Bold move or saving his own skin?

I never really understood why the Republicans were blocking the military aid packages to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, as support of these countries is very strong among their constituency, especially Israel.  Virtually all my conservative friends on facebook support Ukraine as adamantly as they do Israel.  Yet, here was Johnson holding up the aid package for over 6 months to the point Ukraine was really suffering along the front line with Spring maneuvers in full swing.

One can argue why European countries aren't supplying more aid and ammunition to Ukraine?  Unfortunately, we have Mike Johnsons of our own.  It took at least 6 months to get a 50 billion euro aid package through the EU parliament with Viktor Orban blocking it until the EU unfroze funds for Hungary.  There was no military aid in the package, as it was aimed at bailing Ukraine out of its economic crisis as a result of the two-year war.  The funny part is that Orban backed down without the EU having to release any funds to Hungary.  The angry Putin stooge called it "blackmail" as the EU threatened to cut off all economic ties to Hungary.

Orban was also actively courting Trump, even going so far as to promote Donnie's "Peace Plan," which would have cut funding to Ukraine all together.  For years, Viktor has been sticking up his nose at the EU, putting in place an autocratic form of government with severe social restrictions on the country that earned him the love of conservatives back in America.  Little Tucker Carlson even staged his show from Budapest at one point, raving about Orban's Hungary even more so than Putin's Russia.   

Yet, the conservative electorate hasn't warmed up to either Orban or Putin.  For an older generation it dredges up memories of the Cold War when the Soviet Union held Hungary and other Eastern European countries inside its Iron Curtain.  Many Eastern Europeans emigrated to the United States during this time. They actively supported conservative leaders like Reagan and both Bushes as they saw them as promoting their interests.  They never understood how Donnie and other leading conservatives could sing Putin's praises or adopt Orban as some sort of model of the conservative cause, when all they did was recall the Soviet era.  

Still, guys like Carlson, Steve Bannon and Marjorie Taylor Greene persevere.  Greene has been repeating so many Kremlin talking points that she has now been dubbed "Moscow Marjorie."  Democratic Rep. Moskowitz humorously tried to attach an amendment to the aid packages that would have made Greene "Vladimir Putin's Special Envoy to the United States."  Through it all, Marjorie remains unrepentant as do her media friends.  They insist that Ukraine is the real bad guy here and we should all be supporting Russia.  It's enough to make St. Ronnie turn over in his grave.

For decades, Republicans fought against the "Red Peril" to the point it was almost comical.  Over the last decade there has been a seismic shift with even guys like Mitt Romney singing Putin's praises regarding his successful Sochi Olympics, and using it to knock Obama.  Of course, he and his conservative brethren were shocked when Putin used the Olympics as cover for his first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and even more shocked at the massive doping scheme that Putin approved to give his athletes the leg up at the Olympics.  It was 1980 all over again.  The last time Russia, aka the Soviet Union, staged the Olympics.  Only American politicians weren't so obliging back then, choosing to boycott the Games over the war in Afghanistan.  Anyway, Russia became the bad guy again in most minds, but a few held out.  Notably, the talking heads at Fox News, who continued to sing Putin's praises.

Putin got his biggest fan boy in Donald Trump.  For decades, Russian oligarchs had been laundering their ill-gotten money through Trump properties.  Some say Putin had been cultivating Trump as an asset since the 1990s, even before he became President.  Putin that is.  When Putin finally succeeded in getting his man in the Oval Office it was truly a shameful sight.  Trump had bad words to say about almost every world leader, but not Putin.  When they first met in Helsinki, it was an utter embarrassment with Putin literally tossing a football to his top dog.  

Throughout this four-year relationship Putin clearly had the upper hand, leading many to speculate why he didn't commence with phase two of his invasion of Ukraine sooner.  It seemed Vlad had to get all his tanks in a row and probably thought Biden, like Ukraine, would be an easy push over.  After all, Biden had withdrawn from Afghanistan in what was a very embarrassing moment for him.  Much to Putin's surprise, Ukraine resisted thanks to training and military support from the US and NATO in the years since Putin annexed Crimea and spurred a civil war in the Donbas.  Mostly it was Ukraine's own resolve.  They refused to cower to the Kremlin's tanks.  Instead, they picked them off one by one with drones, with farmers hauling the remains by tractor, resulting in this indelible image of Putin's war.

I think it was this resolve more than anything else that endeared Ukraine to so many Americans.  Everyone was awestruck by how effectively Ukraine was able to resist the massive assault and eventually push Russian soldiers out of much of their country.  For a moment it looked like they would push the once vaunted "Z" army into the Black Sea.  That great effort came to a screeching halt when Elon Musk pulled the plug on Starlink, apparently afraid such a bold offensive would trigger nuclear armageddon, as a deeply embarrassed Putin and his Kremlin toadies were threatening tactical nuclear warfare.  Since then the war has bogged down, as all wars do, and some on both the Right and Left have started to question our funding of the war.

It isn't "fiscal conservatism" that drives Moscow Marjorie and her fellow operatives in Congress.  It certainly isn't social concerns for the homeless and other less fortunate Americans.  It is something else.  112 Republican US representatives voted against the Ukraine portion of the funding, more than half of the party.  Afterward, Moscow Marjorie was screaming for Mike Johnson's head.  However, there wasn't much enthusiasm for another call to vacate the Speaker's seat before recess, so Marjorie took her protest onto the steps where the insurrections once waged their assault on the Capitol.  What is driving these so-called "Freedom Caucus" representatives is anyone's guess?  For now they are crawling back home and will gauge the pulse of their constituencies before pushing for another vote of no confidence.

I think what animates them is not so much their love of autocratic leaders but rather their belief that federal government should be weak and that the real power should be in the states.  Most of these unruly representatives come from former Confederate states, so that rebellious streak runs deep in their veins.  There always were the Copperheads from Ohio and other Northern sympathizers that we currently see in persons like "Gym" Jordan of Ohio and Elise Stefanik of New York.  Greene was kicked out of the Freedom Caucus last year for her repeated attacks on GOP colleagues.  She now stands alone like the defiant Confederate soldier that once appeared on cigarette lighters.

These recalcitrant Republicans are also isolationists, in large part because they know nothing of the world outside their narrow constituencies and don't have the intellectual curiosity to find out.  So, they accept talking points from persons they respect like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson, who are firmly aligned with Moscow.  If these talking heads say Ukrainians are killing priests, then Marjorie says the same.  As far as I can tell this is a story that emanated from CNE news.  Not Canadian news mind you, but some blog site that heralds itself as Christian News Europe.  It is one of the many fake stories planted by the Kremlin and then circulated through the conservative blogosphere to be picked up by useful idiots like Marjorie, who firmly believe that Russia is fighting to protect Christianity in Europe.  At least that is what she said on Bannon's War Room.

In fact, the converse is true.  Russia is losing its religious hold on Ukraine and is torturing and killing priests that no longer bow to the Patriarch of Moscow.  For centuries, Ukrainians had been forced to submit themselves to this false patriarch when the Ancient Ruthenian Patriarchy stems from Kyiv, not Moscow.  Russia transferred the patriarch back in the 17th century and held onto it until the Orthodox Church in Constantinople recognized the Kyiv Patriarchy once again in 2018.  Not like Putin is a religious man, anymore than Stalin or the Tsars before him, but he knows how important it is to hold onto the church as a form of power, and will use whatever means necessary to retain it.  After all, the Kremlin is noted for its colorful onion domes. 

This is what Marjorie Taylor Greene supports, not freedom of religion. Yet, she literally rants this swill on Capitol Hill, oblivious to the harm she is doing.  I have to respect Mike Johnson for showing an incredible amount of restraint after what had to be a very difficult decision for him.  Smartly, he chose not to ally himself with Greene, like McCarthy had done before.  Whether he will be able to survive a vote of no confidence remains to be seen, as Democrats have not pledged any support for him, but he can rest easy in knowing he finally made the right decision.  Just too bad it took him so long.  Ukraine could have used this aid package 6 months ago.