While Florida Democrats have been running around the Sunshine State yelling “gay!” the rest of the Democrat Party has been busy yelling “Russia!” in the general direction of anything they don’t like. The 2016 election of Donald Trump? Must have been Russia! Hunter Biden’s damning laptop? Russia!
Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine in an attack that’s killed or displaced thousands of civilian innocents, Democrats are even more eager to accuse anyone they dislike of being a Russian plant. So that’s what they’ve resorted to instead of thoughtfully engaging arguments for why going to war with a nuclear power might not be the brightest idea.
It’s an obvious statement that shouldn’t need saying, but the willful distortion of common sense by manipulative media means not enough people are hearing it: Wanting to avoid World War III doesn’t mean you’re a Putin-lover, it just means you’re sane.
Sane people with any knowledge of world affairs aren’t saying that Putin is a great guy, that bombing civilians is totally fine, or that we should all go cheer the red army.
What they are saying is that communist China currently presents a far greater threat to American dominance on the global scale than Russia does and that tying ourselves up in a prolonged conflict in Europe is a bad idea that gives China free reign.
They’re saying that war is a somber thing, not to be entered into lightly or upon the emotional urgings of video game clips and old photos that turn out to be fake.
They’re saying that negotiations are a good thing for Ukraine and that trying to drag out the war (and thus a Russian siege on Ukrainian cities) is likely to cause more devastation while making Russia stronger and Ukraine weaker.
They’re saying that a no-fly zone is going to mean shooting down Russian planes, having the Russians shoot back, and likely finding ourselves in a full-scale war.
They’re saying that perhaps we should pause and consider the potentially devastating consequences if we do let ourselves get pulled into a NATO-Russia war.
They’re saying that the United States is in a power competition with China and that we shouldn’t rush to send Russia over to China’s side to tip the balance; we should remember that the Soviet Union, unpleasant bedfellow as it was, was an arguably necessary ally to defeating Hitler’s Nazi regime in World War II, and we would be unwise to send such a potential scale-tipping country into the arms of a more threatening enemy.
They’re saying that, commendable as the courage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is, Americans should think twice before mindlessly applauding his efforts to drag us into a world war.
These are all thoughtful concerns held by people who want to see American strength and American lives stewarded carefully and wisely. But instead of acknowledging those concerns or responding to their merits, the leftist media and their neoconservative allies prefer to accuse those who question the warmongering narrative of being Putin puppets.
“Russia and Far-Right Americans Find Common Ground With Ukraine War,” headlined a New York Times piece on Wednesday.
A February op-ed in the Times was even blunter: “How the American Right Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Russia.”
Meanwhile, “The View’s” Ana Navarro suggested the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for challenging the media groupthink.
It’s maliciously dishonest for the corporate media to characterize the right’s hesitation to tear guns-blazing into Ukraine as Putin worship — or to elevate and lend credence to the few fringe crackpots who actually are praising the Russian dictator, while pretending rational critics of war with Russia don’t exist.
A conglomerate of American institutions wants you to believe the only two camps of this fight are those working to drag the United States into another foreign war and those who love the Kremlin. As always, you should be asking yourself why.
Elle Reynolds is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. You can follow her work on Twitter at @_etreynolds.
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