Former President Donald Trump has attacked the press and much of the party that remains de facto leader in reporting and criticizing his decision to praise Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In an e-mail statement sent by his political action committee, as it is banned from most social media platforms, Mr Trump accused Rhino [Republicans in Name Only]Warmongers]and the fake news ”of the sequel[ing] to “openly lie and misrepresent my remarks about Putin.”
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Mr Trump has been the subject of fierce criticism for his kind remarks to the Russian leader, who ordered an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last week and has since seen the crater of the Russian economy in the face of US and EU sanctions.
One such critic, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, said on Sunday that it was “unthinkable” and “almost treacherous” for the former president – or anyone else – to take Putin’s side in any way.
While the former impeachment president claims that his goals misrepresent his statements, “because they know that this terrible war against Ukraine would never have happened under my supervision,” in fact, his remarks are accurately reported. .
He recently called Russia’s dictator “smart” during a Saturday night speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, in which he called US and NATO leaders “dumb.”
The former president, whose campaign in 2016 actively sought and benefited from the illegal support of the Russian government, also attacked his successor, Joe Biden, claiming without evidence that Putin was “playing him like a drummer.”
Donald Trump calls Putin “smart” and US leaders “stupid” during CPAC speech
He also called Mr Putin “smart” and “understanding” in his conduct of the war, which began last week in comments made on a talk show on right-wing radio.
In the same statement, Mr Trump also falsely accused US and NATO leaders of doing “absolutely nothing” after Putin formally acknowledged Russian-backed separatist governments in two regions of eastern Ukraine, a move aimed at helping him fabricates case white to justify the invasion.
In fact, the United States, NATO and the European Union have responded to Putin’s recognition and subsequent incursions by imposing unprecedented sanctions on Putin himself, many of his allies on Russian oligarchs, and the vast majority of Russia’s financial institutions, including Russia’s Central Bank. As a result, the Russian economy has been in free decline in recent days, with the ruble falling to its lowest levels since the fall of the Soviet Union.
In addition, the EU has taken the unprecedented step of allowing funding for weapons to be provided to Ukrainian forces fighting Russia. An EU-NATO member, Germany, has authorized arms transfers to Ukraine and also vowed to raise defense spending above NATO’s desired threshold of two percent of gross domestic product, turning decades into pacifist foreign policy.
Without any sense of irony, the former president described the events as Mr Putin “getting everything he wants”.