Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) had some choice words this week for Americans lionizing Russian President Vladimir Putin amid war in Ukraine, characterizing them as “domestic enemies” who’d prefer to live in a corrupt, Putin-esque autocracy than a constitutional democracy.
Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, singled out former President Trump, as well as conservative media pundits, who have showered praise on Putin in recent days even as he’s launched the largest – and what could soon be the bloodiest – assault in Europe since the Second World War.
The admiration for the Kremlin’s leader marks a head-snapping shift for Republicans, whose hawkish efforts to contain Moscow’s imperial ambitions endured through decades of the Cold War and practically defined the party’s foreign policy aims even well beyond the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Clyburn suggested the praise is at least partially derived of envy for unchecked Putin’s power.
“There are some domestic enemies of democracy, of capitalism, who would love to see an autocracy put in place,” Clyburn said Friday during a forum with The Hill’s Steve Clemons. “That’s why you hear it, these endearing phrases … coming from people like the 45th president of the United States and a lot of talking heads.”
“That is dangerous stuff,” he added.
Putin launched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early Thursday morning under a set of dubious pretenses, claiming falsely that Ukraine was never sovereign; that Russian loyalists within its borders were under attack; and that’s its leaders in Kyiv are neo-Nazis. (President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish).
A day earlier, Trump had characterized Putin as a “genius” for his approach to Ukraine, saying Putin’s move to label his troops as “peacekeepers” was both “smart” and “savvy.”
At a separate event Wednesday, the former president offered another glowing assessment, saying Putin has acquired “a great piece of land” for just “$2 worth of sanctions.” Throughout the buildup of forces, Trump has also bashed the administration’s handling of the crisis, accusing President Biden of sparking the invasion through a series of foreign policy errors.
“If I were in Office, this deadly Ukraine situation would never have happened!” he said Thursday in a statement.
Other conservative figures have offered similar takes on Putin’s invasion, questioning why the Biden administration – or any American – would pay it any mind.
“I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way of another,” said J.D. Vance, the “Hillbilly Elegy” author running for Senate in Ohio.
Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of State, has characterized Putin in recent weeks as “savvy,” “capable,” and a “talented statesman.”
And Tucker Carlson, the wildly popular Fox News pundit, said this week that Americans have far greater reason to be angry with liberals and the Chinese than they do with Russia’s president.
“Has Putin ever called me a racist?” Carlson asked. “Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic?”
Clyburn expressed concerns over the shift towards isolationism in some political sectors, urging Americans to “take a hard look at our country” and consider “how we fit into the rest of the world.” But he reserved his harshest assessment for those he charged with “buying into [Putin’s] rhetoric.”
“The people who are doing it are not doing a good service to this country,” he said. “There is a reason that the Founders put into our oath to protect against all enemies – foreign and domestic.”
