The crisis in Ukraine has gone from bad to worse, with Russian troops, on orders from President Vladimir Putin, now carrying out a full-fledged invasion of the East European country. And President Joe Biden, working closely with the United States’ NATO allies in Europe, has promised to respond to Russian aggression with tough economic sanctions.
But on the MAGA far right, some Republicans have been praising Putin — including former President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. And retired U.S. Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, during a February 23 appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” stressed that no good can come from Trump and Pompeo describing “murderous thug” Putin in glowing terms.
Pompeo recently said he had “enormous respect” for Putin, while Trump said that Putin’s role in Ukraine would be that of a “peacekeeper.”
The 79-year-old McCaffrey told a “Morning Joe” panel — which included hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski along with journalists Mike Barnicle and Anne Applebaum — “Look, this is the world turned upside down. There’s no question about it. The 30 nations of NATO, who we extend Article 5 protection to, are now apprehensive about the next steps.”
McCaffrey went on to say that Trump and Pompeo are only making a bad situation worse when they run around praising Putin.
The retired U.S. Army general warned, “We’re in great danger. We need to stick with one voice, and right now, we’ve got former President Trump and my fellow West Pointer, Mike Pompeo, being played on Russian TV as supportive of this ‘political genius’ Putin — who’s a murderous thug essentially.”
In addition to his “Morning Joe” appearance, McCaffrey also appeared on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” on February 23 and discussed the Ukraine crisis with conservative host Nicolle Wallace:
"I think it will go very badly for the Ukrainian ground forces along that line of contact. They're dug in in trenches, they've been there for eight years. They're combat hardened but this is gonna be a mobile war" - @mccaffreyr3 w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/aWC9MDLsIu
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) February 24, 2022
