The screed from Donald Trump accusing Volodymyr Zelensky of being a “dictator” and claiming nonsensically that Ukraine started the war with Russia in 2022 is just the latest example of, the stuff we see and hear from Trump only makes sense if you realize that the guy is a Russian asset.
Of note here: some Republicans seem to be coming around on that point.
The identity of these Republicans – moderates, from swing districts – gives us what we need to see how we put a halt to Trump’s momentum.
I’m getting ahead of myself here.
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“Make no mistake about it,” U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C, told CNN today, “that invasion was the responsibility of one human being on the face of this planet. It was Vladimir Putin in a calculation to go through Ukraine and not stop there, to go through Moldova, to go through the Balkans, to ultimately go to the Baltic states, and send the signal to China that now is the time that they can take action in the South China Sea. That’s what this is about, and that’s what we as members have to communicate.”
Tillis, I need to note, will be up for re-election in the 2026 midterms cycle, in a state that just elected a Democratic governor, but also went for Trump for president.
That’s quite the tightrope to have to walk there.
“Putin started this war. Putin committed war crimes. Putin is the dictator who murdered his opponents,” said Nebraska Republican Congressman Don Bacon. “The EU nations have contributed more to Ukraine. Zelensky polls over 50%. Ukraine wants to be part of the West, Putin hates the West. I don’t accept George Orwell’s doublethink.”
Bacon represents the famed Second District in Nebraska, which he won by 1.9 points last year, as Kamala Harris won the presidential race there by 4.6 points.
Talk about tightropes.
“Vladimir Putin is a vile dictator and thug, who has worked in a concerted effort with China and Iran to undermine and destabilize the United States, Europe, Israel, and the free world. He is not our friend, nor our ally,” said New York Republican Mike Lawler, who has won two elections to Congress in a swing district, and is reportedly considering a run for governor in New York in the 2026 cycle.
Not surprisingly, my local congressman, Ben Cline, R-Va., hasn’t commented publicly on Trump’s Putin-serving rant, in part because Cline is scared of his own shadow, but more to the point, he’s just devoid.
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Cline, in the Sixth District, John McGuire, over in the Fifth, and Morgan Griffith, down in Southwest Virginia in the Ninth – the latter two, like Cline, have also exercised their right to remain silent on Trump’s Putin-serving rant – represent safe Republican districts.
At first glance, you’d think being in a safe Republican district would provide insulation to the kind of threat that Tillis got a couple of weeks ago, that he’d better vote for Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, or prepare to face a primary challenger next year.
OK, actually, though, McGuire is only in Congress because the Republican who preceded him in the Fifth, Bob Good, made the fateful decision to back Ron DeSantis for president.
Team Trump backed McGuire in the primary just to spite Good; McGuire knows he’s in Congress entirely out of spite, so he’s not going to rock the boat.
But if you’re Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman over on the eastern side of the state, and you’re swing-district Republicans like Tillis down in North Carolina, Bacon out in Nebraska, Lawler up in New York, you’re equally vulnerable to being primaried and being too MAGA and losing to the Democrat as a result.
There’s your pressure point, Dems, Dem activists.
Republicans have narrow majorities in the House and Senate, and it only takes literally a couple of defectors on any issue of the day to send a rebuke to Trump, who seems to think he’s king.
Seems that we need to ferret out the swing-district Republicans, and make them feel the pressure to do the right thing.
Thom Tillis, Don Bacon, Mike Lawler, Jen Kiggans, Rob Wittman – they’re just the tip of the iceberg.
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Chris Graham
