Putin Signals His Displeasure with the GOP

[Frodo]

Russian Bots Are Starting to Attack Republican Party

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[Middle-aged Europe]

Ryan is toast.

Nobody messes with Putin and survives to tell about it.

[pbrower2a]

This is a good time in which to be a Democrat. The only connections that some Democrats have to Russia is ancestry or a love for the great achievements of Russian intellectual life.   

[TheSaint250]

Putin hates anyone that doesn't like Putin.

[Santander]

Breitbart is a "fake news site"?

[pbrower2a]

Breitbart is a "fake news site".

Correction made.

[Mr. Reactionary]

So if Putin starts leaking GOP emails, will BRTD push for Russian to become our official language?

[uti2]

This is why it's somewhat interesting in how Russia tried to help the GOP downballot during the election. I suppose they believed that helping the downballot would also help Trump, but it was still a risk for them. These recent actions demonstrate that Russia would've backed Hillary & Schumer as lesser evils had they been running against a normal republican.

[Virginiá]

These recent actions demonstrate that Russia would've backed Hillary & Schumer as lesser evils had they been running against a normal republican.

I thought Putin hated Hillary. Why would he have helped her in that case?

[uti2]

These recent actions demonstrate that Russia would've backed Hillary & Schumer as lesser evils had they been running against a normal republican.

I thought Putin hated Hillary. Why would he have helped her in that case?

The logic that Putin hated Hillary because 'she said some mean things about him' is nonsensical. All of Hillary's other republican rivals said even worse about Putin than Hillary did. If you go by that logic, Hillary is clearly not as bad for him as the other republicans. Also, why did Putin attack Macron? What grudge did he have against him going by that logic?

[Middle-aged Europe]

In a race between Hillary and a "normal" Republican I doubt that Putin would have specifically backed one of the two candidates. Perhaps he would have worked to discredit both sides. That's similar to the situation in Germany, where Putin probably doesn't root for either Angela Merkel or Martin Schulz. So, in a way, the nomination of Donald Trump gave Putin an opportunity he otherwise wouldn't have had.

[Tintrlvr]

These recent actions demonstrate that Russia would've backed Hillary & Schumer as lesser evils had they been running against a normal republican.

I thought Putin hated Hillary. Why would he have helped her in that case?

The logic that Putin hated Hillary because 'she said some mean things about him' is nonsensical. All of Hillary's other republican rivals said even worse about Putin than Hillary did. If you go by that logic, Hillary is clearly not as bad for him as the other republicans. Also, why did Putin attack Macron? What grudge did he have against him going by that logic?

Obviously Putin doesn't only attack politicians he has a personal grudge against. That doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't attack politicians who he has a personal grudge against.

I do think there would have been some calculus in Russia as to whether they preferred Clinton over Cruz/Rubio/Bush/whoever that probably would have come down on the side of sitting the election out because neither side would have seemed especially more favorable towards them. Back in 2008, Russia was not yet in a position to be projecting its power internationally, but it's likely that they would have preferred Obama (who often used conciliatory rhetoric towards Russia in the 2008 election period) over McCain (who has always been hostile to Russia). Obviously, that would not have worked out particularly well for Putin, who went on to have a very tense relationship with Obama from early on in Obama's presidency. Thus, by 2016 it was clear that neither party was interested in detente with Russia, outside of the Trump campaign and the paleocon/ethnonationalist wing of the Republican Party that he represented. Trump was a special opportunity for a Russia-friendly administration that resulted in intervention; by and large, Russia doesn't have those options in most countries. They interfered in the French election because Le Pen was another such opportunity (and Fillon also would have been), but they did not interfere in the UK election because neither Corbyn nor May seemed especially useful to Russia.

In a race between Hillary and a "normal" Republican I doubt that Putin would have specifically backed one of the two candidates. Perhaps he would have worked to discredit both sides. That's similar to the situation in Germany, where Putin probably doesn't root for either Angela Merkel or Martin Schulz. So, in a way, the nomination of Donald Trump gave Putin an opportunity he otherwise wouldn't have had.

Agreed. Now, if the SPD leader were Gerhard Schroder, we'd definitely see some Russian meddling in Germany.

[Coraxion]

As the GOP colleagues in Congress have demonstrated, the era of principals having priority over winning is over.

We should stop talking about Russiagate so that they will Make Pelosi Speaker Again!

[ProudModerate2]

"Putin Signals His Displeasure with the GOP" ??

From the thread title, it sounds like Putin is the/a GOP leader.

[Associate Justice PiT]

As the GOP colleagues in Congress have demonstrated, the era of principals having priority over winning is over.

     That era ended a while ago.

[TheSaint250]

Putin was never happy with or liked the GOP in the first place. The party is full of anti-Putinists. He only favored Trump since Trump said Putin is a strong leader and called NATO obsolete. Putin thought Trump would stay out of Europe more for a different reason than Putin agreed with (Trump's America First) but Putin thought he could work with it. Putin at this point probably prefers European populists like Le Pen since they are much more pro-Russia and are less in favor of NATO