Transcript: Trump’s Ugly “Dictator” Rant Forces GOP into Contortions
Sargent: Let’s start with Trump’s tweet. He said Zelenskiy is a “dictator” who talks the United States into spending money on Ukraine’s self-defense, that Zelenskiy played Biden “like a fiddle.” He said only Trump, speaking of himself, will be able to “settle” the war, that Zelenskiy had “better move fast or he’s not going to have a country left.” He said Zelenskiy has done a terrible job and that millions have needlessly died. Brian, note the complete erasure of Vladimir Putin’s invasion as the cause of the war. The truth is Zelenskiy and Ukraine have put up a resistance that no one thought was possible. Trump wants to “settle this war” by giving Putin what he wants. Could this be clearer?
Beutler: No, I think that the way that you put it speaks to the risk, that people who are appalled by what’s happening here will want to pluck out individual falsehoods and depravities in the statement and correct the record as if this were some exercise in holding the President the United States to the truth. But we know that he is not beholden to the truth, and we know that he’s on the side of the bad guys in this conflict, which puts the country on the side of the bad guys in this conflict. So the aim has to be to use that as a wedge within his own party, and then look ahead to flipping it back so that the U.S. isn’t any longer allying with foreign autocrats and dictators against fledgling democracies.
Sargent: To your point about the capacity here for driving a wedge among Republicans on this stuff, the Republican responses to Trump’s craziness were really almost comically evasive. Senator Lisa Murkowski said, “I would like to see that in context,” meaning Trump’s quote, “because I would certainly never refer to President Zelenskiy as a dictator.” Senator Thom Tillis admitted Putin is the cause of the invasion, but on Trump calling Zelenskiy a dictator, he said, “It’s not a word I would use.” Maybe best of all, Senator Kevin Cramer described Trump as “factually wrong” about Zelenskiy, but added that Trump is a negotiator who’s always positioning himself. Brian, note that these Republicans are all treating Trump’s quotes as some error, a slip up, or alternatively that he’s got some shrewd ulterior motive at work. Do Republicans ever have to confront what you said, which is that Trump wants Russia to win?
