Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) joined Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on Thursday and tore into Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky while repeating many anti-Ukraine talking points
“I note the senator from Kentucky leaving the floor without justification or any rationale for the action he has just taken. That is really remarkable -- that a senator blocking a treaty that is supported by the overwhelming number, perhaps 98 at least of his colleagues, would come to the floor and object and walk away…The only conclusion you can draw when he walks away is he has no argument to be made.
He has no justification for his objection to having a small nation be part of NATO that is under assault from the Russians. So, I repeat again, the senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin.”
~ Sen. John McCain calling Rand Paul out for what he is in 2017
He wasn't really decent. But he sadly was the gold standard for most of the last 20 years at least. And even then he helped bring about the plague of spiteful stupid that is Palin trump et all. You can say a ton of bad things about John McCain. But somehow Republicans at large still manage to be so, so much worse.
Remember that time when we had a 40-something-year-long cold war with Russia, and then elected US officials decided to side with the country that's commiting genocide and absolutely countless war crimes?
Imagine if Russia took Ukraine. What standard would that set? Why wouldn't they want to continue outward to other parts of Europe? Remind me why we had two world wars, again?
Imagine if Russia decided to invade Florida. Would we just sit on our hands, cause we don't have the money? Would we blame the politics of Florida for not wanting to act?
I understand that Ukraine is a different country, but we live in a world with allyship. We have a great military standing, but our own propaganda will lead you to believe that we're the only big player in town. This is simply not true.
Turning your back on Ukraine in this time of war means that you have made a choice to side with Russia, China, North Korea, several countries in the Middle East, and all of their allies. Why would any sane person want to choose that?
If the reason is cost, then your opinion translates to the United States being too poor to prevent genocide and the spread of dictatorship. If the reason is military resources, then you're also saying that our defense is so brittle that we can't part with fractions of a percent of our reserves. Personally, I don't believe these things.
Plus, good lord, be a good human. You've seen the devastation that's happening in their country, right? Let's forget about imaginary political lines for a second. Why the hell would you choose for this to continue? They're shelling civilian areas, for Christ's sake.
USSR = All citizens guaranteed healthcare, a yearly vacation, permanent residence, education, and a job, in a system with the highest level of social supports of any nation in human history or present. The Russian Federation = a Klepocratic Oligarchy who directly embezzled the majority of the public owned assets in the USSR for their own benefit, leading to a 10 year drop in life expectancy after the fall of the Soviet Union. All of this under the explicit western policy of “Shock Therapy”.
It's not what he's being paid, it's the dirt that Putin has on him.
Remember how both the RNC and DNC were hacked before the 2016 election? The DNC's info was released by WikiLeaks, hence "but her emails!" We never found out what was on the RNC's servers, but the GOP sure did make a quick 180 on Trump and Russian talking points around that time.
Yeah, it's plausible. They didn't all pivot on Russia, and that makes sense because there wouldn't be equal dirt on everyone. Some would be more vulnerable than others. Fits with the Russian playbook too.
Man, fuck this piece of shit. Fake libertarian scumbag. Gave huge tax breaks to the rich and then fucked off did ya? Well, fuck off for good for the rest of our sakes.
Unfortunately, after his neighbor beat him half to death, while he lay humiliated, in pain and misery for weeks... he was still unable to understand how he ended up in that situation or change anything about himself. Noble effort though, neighbor.
You know someone’s worldview is warped when they defend Putin. Ukraine didn’t attack Russia. It was Putin who first stole Crimea, then invaded the rest of Ukraine. How is Ukraine corrupt for simply defending itself?
Just to be pedantic, the accusation of corruption is allegedly the justification for invading the Ukraine. Putin claims to be trying to save them from themselves. And ever since the Trump administration, Republicans have been boosting that claim for their own political ends.
I'm rolling with Traitor, it's more specific. He's giving aid and comfort to Putin. If Traitor Rand Paul was working for Putin in 2017, per Sen. John McCain's comment above, and shows no evidence of having changed, then he is still a traitor to the USA. And should be indicted for that crime. Let him try to justify his actions in court. He, and numerous other GOP members have been acting against the USA for years now, and deserve to be treated as traitors.
All governments are corrupt. The most corrupt are the ones hiding it. those going from most corrupt to least corrupt will publicly show a lot of it as they take care of it.