Last week, the “whistleblower” that House Republicans were counting on to justify a long-planned impeachment of Joe Biden was arrested for lying to the FBI. In a twist that should surprise exactly no one, it appears almost certain that Alexander Smirnov’s claim to have evidence implicating the president and his son, Hunter, in criminal activity was fabricated.
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There’s a puzzling unwillingness among much of the press to consider the most obvious reason why MAGA Republicans keep taking Putin’s side, whether it’s over aid to Ukraine or Donald Trump’s hostility to NATO: They prefer Putin’s antidemocratic vision to the tattered-but-still-surviving democracy of the U.S.
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“Wittingly or unwittingly, House Republicans have been acting as an agent or an asset of Russian intelligence for Vladimir Putin,” he explained, with that word “wittingly” right there for the taking.
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The end goal here is to normalize Trump’s nearly infinite record of lying and criminal behavior. By adopting his reckless disregard for the truth and his loyalty to Russia over America, Republicans like Comer are inching toward their perverse goal of making Trump’s extreme corruption seem commonplace.
