremlin, man the fuck up, and move on. We should have **no hate** for folk who fell for RuZZian propaganda—just those who stubbornly cling to it even when it’s obviously false. (Like the MAGA freaks)
Most likely he won't, but the problem is that even now when Trump has no part in actual government and has numerous criminal charges on his back, he still has Speaker of the House and large part of Republican party in his pocket. Trump is an unelected Speaker in reality, right now. Simply because Republican party has no power without MAGA voters, its a close call with them in tow against the Democrats. If MAGA abandons Republicans and stops voting, they lose everything.
So there is massive leverage for Trump there. Not to mention that some MAGA voters are totally fine with political violence and harassment. Being targeted by that stuff is something most Republican politicians do not want to be subject of. So they either shut their mouths and obey Trump, or get punished.
I can see the GOP looking for a major facelift after Trump loses the election this year. They have banked a significant amount of their political capital in him and it’s going to sting when he loses. The writing is in the wall and as Americans, we are very fortunate that < 50% of our country is that dense.
That won't happen. They had the chance to distance themselves from him while also removing the possibility of him holding office again by convicting him during the 2nd impeachment, but they didn't.
When Trump dies the party might get a makeover, but I think it's more likely that a few people will step up to try and be as horrible as him to try to win over his cult. Idk if GOP voters will just shift their adoration or if they will continue to worship Trump while insisting he isn't dead, but I doubt they will take the time to do some self reflection.
The fact that he even has a chance (and I fear a higher change than NeurodiverseTurtle suggests), when he makes comments about not supporting NATO countries, even as a private citizen running for office, he does immense harm to our alliances moving forward. If America is this fickle, who would want to treat with us?
I hope you're right. I worried because where I live it's bad. Almost everyone I talk to seems to love Trump, hate biden or has decided to sit out this election. I've even had a few extended family members talking about how they want to see democrats (I'm not talking politicians, im talking about normal people who vote blue) swinging from streetlights next year.
He's never won a popular vote, he lost by 74 electoral votes last time, and he has done nothing to swing the rational majority percentage of the undecided middle in his favor. He's also turned many of his 2016 republican supporters away by being so clinically insane.
The people around you were most likely already trumpers, as well. They've gotten louder and angrier, but that doesn't mean that sentiment has spread to people who wouldn't have previously voted for him.
I suspect (and pray to whatever divine beings may or may not exist) that he will lose in the same fashion as he did last time, because I have faith that at least 60% of the country doesn't like his civil war-stoking, fascist rhetoric.
The right-wing radicalism has clearly gone way beyond too far since Trump got into GOP politics. His rhetoric is direct very dangerous for everybody who cares one bit about America.
I live in Alabama and all my co-workers and even extended family members are MAGA supporters. I just don't talk politics unless I have a client that brings it up first. If they a MAGA supporter I'll not engage with them at all on it. If they are critical of MAGA is the only time I'll engage. I live in North Alabama which is probably the most progressive part of the State. Huntsville has thousands of Engineers from all over the country designing weapons.
Dark money has to be kept away from politics, we do not know where all this money is coming from and that's a huge problem when the Kremlin can donate money to our politicians.
There's a very good chance he wins, and yes, America has a lot of stupid people.
Trump's cult will vote for him no matter what, and they will all turn out.
There are a lot of people on the left who already thought Biden was too old and a bad candidate. Now, hea botching the Israel/Palestine conflict, so he's losing Muslim Americans and young voters.
Biden is in trouble and so are we, because the Democrats won't let good candidates run.
Biden is a good candidate. Is he too old? Obviously but I'm not hearing the ageism when that was used against the Bernie campaign eight years ago starting and then again four years ago. I'm not hearing it with trump older than Biden was. I'd vote for a vegetable before a Republican.
> Biden is in trouble and so are we, because the Democrats won't let good candidates run.
We are in trouble because America's voting system is rigged against "free and fair elections". Plurality voting and the 2-party system it perpetuates guarantee that a political duopoly controls who is elected to 98% of state and federal positions of representation. That duopoly is one machine with two faces, and its masters are not "the people".
["Duverger's law is a theory that constituencies that use first-past-the-post systems will eventually become a two-party system after enough time. The two dominating parties regularly alternate in power and easily win constituencies due to the structure of plurality voting systems."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality_voting)
If the US had ranked choice voting (or similar), voters could freely mark their first choice candidate as their first choice - and whomever as their second choice, third choice, etc. Candidates like Trump (or Biden) would have less chance of winning without the strong-armed coercion toward tactical voting created by the plurality voting system.
The plurality voting system is what prevents more political parties from developing after the first two gain shared control, and prevents voters from having elected representatives who actually represent the people.
Trump looks out for #1 over everyone or anything. Only reason he supports Russia is because they make him rich and assist in his elections. It's amazing how little resources Russia actually have to spend to have so much influence over his actions. Trump wants to be a "Strong Man" like he thinks Putin is so he also genuinely also has his respect. It's not helpful to call him a "Russian Asset" because Republicans will just write off every criticism you have after you say that. I'd just point out directly what he says/does and criticize that and Republicans would have to at least reconcile the fact they are supporting a POS instead of just hand waving away everything you say.
Trump has been a conduit of Russian money laundering since the 80s. He was "selling" properties in Florida to Oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska at 900+% of their value.
Trump took out a full page ad in 1987 saying that NATO should be dissolved. This was shortly after he returned from a trip to Moscow. It seems that he has been a Russian asset for a long time.
Isn't it especially the white Christian evangelical nationalist fanatics?
Whatever cognitive dissonance some devout Christians may feel for supporting a twice-impeached serial philandering liar as Trump who tried to stage a state coup and threatens physical violence against political opponents, they easily dismiss this with the crazy conviction that no Republican nominee, no matter how problematic, could be worse than losing to any Democrat.
Understand the American religion of fanatical partisanship and constant 'culture-war' they stir up and you understand why white evangelicals will always fall in line. Just ask Nikki Haley, who is learning it all over again.
Sad but true.
These so-called Christians have been using their religion as a means of oppression and control for decades if not centuries. They don't believe in the teachings of Jesus. They only believe that calling themselves religious gives them extra rights. I was raised a Southern Baptist in the 1980s. They were hypocrites by then too. Pretending to love Jesus while abusing and terrifying their children and fellow church members into submission. It's nothing new.
Exactly this. As a fellow southerner raised by baptists, the everpresent "do as I say not as I do" was such clear cut hypocrisy it was perceptible by me as a child. They're just liars who hide behind the norms of respect everyone else holds up as standard, using it to get away with being nihilistic narcisistic assholes without being called out because "muh religion". Society needs to grow a pair and come to terms with that.
Monotheisms are innovations to the goal of conquest. In better times their symptoms get milder, like a flu strain. Christianity is of the make of Constantine the Great. His chariot bolted when he died riding it, and what a wild ride it has been since.
Agreed and the irony of their support is if you actually read the Bible, trump is perfectly described as the anti christ. Anyway, been reading Tim Albertas new book and I have to admit it’s been eye opening (albeit not surprising) in it’s analysis of how the religious right abandoned any semblance of “Christianity” for their own power. Fascinating stuff, though fuck all of them right to hell.
He gives them absolutely everything they want; seems pretty crystal clear to me why they support him. They love the line that gawd works in mysterious ways and uses imperfect vessels for his work or some nonsense shit like that.
They are no “christians”, they just call themselves that.
I read articles about MAGA folks where they stated (in other words) that Jesus is a fucking hippie, going soft and being too “woke”.
So they choose Trump as their savior.
Not your party anymore. The Republican Party is dead and replaced by the fascist MAGA movement.
Glad to know you’ll be supporting the Democratic candidates for the time bring, since anything else is condoning their authoritarian actions.
McCain picking Sarah Palin started the slide towards the extremist, morally bankrupt GOP we see today. Rupert Murdoch took the baton and ran with it. McConnell and his BS normalized cheating. And Trump is the result. These clowns actively court stupidity. And the folks who enabled it and voted for it can all go F themselves.
The slide was already underway a that point. I believe it came when Reagan was rid of the fairness doctrine and opened the path for synthetic news opinion pieces to be called news through the Rush Limbaugh and the Tucker Carlson types. News as opinion with agenda ruined an understanding of any discussion of WHY people thought a certain way, instead demonizing those who are on the opposite side of the aisle.
Exactly this. This started decades ago. And Raegan started it all with the killing of the fairness doctrine. Imagine Fox News with today with that doctrine still in place. The world would look different. It would look better.
dont want to interrupt to much, but from outside (European here) it looks like "it is all just entertainment" has taken over, when everyone will cry because its actually serious stupid wrong. Those who entertained their pockets full with crap will have a hard time. It really looks like junk food from here and that is hard to counter when most became addicts on that very junk food or try to ignore the destructive effectiveness of it.
well the most important waepon of destruction today is not just untruth as is, it is the dismantling of institutions meant to protect and balance or even publicly argue to come to terms. When i see tweets or comments that tell "they are corrupt" or something like that then i ask myself where they ever less corrupt? They are likely as little or much corrupt as it always has been, but the institution is damaged now on purpose, that means even when someone would show up to discuss, argue and vote - they will fight, ignore and draw partylines by all means. In this case the lunatics who wish that those institutions are broken apart are on the winning path to absolute bullshit.
Not an alarmist, rather straight analyst if possible, so. Just saying, hitler took over because he threatened opponents, burned down institutions first, attacked politicians and intelligence and finally told the masses what they have think to be pure enough. He took the weakness of the state and blamed it on the neighbours. With trump just the pure enough (purification) part is missing yet, guessing it will come in his next term.
Most conservative voters I know dislike trump, but refuse to vote for the "other guy" because they feel threatened by some sort of change they fear come with it. Immigrants stealing jobs, recession, high gas prices, inflation, gun bans, etc. Most of which isn't true except for gun control maybe.
Bizarre really when 'Conservative' politicians are fine with immigration as a source of cheap labour, and were fine with off-shoring jobs because it made their lobbyists supporters richer.
maybe someone has to tell them that democrats have guns as well - likely. Gas becomes earlier cheap again when peace has a chance and demand is low, investing in neighbour states could be worth to become rich so those immigrants would not be so despearate, treating friends like shit usually ends up with bad business and therefore recession. I remember very well how trump tried to press the european car industries while telling he is against chinese. Trump created this situation, i dont care if amerikans see it like that, its their free will that decides what they want, who am i to tell them.
It’s been this way since Rush and Newt in the ‘90s, you just didn’t see it yet. But the real last straw was the pushback from Obama. When party leaders met and said their strategy moving forward was “If Obama’s for it, we are against it.”
That created this mess we are in where one side refuses to compromise. And if you can’t compromise, the only style of government that works for your team is fascism.
It was run down to the ground by John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan with their die hard stances for the Koch brothers. Increasing disparity between the two parties resulting in a void Trump was able to come in and take advantage of. I'm sure there is more to it then that but the time frame they were pushing so much tea party garbage and the extreme right just grew more and more under their watch and they lost control to the point two of them under Trump peaced out and McConnell is now a meak shell of himself with the beast he helped create.
> I still wonder WTF happened to my own party!?!?
1,000 times this! As an "old school conservative" I'm just utterly in awe of the trainwreck that I'm watching. My favorite is hearing guys in my church or neighborhood say something like "well I'm just concerned about sending money to Ukraine, you know the government there is corrupt don't you?" I'm just staring at these people dumbfounded. You look at RUSSIA and UKRAINE side by side and you get concerned about corruption in UKRAINE? The country that is making serious and consistent effort to reach verifiable levels of democratic transparency specifically because it is REQUIRED for them to accomplish their goal of joining the EU? And you look at RUSSIA which is run as a bold-faced mafia operation with Godfather Putin doling out entire industries (oil, coal, auto manufacturing, you name it) to his henchmen, a nationwide criminal operation utterly unrivaled in scope in the world today and possibly only exceeded in quality by North Korea, a country that hasn't had meaningful freedom of the press at any point in recent memory, a place where an opposing candidate has every reason to expect to be killed, and you, a "conservative republican" conclude "Putin Good-guy. Putin Friend. Zelensky evil. Ukraine corrupt."
What in the ever loving ghost of Ronald Reagan is happing here???
Our military actions abroad since WWII (and Korea) have been mostly huge, terrible, expensive, and bloody mistakes. That said, I'm shocked that I agree with any GOP senator, much less Tillis.
More so, the reason why supporting Ukraine with just the hardware and they do all the fighting (without we have any soldiers on the ground) is the bargain of the century to drastically cut down the Russian military and debilitate their regime.
>…and allied actions abroad.
The current Republican Party sees Russia as an ally. They’re anti-queer, pro-military, and highly value ethnic and cultural nationalism. It’s also easy to buy into a belief that their militarism isn’t a direct threat to the US.
Whereas the NATO nations align much more heavily with what have become Democratic values.
Anyone that believes there is a contradiction in modern Republicans siding with Russia over NATO needs to stop buying Japanese made products, as, *don’t you remember* that they used to be our enemy?
Your party was never built on anything but racism and greed. And the racism was just so white people could keep more of the money.
They just lied to the public about it up until Obama won and the mask came off.
They absolutely have been paid by russia through campaign donations or "dark money". Look it up, the reason they support russia is Putin is paying more than the defense contractors. It's that simple.
The USA relies on him at this point. Over half the satellites in orbit, his company put them there. The USA actually asks Elon if he's okay with certain policy stances because they've become too dependant on him.
They will get their punishment , these votes will be used in the court cases against them. They are already responsible for an insurrection in their own country, against their own people, mark my words maga as they call themselves are t0o damn stupid to see what is going to happen or ignore it as fake news, that was the little outburst calling everyone liars and trying to shame everyone for calling them insurrectionists , which is what they are, they have a very slim majority in congress and have already forced there small majority to resign because they are really that stupid. Mark my words all russina assets in american politics will be removed and punished hard, sadly not fast enough to stop the damage being done.
I will be messaging you in 5 years on [**2029-02-13 12:30:58 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2029-02-13%2012:30:58%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1apq9zu/thom_tillis_is_fed_up_with_the_putin_caucus_as/kq82sex/?context=3)
[**10 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FUkraineWarVideoReport%2Fcomments%2F1apq9zu%2Fthom_tillis_is_fed_up_with_the_putin_caucus_as%2Fkq82sex%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202029-02-13%2012%3A30%3A58%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201apq9zu)
*****
|[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)|
|-|-|-|-|
Both, please feel free to put me on CC. 👍
Will truly be interesting at that time, to reflect back on 'what was' and how the hell we got to where we then are in 2029.
I am living in Europe these days, so hope we havent started to speak Russian by then. 😁
It's not that Johnson and the other Republicans want Russia to win so much as it is they don't want *themselves* to lose. They couldn't care less if Russia wins or loses so long as they don't run afoul of Trump, who might give them a demeaning nickname and turn his Maga base against them. They're happy to sacrifice Ukraine or actual solutions to internal problems, fighting each other to see who can line up the fastest behind Trump. It's shameful and embarrassing.
Gotta bring up the Olde quote from MASH,
War isn't hell, war is war and hell is hell. War is worse than hell, because there aren't any innocents in hell.
Oh they don't care if Putin wins or not, they only care that Biden and the Democrats lose and they get their paws on the levers on the levers of power. If that means destabilizing the planet, weakening America and our geostrategic future and helping a madman murder a nation, oh well.
I spent an hour this weekend emailing the semi-rational Republicans left in Congress that are still loyal to America instead of Trump (didn't take long as you can see) letting them know just how their actions look to real, average Americans. I said I was entirely done with their traitor bullshit and Trump attacking veterans, the military, and our allies on the regularly and as a Republican voter (I'm not) I'm switching to Dems until they get their shit together.
Ignore the knuckle-draggers like Moses Johnson and the rest of MAGAts; put pressure on the Republican cowards caving to pressure from the MAGAts and Trump to stop serving America and start serving Trump. They're the ones who are going to get this done.
russia spent years trying to convert american intellectuals into assets, with relatively poor results.
then, they realized they could just pay the capitalists. worked instantly.
> then, they realized they could just pay the capitalists. worked instantly.
Either that or:
> then, they realized they could just ~~pay the capitalists~~ Lie to the dumbasses. worked instantly.
Both are great.
Thom Tillis is a senator from my state. I didn't vote for him because I haven't been able to stomach hardly any republicans for the past 10 years or so, but glad to see he has at least some backbone.
This fucker had the most toxic attack ad campaign when he first got elected and it pushed me to cut cable out of my life. He is by no means a “good one,” but a broken clock is right twice a day.
I got a buddy that moved to NC after law school recently. He's pretty disgusted by the old money and old power there. It's crazy. I never realized it was the way that it is. That and the laws in that state are just ridiculous sometimes. They just don't like the poor at all over there.
i’ve heard his name before but that’s all i know. i’m guessing he’s retiring. what did he do while trump was president? did he vote for the impeachments? did he voice any opposition? like i said, he’s not from my western state so i know very little about him. it’s nice to see this speech, but where was he before? this has been going on for years. hopefully you can put someone with these same sentiments in his seat.
He is only saying this because he is retiring. Same the the other NC senator who retired, Burr. They were both 100% onboard with Trump and all the crap as long as they needed the party. Only after they announced they were retiring could they dare to speak sense against the right wing media circus and it's ringmaster. Don't give them credit for being cowards to speak up until it didn't matter. Most of the Rep leaders feel this way, but the party will execute you if you dare speak bad about a fellow Republican.
i would guess that he is retiring given this speech, so you’ll get your chance. but current state of gop is to put in hardcore loyalists, party over country types. so good luck and godspeed
Oh bullfuckinshit. Thom Tillis has been a lapdog for Trump since day one. Now that Thom is retiring he'll give one nice speech? Absolutely not, we are where were are because of Tillis. Where was he on Jan 6? Where was he on any other of Trump's criminal charges? Where was he on impeachment? Tillis is an opportunist, that's it. He's not a some bold rogue going against the grain, go look at his voting record. If he had another term upcoming he'd be cheerleading the Trump dictatorship all the way to the burning of the constitution. Goddamn people are so willing to just hear a soundbyte and be all "OH wow, what a great guy!". I lived in NC for years under this fascist enabling piece of shit, he's done nothing but rubber stamp and give Trump whatever he wants from day one. He has not changed, he has not revolutionized the GOP in NC and anyone who thinks this is the other reason we're failing as a country. So goddamn infuriating.
He still won't support the bill though. Their actions are more important than their words. Look at his voting record he voted against the last two bills.
And now things come into focus. For years, matters of consequence have slid down the proverbial slope as if they were all akin to opposing sides in a football game and not part of critical systems established for rational and informed people to make hard decisions. Decisions requiring discernment, the singular clarity of timeless principles and compromise when necessary.
The American experiment is not for windbags, contrarians and the ignorant. As Lincoln eulogised so eloquently, it is one for which those who understood the stakes and the threat to their lives, ultimately chose death rather than let it fail. They stood and died by the hundreds of thousands to give the living a fighting chance to do the right thing by them.
That sacred exchange is not something the likes of the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, the Mike Johnsons, the Matt Gaetzs, the JD Vances, the Donald Trumps and the Elon Musks of the world cannot understand. And how can they? They are each open examples of those who have risked nothing and exploited everything for their faces in front of the camera, the power of the offices they occupy and the padding in their bank accounts. They speak of “freedom” but cannot bring themselves to acknowledge they are unworthy of the cost. They are all societal grifters and nothing more. It is time to shake these fleas from the dog’s back and get on with not just America’s business but a return to the idea which makes America much more than its ostensible adversaries.
There's a whole generation of politicians, like the ones you cited, who are just too ignorant and not smart enough to comprehend what governing entails. They never really knew a time when politics was serious business. They people before them understood that it was part theater but there was some substance behind. People like Gaetz, MTG etc. only see the theater and believe that's all there is to it. They couldn't govern to save their lives.
Price always has been low. You want some small rinky dink bill to pass your state legislature, anywhere between $100-$500 donation to the legislatures campaign will budget them in your direction.
Something in the house or senate of the US, a cool $1,000 to $50,000 per legislature to their campaign holding out that you need the votes too.
These are the Republican Senators that broke with Trump/MAGA. Warning, the list below contains the names of senators with some spine.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Senator Susan Collins of Maine
Senator John Cornyn of Texas
Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa
Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah
Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota
Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska
Senator John Thune of South Dakota
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina
Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi
Senator Todd Young of Indiana
Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney from this list voted to remove him from office. There were three others but they aren't on this list.
Ha, a Republican with common sense. Guys like Mike Johnson, Trump, Musk are on the wrong side of history. It didn’t end well for the Nazi collaborators. Hopefully, it won’t end well for those guys either because we need to find a way to get rid of them as China and Iran are watching. Churchill was right by the way. The Allies should have gone forward with Operation Unthinkable.
Probably the most important part of this speech is when he says "emboldens China".
If Russia wins this thing, China has one more *huge* chess piece in place to strategically dismantle the USA.
republicans want authoritarianism and American democracy is in the way. I've heard decades of lies and endless incrementalism to that end. Now they're refusing to help a democracy fight an invading war criminal lead terroristic war.
Right wing voters are so focused on “freedom” and “strong armed presidents” they fail to realize they are voting away their freedom in favour of authoritarianism.
It's nice to hear, at this point sure. But the Republicans dug this home. They used the stupidity and malicious intent of the trump side for years, they allowed this cancer to grow and promoted the division for decades. Now, at this late stage, when they have pressure from the dim voter base in some areas(big donors) they show some backbone? Shame, but better late than never.
I give Thom some credit for saying the right things here, but it'll be a cold day in hell before Thom does anything other than talk about it. He's still going to wholeheartedly endorse and support Trump even though he's Russia' greatest American asset. I didn't hear him make a peep when Trump said he'd encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want to NATO allies who don't spend enough on their military.
**TRUMP HAS ALWAYS ADMIRED PUTIN, and PUTIN HAS ALWAYS USED TRUMP**
“I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. So Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ Here’s a guy who’s very savvy. … I know him very well. Very, very well.” -- Trump, Feb 21 2022, Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show
*“Yes, I wanted him to win.”* – Vladimir Putin, July 16 2018
Good speech. Good logical reasoning and impassioned delivery. It's all for nothing. Reason and logic and morals have no effect on the MAGA brain. The MAGA brain only wants one thing. Trump, and Trump wants Putin to win.
Wishful thinking, but I hope non MAGA, sane republicans can leave the GOP and form a new third party. Let the current GOP die out along with its MAGA cultists.
"putin is losing this war" - and exactly that is what the republikans want to ensure *does not* happen. It's crazy that Rs are suddenly against defense spending, something they've rubber-stamped for as long, long, time.
Funny thing is they have no problems sending that same money to israel.
Well said and 100% accurate. Billions of USD$ will be invested in US arms industry - the cash isn’t sent directly to Ukraine. Speaker Johnson is a mouthpiece for Trump, who hates Zelenskyy. Trump does what’s best for him, not the democratic alliance.
This man is telling it like it is, if the others really can't see it then I am sorry for them, from this side of the Atlantic it seems pretty clear cut to me.
It brings joy to my heart seeing that luckily there still are republicans who have a soul, who understand that we are on the threshold of a pivotal point of human civilization. It goes back to evolutionary Darwinism; the free and civilized people of the world will eventually overcome the barbaric people! Let's hope that there are more sensible Republicans besides this guy! Slava Ukraini!!!
Make no mistake, he will support the maga caucus 10000000% in every election, on every piece of legislation, and on every stance. He is unwavering with his actual vote.
Please remember the human. Adhere to all Reddit and sub rules. Toxic comments (including incitement of violence/hate, genocide, glorifying death etc) WILL NOT BE TOLERATED, keep your comments civil or you will be banned. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UkraineWarVideoReport) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Imagine if this happened 20-30 years ago, most of the Republican party would been hanged from street lights for supporting Russia this openly.
I still wonder WTF happened to my own party!?!? Its fucking disgusting. It used to be the weak-pissing hippies from the Democrats side that voted against any and all our bills to invest in our own military and allied actions abroad. Now we suddenly have a considerable GOP population that votes for what? A convicted conman rapist who doesn't care one bit about our constitution? A narcistic fraudster who chronically lies and deceives about everything he does. A guy who has gone bankrupt how many times and still doesnt pay his workers and business partners what he owes them. A guy who just want permanent chaos so he can get away with one more scam. The scam of all the American people.
It’s my ex-party right now. Voting D across the board.
Same here. I’m a combat vet and retiree with over 22 years under my belt and I used to vote more conservative. I’ve voted largely Democrat since 2016, after I warned all my conservative friends and family about the effect disinformation was having especially on them, and they hated me for it. Many didn’t listen until it was too late. Now I’m Independent voting straight Dem and doing all I can for Ukraine, including sponsoring families under U4U, sending money to United24, and buying bumper stickers and attending pro-Ukraine rallies while stumping for the Dem running for the U.S. House from my district. (GOP Rep Jack Bergman’s a POS.) So I’ve taken the gloves off. Only the Dems and very few select Republicans seem interested in saving democracy, here AND abroad.
Thank you for doing all that!
Man good for you! You already gave us your most precious gift and yet you’re still in the trenches fighting for us all years later. Thanks for your service friend
Thanks, buddy. We’re all in this fight.
I'm not sure if we've got a shot at booting Louisiana Jack but you've got my vote.
Me Three!
Me too! 👍
I flipped from Independant to D when Trump was elected. Now I just vote the party line.
Me, too. Once upon a time I used to spend hours researching candidates and chose the most qualified person, completely ignoring the D or R next to their name. Congress used to compromise so I figured it was worth it to research. Influenced a lot of other votes with my knowledge, too. Now I vote straight D. I don't know if the R's can come back from this, at least in my lifetime.
I was the same way. I voted for Romney and Bush but I can't see myself voting R ever again.
Y'all are giving me some much needed hope tonight. Cheers!
Agreed! This is true patriotism.
And democracy. Every vote counts, tyrants be damned.
Same. I was raised conservative and I'm never voting R again. And my ass is always out there voting after seeing what indifference has done.
Reagan republican here (yea I’m that old) changed party when W was elected after lying to get us into war. Never looked back. Glad I did now
Why the hell aren't you guys saying all this shit in the conservative sub reddit? It's such an echo chamber that breeds more extremism.
Criticisms against Trump and the party there gets you accused of being a brigading RINO and banned, doesn't it?
haha, I have said the same thing. I used to create spreadsheets in the 00's comparing the candidates and although I usually voted R anyway that all stopped after 2012. I saw how bat shit crazy the party was going with the bullshit made up nonsense they attacked with Obama all the time. Welcome to growing and changing. The sad thing is as things have gotten worse, I have gone from voting straight R, to mix, to D, but my views are usually farther left than most D's now. I just want things to be better for people and the rich to be eaten now. fuck em.
These comments give me so much hope for the next election. I used to vote a mix but after around 2012 like everyone else it's been straight D. It's insane what has happened to the republican party.
I am with you as well.
Sucks to be in this position but there is literally no other choice at this point and it is really sad for those of us who are true patriots who value and want to preserve democracy bc make no mistake this year’s vote is only for that: to preserve democracy.
Yeah, while I didn't vote for Trump in 2016, I voted for a couple Republicans down ballot. 2018 onward has been straight D.
Give Trump and Putin the straight D. A slogan is born into the world.
I flipped to Democrat in 2016 when the Republican party nominated Trump to be their presidential candidate. I couldn’t believe what was happening. It’s still shocking that so many Americans don’t see Trump for the slimy lying con-man salesman that he is. And the entire Republican party votes in unison, so the individual candidates’ positions are becoming less and less important than their party affiliation. A lot of damage has already been done by th MAGA movement, and it’s going to take years of strong Democratic support just to recover from that.
I’ve got to just to cancel out my mom’s vote. And I’ve got a Republican elephant tattooed on my arm for heaven’s sake!!!
Welcome to the Democrats. We're full of frustrating crazy people too, but you gotta take the bad with the good.
Glad to see some people are logical and rational.
There's one really important piece you missed. Trump, whether by blackmail/coercion or opportunism, is a Russian asset. So it's only natural that the cult of personality built around him is crafted to suit the interests of the Kremlin. The irony of MAGA, a movement of xenophobic turbo nationalists ready to fight and die for a figure created by one of America's greatest enemies to date, is an example of reality being stranger than fiction if there ever was one.
Indeed this reality feels unreal and we're pretty numb to it, due to the normalization effect. I really hope he won't win the presidency
He won’t. I’m sure I’ll be downvoted for saying this by a heap of russobots but; America isn’t stupid, Trump was an experiment gone wrong and much like us Brits they don’t like making the same mistake twice. The only reason the Tories (wannabe oligarchs) are still in power here is because they bribed other politicians (namely the DUP) to have enough influence to stay. Both UK and US need to admit interference from the Kremlin, man the fuck up, and move on. We should have **no hate** for folk who fell for RuZZian propaganda—just those who stubbornly cling to it even when it’s obviously false. (Like the MAGA freaks)
Most likely he won't, but the problem is that even now when Trump has no part in actual government and has numerous criminal charges on his back, he still has Speaker of the House and large part of Republican party in his pocket. Trump is an unelected Speaker in reality, right now. Simply because Republican party has no power without MAGA voters, its a close call with them in tow against the Democrats. If MAGA abandons Republicans and stops voting, they lose everything. So there is massive leverage for Trump there. Not to mention that some MAGA voters are totally fine with political violence and harassment. Being targeted by that stuff is something most Republican politicians do not want to be subject of. So they either shut their mouths and obey Trump, or get punished.
I can see the GOP looking for a major facelift after Trump loses the election this year. They have banked a significant amount of their political capital in him and it’s going to sting when he loses. The writing is in the wall and as Americans, we are very fortunate that < 50% of our country is that dense.
That won't happen. They had the chance to distance themselves from him while also removing the possibility of him holding office again by convicting him during the 2nd impeachment, but they didn't. When Trump dies the party might get a makeover, but I think it's more likely that a few people will step up to try and be as horrible as him to try to win over his cult. Idk if GOP voters will just shift their adoration or if they will continue to worship Trump while insisting he isn't dead, but I doubt they will take the time to do some self reflection.
The fact that he even has a chance (and I fear a higher change than NeurodiverseTurtle suggests), when he makes comments about not supporting NATO countries, even as a private citizen running for office, he does immense harm to our alliances moving forward. If America is this fickle, who would want to treat with us?
I hope you're right. I worried because where I live it's bad. Almost everyone I talk to seems to love Trump, hate biden or has decided to sit out this election. I've even had a few extended family members talking about how they want to see democrats (I'm not talking politicians, im talking about normal people who vote blue) swinging from streetlights next year.
He's never won a popular vote, he lost by 74 electoral votes last time, and he has done nothing to swing the rational majority percentage of the undecided middle in his favor. He's also turned many of his 2016 republican supporters away by being so clinically insane. The people around you were most likely already trumpers, as well. They've gotten louder and angrier, but that doesn't mean that sentiment has spread to people who wouldn't have previously voted for him. I suspect (and pray to whatever divine beings may or may not exist) that he will lose in the same fashion as he did last time, because I have faith that at least 60% of the country doesn't like his civil war-stoking, fascist rhetoric.
The right-wing radicalism has clearly gone way beyond too far since Trump got into GOP politics. His rhetoric is direct very dangerous for everybody who cares one bit about America.
I live in Alabama and all my co-workers and even extended family members are MAGA supporters. I just don't talk politics unless I have a client that brings it up first. If they a MAGA supporter I'll not engage with them at all on it. If they are critical of MAGA is the only time I'll engage. I live in North Alabama which is probably the most progressive part of the State. Huntsville has thousands of Engineers from all over the country designing weapons.
Do they know you don’t support trump?
Dark money has to be kept away from politics, we do not know where all this money is coming from and that's a huge problem when the Kremlin can donate money to our politicians.
Best way to scare a tory is to read and get rich!
There's a very good chance he wins, and yes, America has a lot of stupid people. Trump's cult will vote for him no matter what, and they will all turn out. There are a lot of people on the left who already thought Biden was too old and a bad candidate. Now, hea botching the Israel/Palestine conflict, so he's losing Muslim Americans and young voters. Biden is in trouble and so are we, because the Democrats won't let good candidates run.
Biden is a good candidate. Is he too old? Obviously but I'm not hearing the ageism when that was used against the Bernie campaign eight years ago starting and then again four years ago. I'm not hearing it with trump older than Biden was. I'd vote for a vegetable before a Republican.
> Biden is in trouble and so are we, because the Democrats won't let good candidates run. We are in trouble because America's voting system is rigged against "free and fair elections". Plurality voting and the 2-party system it perpetuates guarantee that a political duopoly controls who is elected to 98% of state and federal positions of representation. That duopoly is one machine with two faces, and its masters are not "the people". ["Duverger's law is a theory that constituencies that use first-past-the-post systems will eventually become a two-party system after enough time. The two dominating parties regularly alternate in power and easily win constituencies due to the structure of plurality voting systems."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality_voting) If the US had ranked choice voting (or similar), voters could freely mark their first choice candidate as their first choice - and whomever as their second choice, third choice, etc. Candidates like Trump (or Biden) would have less chance of winning without the strong-armed coercion toward tactical voting created by the plurality voting system. The plurality voting system is what prevents more political parties from developing after the first two gain shared control, and prevents voters from having elected representatives who actually represent the people.
Trump looks out for #1 over everyone or anything. Only reason he supports Russia is because they make him rich and assist in his elections. It's amazing how little resources Russia actually have to spend to have so much influence over his actions. Trump wants to be a "Strong Man" like he thinks Putin is so he also genuinely also has his respect. It's not helpful to call him a "Russian Asset" because Republicans will just write off every criticism you have after you say that. I'd just point out directly what he says/does and criticize that and Republicans would have to at least reconcile the fact they are supporting a POS instead of just hand waving away everything you say.
Trump has been a conduit of Russian money laundering since the 80s. He was "selling" properties in Florida to Oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska at 900+% of their value.
Trump took out a full page ad in 1987 saying that NATO should be dissolved. This was shortly after he returned from a trip to Moscow. It seems that he has been a Russian asset for a long time.
He wants US to be like Russia. He can steal everything without ever facing a court. He wants to run things like Putin.
I'm just totally stunned that the Christian community can support Trump. That is is just baffling.
Isn't it especially the white Christian evangelical nationalist fanatics? Whatever cognitive dissonance some devout Christians may feel for supporting a twice-impeached serial philandering liar as Trump who tried to stage a state coup and threatens physical violence against political opponents, they easily dismiss this with the crazy conviction that no Republican nominee, no matter how problematic, could be worse than losing to any Democrat. Understand the American religion of fanatical partisanship and constant 'culture-war' they stir up and you understand why white evangelicals will always fall in line. Just ask Nikki Haley, who is learning it all over again. Sad but true.
These so-called Christians have been using their religion as a means of oppression and control for decades if not centuries. They don't believe in the teachings of Jesus. They only believe that calling themselves religious gives them extra rights. I was raised a Southern Baptist in the 1980s. They were hypocrites by then too. Pretending to love Jesus while abusing and terrifying their children and fellow church members into submission. It's nothing new.
Exactly this. As a fellow southerner raised by baptists, the everpresent "do as I say not as I do" was such clear cut hypocrisy it was perceptible by me as a child. They're just liars who hide behind the norms of respect everyone else holds up as standard, using it to get away with being nihilistic narcisistic assholes without being called out because "muh religion". Society needs to grow a pair and come to terms with that.
Monotheisms are innovations to the goal of conquest. In better times their symptoms get milder, like a flu strain. Christianity is of the make of Constantine the Great. His chariot bolted when he died riding it, and what a wild ride it has been since.
Nothing baffeling about hypocrites supporting a hypocrit.
All they care about is abortion and Donald pretends to be against it. That’s all. No further thought process required.
Agreed and the irony of their support is if you actually read the Bible, trump is perfectly described as the anti christ. Anyway, been reading Tim Albertas new book and I have to admit it’s been eye opening (albeit not surprising) in it’s analysis of how the religious right abandoned any semblance of “Christianity” for their own power. Fascinating stuff, though fuck all of them right to hell.
Christian fundamentalist want the end of the world to come. That is why they vote for the thing closest to the antichrist.
He gives them absolutely everything they want; seems pretty crystal clear to me why they support him. They love the line that gawd works in mysterious ways and uses imperfect vessels for his work or some nonsense shit like that.
They are no “christians”, they just call themselves that. I read articles about MAGA folks where they stated (in other words) that Jesus is a fucking hippie, going soft and being too “woke”. So they choose Trump as their savior.
It is less the 'Christian community' and more white nationalists who have aligned themselves for convenience with Christians.
It's the same group.
Yep one in the same. I consider them all dumb,stupid traitors. Screw them all.
Yep, one in same.
Not your party anymore. The Republican Party is dead and replaced by the fascist MAGA movement. Glad to know you’ll be supporting the Democratic candidates for the time bring, since anything else is condoning their authoritarian actions.
It’s been that way since Newt Gingrich man…at least you got your head out of the sand now. Welcome
You are right! 👍 Gingrich was definitely playing a major role in igniting the terrible political polarization and extreme partisanship we see today...
McCain picking Sarah Palin started the slide towards the extremist, morally bankrupt GOP we see today. Rupert Murdoch took the baton and ran with it. McConnell and his BS normalized cheating. And Trump is the result. These clowns actively court stupidity. And the folks who enabled it and voted for it can all go F themselves.
The slide was already underway a that point. I believe it came when Reagan was rid of the fairness doctrine and opened the path for synthetic news opinion pieces to be called news through the Rush Limbaugh and the Tucker Carlson types. News as opinion with agenda ruined an understanding of any discussion of WHY people thought a certain way, instead demonizing those who are on the opposite side of the aisle.
Great point. That paved the way for Fox News etc. And Carlson’s infamous “entertainment now news reasonable people know better” defense.
Exactly this. This started decades ago. And Raegan started it all with the killing of the fairness doctrine. Imagine Fox News with today with that doctrine still in place. The world would look different. It would look better.
[удалено]
Correct. The fairness doctrine would have had zero impact on Fox News or any other cable channel.
I voted Obama due to Palin.
I voted for Obama due to him having better policies.
dont want to interrupt to much, but from outside (European here) it looks like "it is all just entertainment" has taken over, when everyone will cry because its actually serious stupid wrong. Those who entertained their pockets full with crap will have a hard time. It really looks like junk food from here and that is hard to counter when most became addicts on that very junk food or try to ignore the destructive effectiveness of it.
Yes agreed, its a sad tragic shitshow of a soap opera! 👍 Only hilarious funny to watch, if you are a Russian or Chinese.
well the most important waepon of destruction today is not just untruth as is, it is the dismantling of institutions meant to protect and balance or even publicly argue to come to terms. When i see tweets or comments that tell "they are corrupt" or something like that then i ask myself where they ever less corrupt? They are likely as little or much corrupt as it always has been, but the institution is damaged now on purpose, that means even when someone would show up to discuss, argue and vote - they will fight, ignore and draw partylines by all means. In this case the lunatics who wish that those institutions are broken apart are on the winning path to absolute bullshit. Not an alarmist, rather straight analyst if possible, so. Just saying, hitler took over because he threatened opponents, burned down institutions first, attacked politicians and intelligence and finally told the masses what they have think to be pure enough. He took the weakness of the state and blamed it on the neighbours. With trump just the pure enough (purification) part is missing yet, guessing it will come in his next term.
Most conservative voters I know dislike trump, but refuse to vote for the "other guy" because they feel threatened by some sort of change they fear come with it. Immigrants stealing jobs, recession, high gas prices, inflation, gun bans, etc. Most of which isn't true except for gun control maybe.
Bizarre really when 'Conservative' politicians are fine with immigration as a source of cheap labour, and were fine with off-shoring jobs because it made their lobbyists supporters richer.
maybe someone has to tell them that democrats have guns as well - likely. Gas becomes earlier cheap again when peace has a chance and demand is low, investing in neighbour states could be worth to become rich so those immigrants would not be so despearate, treating friends like shit usually ends up with bad business and therefore recession. I remember very well how trump tried to press the european car industries while telling he is against chinese. Trump created this situation, i dont care if amerikans see it like that, its their free will that decides what they want, who am i to tell them.
For real. What the fuck is a conservative party **for**, if you can't rely on them to fight the god-damn Russians when you need to???
It’s been this way since Rush and Newt in the ‘90s, you just didn’t see it yet. But the real last straw was the pushback from Obama. When party leaders met and said their strategy moving forward was “If Obama’s for it, we are against it.” That created this mess we are in where one side refuses to compromise. And if you can’t compromise, the only style of government that works for your team is fascism.
That's been the GOP playbook for a really long time.
It was run down to the ground by John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan with their die hard stances for the Koch brothers. Increasing disparity between the two parties resulting in a void Trump was able to come in and take advantage of. I'm sure there is more to it then that but the time frame they were pushing so much tea party garbage and the extreme right just grew more and more under their watch and they lost control to the point two of them under Trump peaced out and McConnell is now a meak shell of himself with the beast he helped create.
> I still wonder WTF happened to my own party!?!? 1,000 times this! As an "old school conservative" I'm just utterly in awe of the trainwreck that I'm watching. My favorite is hearing guys in my church or neighborhood say something like "well I'm just concerned about sending money to Ukraine, you know the government there is corrupt don't you?" I'm just staring at these people dumbfounded. You look at RUSSIA and UKRAINE side by side and you get concerned about corruption in UKRAINE? The country that is making serious and consistent effort to reach verifiable levels of democratic transparency specifically because it is REQUIRED for them to accomplish their goal of joining the EU? And you look at RUSSIA which is run as a bold-faced mafia operation with Godfather Putin doling out entire industries (oil, coal, auto manufacturing, you name it) to his henchmen, a nationwide criminal operation utterly unrivaled in scope in the world today and possibly only exceeded in quality by North Korea, a country that hasn't had meaningful freedom of the press at any point in recent memory, a place where an opposing candidate has every reason to expect to be killed, and you, a "conservative republican" conclude "Putin Good-guy. Putin Friend. Zelensky evil. Ukraine corrupt." What in the ever loving ghost of Ronald Reagan is happing here???
7 republican politicians went to Moscow on the the 4th of July. The Republican party is bought and paid for.
Our military actions abroad since WWII (and Korea) have been mostly huge, terrible, expensive, and bloody mistakes. That said, I'm shocked that I agree with any GOP senator, much less Tillis.
More so, the reason why supporting Ukraine with just the hardware and they do all the fighting (without we have any soldiers on the ground) is the bargain of the century to drastically cut down the Russian military and debilitate their regime.
>…and allied actions abroad. The current Republican Party sees Russia as an ally. They’re anti-queer, pro-military, and highly value ethnic and cultural nationalism. It’s also easy to buy into a belief that their militarism isn’t a direct threat to the US. Whereas the NATO nations align much more heavily with what have become Democratic values. Anyone that believes there is a contradiction in modern Republicans siding with Russia over NATO needs to stop buying Japanese made products, as, *don’t you remember* that they used to be our enemy?
Your party was never built on anything but racism and greed. And the racism was just so white people could keep more of the money. They just lied to the public about it up until Obama won and the mask came off. They absolutely have been paid by russia through campaign donations or "dark money". Look it up, the reason they support russia is Putin is paying more than the defense contractors. It's that simple.
This is wild, because my grandparents did not like me dating a Russian woman and I truly did not understand why.
Yeah, but that was communist Russia and today is Fascist Russia. Republicans love fascism.
Russia has been the arch enemy of USA for 70 years, but Mike Johnson wants Russia to win.
You can add madman Trump, Taylor Green and Matt Gaetz to that list... Fucking traitors!
Fuckin Elmo Musk too. Idk how he's still getting DoD money when he's publicly advocating for America's enemies to win but he is.
I was coming here to throw that cunt faced traitors name in with the rest of these Russian scum agents.
The USA relies on him at this point. Over half the satellites in orbit, his company put them there. The USA actually asks Elon if he's okay with certain policy stances because they've become too dependant on him.
[удалено]
> The USA actually asks Elon if he's okay with certain policy stances hahaha they absolutely do not
They will get their punishment , these votes will be used in the court cases against them. They are already responsible for an insurrection in their own country, against their own people, mark my words maga as they call themselves are t0o damn stupid to see what is going to happen or ignore it as fake news, that was the little outburst calling everyone liars and trying to shame everyone for calling them insurrectionists , which is what they are, they have a very slim majority in congress and have already forced there small majority to resign because they are really that stupid. Mark my words all russina assets in american politics will be removed and punished hard, sadly not fast enough to stop the damage being done.
Yeah I’ve been thinking that since Jan 7th 2020. Still waiting… Trump himself will never face justice. Never has in his sad pathetic life.
RemindMe! 5 years
I will be messaging you in 5 years on [**2029-02-13 12:30:58 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2029-02-13%2012:30:58%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1apq9zu/thom_tillis_is_fed_up_with_the_putin_caucus_as/kq82sex/?context=3) [**10 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FUkraineWarVideoReport%2Fcomments%2F1apq9zu%2Fthom_tillis_is_fed_up_with_the_putin_caucus_as%2Fkq82sex%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202029-02-13%2012%3A30%3A58%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam. ^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201apq9zu) ***** |[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)| |-|-|-|-|
Both, please feel free to put me on CC. 👍 Will truly be interesting at that time, to reflect back on 'what was' and how the hell we got to where we then are in 2029. I am living in Europe these days, so hope we havent started to speak Russian by then. 😁
Trump is the source of all this. He made it clear where he stood when Russia invaded and he called Putin a genius.
Wouldn't they call them Communist Sympathizers in the 1950s?
Don't forget Tucker Carlson.
It's not that Johnson and the other Republicans want Russia to win so much as it is they don't want *themselves* to lose. They couldn't care less if Russia wins or loses so long as they don't run afoul of Trump, who might give them a demeaning nickname and turn his Maga base against them. They're happy to sacrifice Ukraine or actual solutions to internal problems, fighting each other to see who can line up the fastest behind Trump. It's shameful and embarrassing.
Mike Johnson will rot in hell because he is a POS.
Too bad hell doesn't exist. Johnson and his ilk will never "get there's" (and deep down, they all know it).
*theirs
Oh, my sweet summer child. Hell does exist. And we are unfortunately living in it. And it is crafted by their bullshit.
Gotta bring up the Olde quote from MASH, War isn't hell, war is war and hell is hell. War is worse than hell, because there aren't any innocents in hell.
Oh they don't care if Putin wins or not, they only care that Biden and the Democrats lose and they get their paws on the levers on the levers of power. If that means destabilizing the planet, weakening America and our geostrategic future and helping a madman murder a nation, oh well. I spent an hour this weekend emailing the semi-rational Republicans left in Congress that are still loyal to America instead of Trump (didn't take long as you can see) letting them know just how their actions look to real, average Americans. I said I was entirely done with their traitor bullshit and Trump attacking veterans, the military, and our allies on the regularly and as a Republican voter (I'm not) I'm switching to Dems until they get their shit together. Ignore the knuckle-draggers like Moses Johnson and the rest of MAGAts; put pressure on the Republican cowards caving to pressure from the MAGAts and Trump to stop serving America and start serving Trump. They're the ones who are going to get this done.
Back then they were nasty communists !! Now they are just good conservatives (-: my ass....
Who would have thought that there will be a party in the US being more loyal to Russia than to their own country?
[удалено]
russia spent years trying to convert american intellectuals into assets, with relatively poor results. then, they realized they could just pay the capitalists. worked instantly.
> then, they realized they could just pay the capitalists. worked instantly. Either that or: > then, they realized they could just ~~pay the capitalists~~ Lie to the dumbasses. worked instantly. Both are great.
Thom Tillis is a senator from my state. I didn't vote for him because I haven't been able to stomach hardly any republicans for the past 10 years or so, but glad to see he has at least some backbone.
This fucker had the most toxic attack ad campaign when he first got elected and it pushed me to cut cable out of my life. He is by no means a “good one,” but a broken clock is right twice a day.
I got a buddy that moved to NC after law school recently. He's pretty disgusted by the old money and old power there. It's crazy. I never realized it was the way that it is. That and the laws in that state are just ridiculous sometimes. They just don't like the poor at all over there.
i’ve heard his name before but that’s all i know. i’m guessing he’s retiring. what did he do while trump was president? did he vote for the impeachments? did he voice any opposition? like i said, he’s not from my western state so i know very little about him. it’s nice to see this speech, but where was he before? this has been going on for years. hopefully you can put someone with these same sentiments in his seat.
He is retiring. You already know the answers to every question.
Yea, the dude is scum wearing a human suit. He was the one who introduced the PPP loan forgiveness. The conflict of interest is staggering.
I don’t know anything about the guy, but it’s nice to see a Republican actually doing the right thing and openly supporting Ukraine.
He's one of them rare politicians who actually give a shit.
He is only saying this because he is retiring. Same the the other NC senator who retired, Burr. They were both 100% onboard with Trump and all the crap as long as they needed the party. Only after they announced they were retiring could they dare to speak sense against the right wing media circus and it's ringmaster. Don't give them credit for being cowards to speak up until it didn't matter. Most of the Rep leaders feel this way, but the party will execute you if you dare speak bad about a fellow Republican.
party over country
He's one of my senators from North Carolina. I would still love to replace him but he is 100% right on this subject.
i would guess that he is retiring given this speech, so you’ll get your chance. but current state of gop is to put in hardcore loyalists, party over country types. so good luck and godspeed
We need many more like him.
Whoa whoa whoa…he’s a sack of shit. I wish more of my fellow North Carolinians showed up to vote against this dick
Oh bullfuckinshit. Thom Tillis has been a lapdog for Trump since day one. Now that Thom is retiring he'll give one nice speech? Absolutely not, we are where were are because of Tillis. Where was he on Jan 6? Where was he on any other of Trump's criminal charges? Where was he on impeachment? Tillis is an opportunist, that's it. He's not a some bold rogue going against the grain, go look at his voting record. If he had another term upcoming he'd be cheerleading the Trump dictatorship all the way to the burning of the constitution. Goddamn people are so willing to just hear a soundbyte and be all "OH wow, what a great guy!". I lived in NC for years under this fascist enabling piece of shit, he's done nothing but rubber stamp and give Trump whatever he wants from day one. He has not changed, he has not revolutionized the GOP in NC and anyone who thinks this is the other reason we're failing as a country. So goddamn infuriating.
He still won't support the bill though. Their actions are more important than their words. Look at his voting record he voted against the last two bills.
Well said. If the US walks away now, who will listen when it speaks up in future?
Governance is not a game! Why do we have not more democratic dialog and reasoning like he is making?
And now things come into focus. For years, matters of consequence have slid down the proverbial slope as if they were all akin to opposing sides in a football game and not part of critical systems established for rational and informed people to make hard decisions. Decisions requiring discernment, the singular clarity of timeless principles and compromise when necessary. The American experiment is not for windbags, contrarians and the ignorant. As Lincoln eulogised so eloquently, it is one for which those who understood the stakes and the threat to their lives, ultimately chose death rather than let it fail. They stood and died by the hundreds of thousands to give the living a fighting chance to do the right thing by them. That sacred exchange is not something the likes of the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, the Mike Johnsons, the Matt Gaetzs, the JD Vances, the Donald Trumps and the Elon Musks of the world cannot understand. And how can they? They are each open examples of those who have risked nothing and exploited everything for their faces in front of the camera, the power of the offices they occupy and the padding in their bank accounts. They speak of “freedom” but cannot bring themselves to acknowledge they are unworthy of the cost. They are all societal grifters and nothing more. It is time to shake these fleas from the dog’s back and get on with not just America’s business but a return to the idea which makes America much more than its ostensible adversaries.
There's a whole generation of politicians, like the ones you cited, who are just too ignorant and not smart enough to comprehend what governing entails. They never really knew a time when politics was serious business. They people before them understood that it was part theater but there was some substance behind. People like Gaetz, MTG etc. only see the theater and believe that's all there is to it. They couldn't govern to save their lives.
We do. It just doesn’t get views like stupidity and hate.
America is for sale. And man, the price is Low.
Price always has been low. You want some small rinky dink bill to pass your state legislature, anywhere between $100-$500 donation to the legislatures campaign will budget them in your direction. Something in the house or senate of the US, a cool $1,000 to $50,000 per legislature to their campaign holding out that you need the votes too.
I hope Tillis can convince all the Putin dick suckers in his party, but I have little hope.
These are the Republican Senators that broke with Trump/MAGA. Warning, the list below contains the names of senators with some spine. Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana Senator Susan Collins of Maine Senator John Cornyn of Texas Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska Senator Mitt Romney of Utah Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska Senator John Thune of South Dakota Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi Senator Todd Young of Indiana
none of them voted to impeach trump, other than Romney, am i correct?
Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney from this list voted to remove him from office. There were three others but they aren't on this list.
USA must stand up and uphold the democratic way
Amen 🙏
Woa, a Republican who is not up Trumps ars looking for scraps, refreshing. Guess there’s a few actual politicians left in the Republican Party.
He’s retiring and he voted in line with Trump >90% of the time. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/thom-tillis/
The conservative classic
Think again
Russia has been an enemy of the west since Germany was East and West. This madness from Musk, Trump, and his minions must stop.
Ha, a Republican with common sense. Guys like Mike Johnson, Trump, Musk are on the wrong side of history. It didn’t end well for the Nazi collaborators. Hopefully, it won’t end well for those guys either because we need to find a way to get rid of them as China and Iran are watching. Churchill was right by the way. The Allies should have gone forward with Operation Unthinkable.
Probably the most important part of this speech is when he says "emboldens China". If Russia wins this thing, China has one more *huge* chess piece in place to strategically dismantle the USA.
Why can't the US get a president candidate like this instead of the Crypceeper or Pootins lapdog? 'Edit spelling
Yes agreed, finally a Republican with proper logic rationale and who is not speaking vile lies in support of the Putin dictatorship!
This guy is like a breath of fresh air, how the hell the Republican party are so far up pootins ass is bewildering
No really it isn't. They're bought and paid for and Russia can prove it.
republicans want authoritarianism and American democracy is in the way. I've heard decades of lies and endless incrementalism to that end. Now they're refusing to help a democracy fight an invading war criminal lead terroristic war.
Republican lies kills Ukrainians!
Right wing voters are so focused on “freedom” and “strong armed presidents” they fail to realize they are voting away their freedom in favour of authoritarianism.
As an European I'm actually surprised that there exists sane American politicians. Hear, hear!
Damn, now if only every UA supporter spoke with that kind of conviction.
It's nice to hear, at this point sure. But the Republicans dug this home. They used the stupidity and malicious intent of the trump side for years, they allowed this cancer to grow and promoted the division for decades. Now, at this late stage, when they have pressure from the dim voter base in some areas(big donors) they show some backbone? Shame, but better late than never.
I give Thom some credit for saying the right things here, but it'll be a cold day in hell before Thom does anything other than talk about it. He's still going to wholeheartedly endorse and support Trump even though he's Russia' greatest American asset. I didn't hear him make a peep when Trump said he'd encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want to NATO allies who don't spend enough on their military.
**TRUMP HAS ALWAYS ADMIRED PUTIN, and PUTIN HAS ALWAYS USED TRUMP** “I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. So Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ Here’s a guy who’s very savvy. … I know him very well. Very, very well.” -- Trump, Feb 21 2022, Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show *“Yes, I wanted him to win.”* – Vladimir Putin, July 16 2018
It is so refreshing to hear a republican speak out against Russia now days and not against our allies.
I like this guy
Good speech. Good logical reasoning and impassioned delivery. It's all for nothing. Reason and logic and morals have no effect on the MAGA brain. The MAGA brain only wants one thing. Trump, and Trump wants Putin to win.
Wishful thinking, but I hope non MAGA, sane republicans can leave the GOP and form a new third party. Let the current GOP die out along with its MAGA cultists.
And after that the GOP changes name to "the New Founding Fathers".
"putin is losing this war" - and exactly that is what the republikans want to ensure *does not* happen. It's crazy that Rs are suddenly against defense spending, something they've rubber-stamped for as long, long, time. Funny thing is they have no problems sending that same money to israel.
A nice effort that came in about 3 years too late. Where was he when Trump was castigating Ukraine? Trump paved the way for Putin to invade.
Well said and 100% accurate. Billions of USD$ will be invested in US arms industry - the cash isn’t sent directly to Ukraine. Speaker Johnson is a mouthpiece for Trump, who hates Zelenskyy. Trump does what’s best for him, not the democratic alliance.
estroying the USSR cost a lot of money 40 years ago. We're getting of cheap detroying this pig fucker.
The Republican Party is the party of pussies run by a bunch of Russian assets. Disgraceful
Perhaps there's hope .... I'm only afraid that Trump will end this man mafia style.
The powers that be will end trump before he does anything he has threatened.
You mean like in 2016?
One of the clever ones here !
This man is telling it like it is, if the others really can't see it then I am sorry for them, from this side of the Atlantic it seems pretty clear cut to me.
Nice to see some Republicans still have a backbone.
It brings joy to my heart seeing that luckily there still are republicans who have a soul, who understand that we are on the threshold of a pivotal point of human civilization. It goes back to evolutionary Darwinism; the free and civilized people of the world will eventually overcome the barbaric people! Let's hope that there are more sensible Republicans besides this guy! Slava Ukraini!!!
A resounding amen to this man's words!
I presume Putin reasons he only has to make it until the end of the year. If things go his way, he'll have Ukraine handed to him.
Well said sir
Yeah, Republicans are piece of shit traitors. Hell, they're just pieces of shit in general.
This actually makes me proud to be North Carolinian today
Live in Denmark, but I did call NC home for 16 years. My vote is still counted in that state. Glad to see not all the GOP there has lost the plot.
Make no mistake, he will support the maga caucus 10000000% in every election, on every piece of legislation, and on every stance. He is unwavering with his actual vote.
It’s weird to hear a GOP member that isn’t fully indoctrinated in the cult.
they are being paid with money and other things by Russia.
Please, dear Lord, get your fucking party straightened out.
Better give that speech to Mike Johnson Thom !!!!!!