Apr 07, 2024
MELISSA SUE GERRITS/GETTY IMAGES
Michael Whatley, Donald Trump‘s hand-picked Republican National Committee (RNC) chair, lumped in Ukraine with China and Iran when listing the United States’ “aggressive” adversaries on Fox News‘ Sunday Morning Futures.
“Joe Biden’s feckless leadership has shown China, has shown Ukraine, has shown Iran, that they can feel free to be much more aggressive on the world front to the point where even they will try and meddle with our elections here,” Whatley told host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.
The Context:
Whatley, who previously served as the chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, was elected to lead the RNC in March and now serves alongside co-chair Lara Trump, daughter-in-law to the former president.
Whatley has advocated for “election integrity” as Trump has following the former president’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. Trump has continued to claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud, despite there being no evidence of such tampering.
Trump, the presumed 2024 GOP presidential nominee, will likely go up against Biden, the Democratic incumbent, again in November, with the backing of the RNC.
What We Know:
“I think that we are seeing right now that this election truly, truly matters on national security…when America is weak, the world is a far more dangerous place,” Whatley said about this year’s upcoming election on Sunday.
He then blamed Biden for showing countries like Ukraine that they can meddle with U.S. elections, despite there being no evidence to prove his claim. Meanwhile, Ukraine has been dealing with a war against Russian aggression since February 2022.
It has been over two years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of the Eastern European country. Biden has been a strong ally to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky throughout the conflict and continues to press Congress to give more aid to the war-torn country, while some Republican lawmakers push against additional funding.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email and the RNC via online form for comment.
Meanwhile, an investigation led by U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel Robert Mueller found that Russia attempted to help Trump win the presidency during his successful run in 2016, however, Trump’s campaign team did not conspire with Moscow.
According to Mueller’s findings, which were released in March 2019 in what is notoriously known as the Mueller report, “Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
Russia has denied allegations of election inference and Trump has called the Mueller report a “complete and total exoneration.”
Views:
The clip of Whatley’s interview was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by journalist Aaron Rupar, who said that the RNC chair “says the quiet part loud” by portraying Ukraine as the adversary.
Responding to Rupar’s post, X user @TrumpsTaxes wrote: “Jesus. When listing America’s top adversaries, RNC Chair Whatley *includes* Ukraine (along with Iran and China) and *omits* Russia. The entire Republican Party is so deep into Putin’s pocket it’s frightening.”
Another X user, Matthew Spira, wrote: “They’re no longer even pretending that they aren’t completely parroting Russian propaganda.”
Recently, Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chuck of my party’s base.”
When Jake Tapper asked Representative Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, if he agrees with McCaul’s statement on CNN‘s State of the Union on Sunday, he said: “It is absolutely true.”
What’s Next?
With the general election only seven months away, Trump’s and Biden’s campaigns are gearing up for a rematch.
Last month, Biden raised $25 million at a New York City fundraiser with former Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign said that the former president’s Saturday Palm Beach, Florida, fundraiser dinner raised over $50.5 million.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-rnc-chair-whatley-says-ukraine-us-adversary-republicans-1887731
The entire circle around that orange bastard are semi-fascist traitors who are hell-bent to turn the United States into a shithole akin to mafia land. The evidence is so overwhelming that anyone who ignores them anymore has got to be either a fascist, too, or brain-dead.
A Republican; Mike Turner, reveals the truth :
“@RepMikeTurner tells @jaketapper it’s “absolutely true” that Russian propaganda has “infected” a portion of the GOP base, calling out “anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.”
Trumpkov, as expected, is packing his team with putler-rimmers. If elected, America will turn into a giant Orbanistan.
All I can say is WTF!!! 🤯
It’s a nightmare. A conflict with China would be catastrophic for the United States and our pacific allies. A conflict with ruSSia won’t impact us at all, nor will supporting Ukraine. Who is controlling Trump? First he had a good idea to send arms if Ukraine later pays for them, and then just one day later he’s coming up with some bullshit like this. Whoever is influencing and controlling Trump should take a dive from the Empire State Building.
I guess that this is what happens to a brain when you consume too much urine.
They are more and more uninhibited. The passion, the love of autocracies that he cultivates is so deep that we have gone far beyond the stage of discourse under the influence of propaganda, but is indeed the expression of a political will that wants to be accomplished.
They ooze hatred when they talk about Ukraine, democracy or international law.
The Orange Baboon gang only dreams of having the powers of the autocrats they praise, they hate democracy and want a completely insane one-man system.
What is the CIA doing!? There is no longer any counter-power in the USA to protect the democratic system. It’s hard not to imagine a civil war in the USA if justice or clean-up is not done.
I don’t know why the orange piss-breath isn’t in prison yet, where he belongs.
Imagine RSM commenting on an article that cannot be explained in a positive way regarding Trump.
^bert
That’s why he just ignores it.
“When listing America’s top adversaries, RNC Chair Whatley *includes* Ukraine (along with Iran and China) and *omits* Russia. The entire Republican Party is so deep into Putin’s pocket it’s frightening.”
My thoughts exactly.
^Larry M.
Not sure why those shit nuggets aren’t being investigated for treason and corruption.
“Russian trolls target U.S. support for Ukraine, Kremlin documents show”
In an ongoing campaign that seeks to influence congressional and other political debates to stoke anti-Ukraine sentiment, Kremlin-linked political strategists and trolls have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts and comments that promote American isolationism, stir fear over the United States’ border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions, according to a trove of internal Kremlin documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post.
“The impact of the Russian program over the last decade … is seen in the U.S. congressional debate over Ukraine aid,” said Clint Watts, the head of Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center. “They have had an impact in a strategic aggregate way.”
“You would never have previously heard … politicians in the U.S. saying Ukraine is not significant enough and we will not support NATO. On a digital platform, your ability to do these things works.”
I think the full article is worth a read.
Gift article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/08/russia-propaganda-us-ukraine/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzEyNTQ4ODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzEzOTMxMTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MTI1NDg4MDAsImp0aSI6IjI0NmEwOTkyLTkzYTktNDJhOC1iYmQyLWEwNDg1MDQ2Y2ViYyIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS93b3JsZC8yMDI0LzA0LzA4L3J1c3NpYS1wcm9wYWdhbmRhLXVzLXVrcmFpbmUvIn0.G6Nv-R50jT94yoVHc4wnMcxMFOesPYlMHk__AvFDeYw&fbclid=IwAR02IeP77XA4k4p96HkRUkvmoPy_xJcsA53CMPAN5OR15Mas0ANHlkTMKjY_aem_Af2gpgu1_6MGKgqPjyZRVUfWxOmxMhhAA1JswhbsGZ4AJMZvs3HJ0-XnqABZJ6DsGgVPNHNboUs5Cqp_SHQ_e3wQ
^Larry M.
Thanks, Larry.
What happened to your avatar and name?
Let’s see if this makes it through…
It looks like I’ve been blocked. For the past couple of days, a few of my posts were deleted, then nothing I posted showed up, and then even a couple of posts that I made without signing in got deleted.
(I tried replying to this as me, and it didn’t show up, so I’m now replying without signing in.)
^Larry M.
(It just occurred to me that someone could have flagged me as needing approval for posts, which could explain new posts not showing up, but that wouldn’t explain the posts that got deleted after showing up.)
The last comment I can see from you is yesterday:
“reduce the draft age from 27 to 25”
Now you have just come up as anon.
Perhaps you could get F1 to make you an author?
I looked in “binned.” You’ve got several in there.
Either there is a glitch or someone is binning your comments.
F1 can probably fix this for you.
How can I grab his “foccus”? 🙂
Just reply to any of his comments with a request.
He’s got access to all activity, so should be able to locate the fault.
Since the switch to jetpack there have been many oddities. Intermittent faults, things disappearing etc.
You had a lot of comments deleted, and some were pending. I’ve approved your comments, but I don’t know if you’ve been blocked. OK I just checked, it appears you have been blocked, so I unblocked you. I don’t know who blocked you, but it wasn’t me.
Thank you!
Hmm … I know it wasn’t me. I never block anyone or manipulate their posts.