Since the late 1940s, Republicans have hurled the charge of “appeasement” at every Democratic President
Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson found themselves accused of “selling out” to the Soviet Union. The motive for this was usually attributed to cowardice—if not outright treason. It didn’t matter to Republicans that:
- Truman began the policy of “containing” the Soviet Union within its World War II borders;
- Kennedy faced down the Russians during the Cuban Missile Crisis; and
- Johnson waged a bloody, budget-busting war against Soviet proxies in Vietnam.
Most recently, it became the turn of President Barack Obama.
On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 MH 17/MAS17 took off from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
But as the flight–and its 283 passengers and 15 crew—cruised above Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists shot it down. A Buk surface-to-air missile slammed into the aircraft, almost instantly killing everyone on board.
President Barack Obama
“The President is afraid of provoking [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” United States Senator John McCain told Reuters. “Vladimir Putin is on the move because he has paid no price for his aggression.”
And Texas United State Senator Ted Cruz said: “Putin fears no retribution. [Obama’s] policy has been to alienate and abandon our friends, and to coddle and appease our enemies.”
But now the United States has a Republican President who has cozied up to Putin since he entered the 2016 Presidential race.
In January, the CIA, FBI, NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded that Russian Intelligence agents had meddled in the election via cyber-warfare to secure Donald Trump’s election.
Yet, at the G20 summit, Trump declared it was “an honor” to meet Putin.
After the meeting, Trump tweeted on July 9: “I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I’ve already given my opinion…..”
Trump’s opinion, as he famously gave it, was: “It could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.”
Even more worrisome to American Intelligence officials was Trump’s accompanying tweet: “Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.”
Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee reacted: “If that’s our best election defense, we might as well just mail our ballot boxes to Moscow.”
Even some Republicans likened the proposal to letting the fox guard the chicken coop. Florida United States Senator Marco Rubio tweeted: “While reality & pragmatism requires that we engage Vladimir Putin, he will never be a trusted ally or a reliable constructive partner.”
Yet America’s frustrations with Russia generally—and Putin in particular—long predate those of Barack Obama.
Nor were relations between the United States and post-Soviet Russia helped by the naivety of President George W. Bush.
In June, 2001, Bush and Putin met in Slovenia. During the meeting a truly startling exchange occurred.
President George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin
Putin, a former KGB Intelligence officer, had clearly done his homework on Bush. When he mentioned that one of the sports Bush had played was rugby, Bush was highly impressed.
“I did play rugby,” gushed Bush. “Very good briefing.”
But more was to come.
BUSH: Let me say something about what caught my attention, Mr. President, was that your mother gave you a cross which you had blessed in Israel, the Holy Land.
PUTIN: It’s true.
BUSH: That amazes me, that here you were a Communist, KGB operative, and yet you were willing to wear a cross. That speaks volumes to me, Mr. President. May I call you Vladimir?
Putin instantly sensed that Bush judged others–even world leaders–through the lens of his own fundamentalist Christian theology.
Falling back on his KGB training, Putin seized on this apparent point of commonality to build a bond. He told Bush that his dacha had once burned to the ground, and the only item that had been saved was that cross.
“Well, that’s the story of the cross as far as I’m concerned,” said Bush, clearly impressed. “Things are meant to be.”
Afterward, Bush and Putin gave an outdoor news conference.
“Is this a man that America can trust?” Associated Press correspondent Ron Foumier asked Bush.
“Yes,” said Bush. “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue.
“I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. I wouldn’t have invited him to my ranch if I didn’t trust him.”
Of course, no one from the Right is now recalling such embarrassing words.
It’s far more politically profitable to pretend that all of America’s tensions with Russia began with the election of Barack Obama.
And to pretend that those tensions have vanished now that another Right-wing President occupies the White House.
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SOCRATES COMES TO THE SENATE: PART ONE (OF FIVE)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on August 24, 2026 at 12:05 am“The only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat.”
—Ronald Reagan, speaking about the leaders of the Soviet Union
On July 29, Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
He did so under subpoena issued on the orders of Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), a longtime foe of Fauci.
The hearing was allegedly intended to probe the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and whether Fauci misled Congress and the public.
Witnesses before Senate committees are always asked: “Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give before this Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
But Senators are never asked to do the same.
Had Senator Rand Paul been required to answer that question—and had he done so honestly—he would have admitted: “The reason for this hearing is to prove that Fauci covered up COVID’s origins. I believe it emerged from a lab in Wuhan, China, that had received American research funding.
“I also believe—and intend to prove—that he needlessly closed schools and churches. And I will be looking for any statement I can interpret as perjury so he can be prosecuted and sent to prison—as I have long said he should be.”
Rand Paul
Fauci had helped lead the White House response for Presidents Donald Trump and Joseph Biden and is now retired from government service. He is 85.
At the opening of the hearing, Fauci read from a prepared statement: “I have appeared multiple times for hearings in the Senate and the House, usually under oath, and sat for several days—long transcribed sworn interviews answering questions about the very issues that are now the subject of this hearing.
“Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.”
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. He then repeatedly refused to answer questions from the Committee—especially from its Republican members.
The reason: President Biden gave him a pardon for all of his official conduct from 2014 to 2025. Fauci hadn’t committed any crimes. Biden intended to protect him from any future malicious prosecution by incoming President Donald Trump, whose hostility toward Fauci was well-known.
The pardon prevents Fauci from being federally prosecuted for any of his actions as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. That includes many of the pandemic-related decisions and actions Paul sought to grill him about.
Anthony Fauci
But Fauci could face state or local prosecution, as well as federal prosecution for making any false statements to the panel. And Fauci said he was convinced Paul’s goal was to trip him up and trigger a perjury allegation.
Paul has, in fact, called for Fauci’s imprisonment.
On December 2, 2021, he told Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network: “Fauci should go to prison for five years for lying to Congress. They’ve prosecuted other people, they’ve selectively gone after Republicans, but in no way will they do anything about him lying.”
Paul and Bartiromo both claimed that Fauci lied to Congress when he said that the National Institutes of Health did not fund “gain of function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Gain of function research is a common scientific practice in which researchers trigger mutations and study how they affect a specific subject. In recent years, scientists have become increasingly less willing to conduct the research in some circumstances due to associated risks.
“He should be prosecuted for lying, but at the very least he should be taken out of his position because I think he cost people’s lives through misinformation,” Paul told Bartiromo.
On the contrary, Paul himself has repeatedly attacked efforts to lessen the spread of COVID and spread factually incorrect information about the virus.
COVID-19 virus
On May 5, 2020, the NBC News website reported: “Rand Paul, the only senator known to have contracted COVID-19, defended his decision not to wear a mask on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, citing his ‘immunity’ to a disease that top scientists are still trying to understand.
“I have immunity. I’ve already had the virus, so I can’t get it again and I can’t give it to anybody,” Paul told reporters, referring to his March diagnosis. ‘I can’t get it again, nor can I transmit. So of all the people you’ll meet here, I’m about the only safe person in Washington.'”
According to Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and global health policy expert and NBC News contributor, Paul’s claim “flies in the face of expert guidance from organizations like the WHO [World Health Organization] and CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], who both very clearly said we don’t know, It’s the pinnacle of misinformation. It’s not true. We have no evidence.”
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