This is such a crucial distinction - and a key point about what animates the American Right more broadly. I find the “Republicans are just Putin’s puppets” talk really misleading - it misses the point: Both are pursuing a project of anti-liberal, ethno-religious nationalism. 1/
That doesn’t mean there aren’t concrete connections, and there certainly are Russian attempts to influence and destabilize U.S. politics. But to conceptualize the threat to democratic, multiracial pluralism as originating in Moscow, just Putin pulling the strings, is not plausible. 2/
@tzimmer_history
I think this is simplifying the situation in Russia, where my reading is that the Kremlin rhetoric of the day is very much a tactical choice to play towards the divisions in the US and the west more broadly, as well as appease the only demographic left in Russia that could plausibly provide organic support to Putin.
Consider that the same Putin overseeing the outright banning of LGBTQ existence sent a band famous for its on stage lesbian kisses to represent Russia in Eurovision. Or that the president now praising having many children doesn't publicly acknowledge having any himself...
In other words, in this view Putin is not really pulling any strings, he's just trying to meet the American demand for authoritarian leaders, manipulating the market to his advantage the best he can: an ruthless entrepreneur with an advertising budget.
