On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a group to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio of the Trump administration. The stated American goal is to negotiate peace in Ukraine, but the Trump administration fulfills the underlying goal of ending Putin’s international isolation by engaging Russia directly and diplomatically. Michael McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration (2012-2014), wrote on X: “Admiration by so many Republicans for Putin–a brutal dictator with no respect for human life, individual liberties, or private property, who despises America—is one of the most shocking developments of my life. “I never saw that coming.”

Former 2000 Republican presidential candidate and Congressman Joe Walsh (R-IL) responded to McFaul: “Respectfully, not shocking at all. I watched it grow day by day for years. I helped feed it and then pushed against it. Unfortunately, it was too late. MAGA is the Republican Party. And MAGA fully supports authoritarianism. As a result, the Republican Party has fully embraced authoritarian policies. America must recognize this reality in order to defeat it.”

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