The invasion looking less ‘smart’ daily, Republicans won’t criticize Trump’s praise of

The next day, Trump spoke at Mar-a-Lago, telling an his customers that Putin was “taking over a country for two dollars worth of sanctions,” he said, “I’d say that’s pretty smart.” He marveled that Putin was taking over a “vast, vast location” by “just walking in.”

Then the full invasion began.

In short order, Putin’s “genius” pretext of occupying those independent regions was revealed as nonsense, with a full-scale attack unfolding across the country. What’s more, it quickly became clear that Putin wasn’t just “walking in” anywhere, with his forces meeting enormous resistance as they made little progress. The sanctions at which Trump scoffed have upended the Russian economy as the country becomes an international pariah.

During his lengthy speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday, even Trump tried to recontextualize his prior comments.

“Yesterday, reporters asked me if I thought President Putin was smart,” Trump said. “I said, of course he’s smart. To which I was greeted with, ‘oh, that’s such a terrible thing to say.’ ”

This is nonsense. You can read the initial exchange for yourself: Trump was asked what President Biden could have done differently, spurring Trump’s response. That triggered a Pavlovian response in Trump, who proceeded to disparage Biden and, to emphasize the point, praise Putin by contrast. It’s useful to remember that part of Trump’s affection for Putin stems from their shared enemies: the international and D.C. establishments. So Biden bad, Putin good, Trump right once again.

Even at CPAC, Trump couldn’t resist again running down NATO, saying that the nations of NATO were “pretty weak” for enacting sanctions instead of “blowing [Russia] to pieces, at least psychologically,” whatever that means. If it means, say, massively destabilizing the Russian economy, one could argue that the country was blown to pieces psychologically. But Trump’s not offering a critique, just a complaint and a contrast.

“The problem is not that Putin is smart — which of course he’s smart,” Trump continued, “but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. Dumb. So dumb.” Again, very familiar from Trump: were he president he would have done everything right and there would have been no problems at all. (And when he was president, of course, none of the things that went wrong were his fault either.) The crowd applauded.

It would seem fairly easy, particularly now, for members of the Republican Party to object to Trump’s framing of the situation. To themselves condemn Putin and to however gently suggest that Trump transition to doing the same. And yet, when asked, few did.

It’s useful to note that, thanks to the nature of the conservative media universe at this point, that Republican officials are asked to contrast themselves with Trump relatively infrequently. Fox News host Laura Ingraham was interviewing Trump as the full invasion of Ukraine began; her response wasn’t to challenge Trump but to criticize the “pathetic display” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in calling for Putin to stand down. Ingraham was not interested in pointing out how far Trump was over his skis.

CPAC offered an unusual opportunity for mainstream reporters to speak with a number of Republican officials. Robert Costa of CBS News pressed several on Trump’s praise for Putin. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) told Costa that there “are lots of things President Trump says that I wouldn’t say” — before praising Trump for his approach to Ukraine as president. South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) said that “I don’t think Putin is a dummy.” Asked if he shared Trump’s assessment of Putin, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, “We’ll see. I mean, I think that Putin thinks he’s smart, for sure.”

The interaction that generated the most attention came on Sunday, as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) appeared on ABC News’s “This Week.” Live on air, host George Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed Cotton to respond to Trump’s comments. Cotton demurred.

“George, you’ve heard what I have to say about Vladimir Putin: that he is a ruthless dictator who’s launched a naked, unprovoked war of aggression,” the senator said. “Thankfully, the Ukrainian has antitank missiles that President Obama would not supply that we did supply last time Republicans were in charge in Washington. That’s why it’s so urgent that we continue to supply those weapons to Ukraine.”

“Why can’t you condemn Donald Trump for those comments?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“George, if you want to know what Donald Trump thinks about Vladimir Putin or any other topic, I’d encourage you to invite him on your show,” Cotton replied. “I don’t speak on behalf of other politicians; they can speak for themselves.”

Stephanopoulos correctly noted that Cotton would almost certainly not hesitate to condemn Barack Obama or Biden for making similar comments. Cotton was unmoved.

The reason is obvious. Even though he’s not running for reelection until 2026, there’s not much upside to criticizing Trump. It would earn a smack from the former president and annoyance from his base, all to do what? Establish intellectual consistency? Side with reality? Ally publicly with the establishment position he supports in private? What good is a moral victory in the face of potential political blowback?

This has worked to Trump’s advantage from the outset. Trump quickly recognized that Republican voters didn’t care about the party establishment’s efforts to uphold norms, particularly ones the base didn’t pay much attention to. What’s more, he bought the hype about unwinding government that prior Republican leaders had understood was mostly rhetoric. The establishment and the swamp were derided as enemies even as Trump sat at the top of their org chart. Asked to pick between Trump and the establishment now, Republicans still balk.

For his part, Trump has decided on a new approach. Certainly understanding that his approving murmurs about a swiftly conquered Ukraine haven’t aged particularly well, he — like Cotton and others with whom Costa spoke — has turned to taking credit for Ukraine’s military readiness. In a statement on Monday morning, Trump boasted of providing Ukraine with antitank missiles, precisely the armaments that, in his call with Zelensky in 2019, he’d conditioned on Ukraine doing the “favor” of aiding Trump’s 2020 reelection bid.

Beyond that hypocrisy, of course, is the broader pattern for Trump. If one line of attack doesn’t work, simply rationalize it and move on. From champion of Putin’s brilliance to defender of the Ukrainian motherland. Trump is never wrong; the world is wrong around him.

This, too, has burned Republicans repeatedly in the past: Trump is not committed to his comments but demands that everyone else be. Better to say nothing about him at all.