Vladimir Putin Conquered Republicans before Ukraine

Donald Trump’s arrival on the political scene was a veritable gift for the Russian president.

Vladimir Putin has never missed an opportunity to sow discord with his American rival, but one could say that the last eight years have yielded dividends that exceed investments.

After interfering in the 2016 and 2020 elections, Russian hackers are at it again in 2024, and can now rely on elected Republicans to spread disinformation.

Hackers Are Getting Better

Already highly effective in promoting Bernie Sanders’ candidacy in 2016, to the chagrin of Hillary Clinton, Russian hackers later benefited from Trump’s (direct or indirect) complicity.

Trump openly solicited them during a speech before he took Putin’s word over information obtained by American intelligence agencies.

These hackers are again hard at work and not just in the U.S. In their attempts to influence the outcome of the war in Ukraine, they are also targeting Germany, France and Poland.

More threatening still, the hackers now have artificial intelligence at their disposal to multiply deep fakes, steal confidential data and relay disinformation on multiple platforms using fake accounts like “People Say” that are still accessible on X (formerly Twitter).

Selling One’s Soul to Putin

Ronald Reagan, whom Republicans once considered their party’s greatest president, must be spinning in his grave if he’s reading what a growing number of elected GOP officials are saying.

Lately, it is not even Democrats who are denouncing the lies being peddled within the GOP but influential GOP members who are leading the charge. Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke yesterday of a veritable conspiracy virus.

Those infected repeat Russian disinformation verbatim with the complicity of certain media outlets like Fox News, or its former host, Tucker Carlson. Former presidential candidate and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney had the harshest words, suggesting behavior akin to treason.

Perhaps more troubling is that several elected Republicans seem to be acting not just out of sheer opportunism but because they feel a sincere affinity with what Putin is proposing.

These Republicans appear to consider Putin an ally and a leader who embodies a version of conservatism that advocates for an authoritarian style while exacerbating a brand of nationalism that reads like those of Viktor Orban and Trump.

What these “new collabos” do not understand is that Putin only wants to weaken the U.S., that theirs is a one-way relationship, and that they are merely puppets in the hands of a highly talented manipulator.