A former Trump defender is sounding the alarm over the president’s latest moves to appease the Kremlin.
A prominent conservative and former Trump defender has blasted President Donald Trump for his rapprochement with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, warning that the administration’s latest concessions to Moscow should be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” for Republicans and Democrats alike.
Andrew C. McCarthy, who wrote a book supporting Trump in 2019 but later broke with the president after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, rebuked Trump’s largely failed “energy ceasefire” that was announced Sunday, as well as the administration’s decision to drop sanctions on Russian diesel.
Andrew C. McCarthy sounded the alarm about the warm relations between Trump and Putin.
Andrew C. McCarthy/LinkedIn
The “reprehensible” diesel deal comes with “no concessions from Putin on Ukraine,” McCarthy wrote in an op-ed for National Review.
“The Trump administration will lift sanctions against Russia (in likely violation of federal law) in exchange for a relatively insignificant amount of Russian diesel fuel that would have a negligible impact on sky-high diesel prices,” he continued.
Trump has tried to blame soaring global fuel prices on Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries — glossing over the far greater damage that experts say his own war in Iran and blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have inflicted on energy markets, sending prices skyrocketing and forcing countries to deplete their fuel reserves.
Russia caused chaos in several parts of Ukraine on Tuesday.
Valentin Ogirenko/Reuters
McCarthy also denounced the “energy ceasefire,” which has been largely ignored since Trump announced it on Truth Social on Oct. 11, as “rigged against Ukraine.”
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Once the White House clarified that the ceasefire was only for oil refineries, McCarthy said it was clear that Trump was choosing to side with Putin.
“As Trump officials knew, Ukraine has no operational oil refineries, with Russia bombing the last one four years ago,” he wrote.
McCarthy also accused the Kremlin of supporting the US war against Iran by providing drones and intelligence, as well as cozying up to China. “Russia is a pillar of an anti-American axis led by China and joined by Iran and North Korea,” he wrote.
“While Trump supports Putin, Putin aids and abets the ‘Death to America’ regime,” he continued.
McCarthy is not the only Republican voice to denounce Trump for the White House’s deference to Russia.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called Trump’s actions “reckless.”
“Putin is fanatically determined to restore Russia’s glory days, calling the collapse of the Soviet Union ‘the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century’ and claiming that Russia was ‘robbed’ during the breakup,” Cornyn wrote on X.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina was equally scathing, calling the decision to drop sanctions against Russia “beyond irresponsible.”
“If the president really wants to lower energy prices, he can do it by solving the Iranian problem,” he wrote on X. “Not by making a strong case for Vladimir Putin. »
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