Joy Behar torched Republicans, who have seemingly showed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. During an interview with ABC News global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz, The View co-host turned her attention to Republicans who have gone easy on Putin ahead of the attacks in Ukraine on Thursday February 24. Joy asked if the journalist expected there to be any changes in light of the attacks.
Asked by @JoyVBehar about those who have seemed to embrace Vladimir Putin over America's own interests, @MarthaRaddatz tells #TheView: "I hope people look up and listen to see exactly what he's doing, and how horrendous this truly is." https://t.co/AvBNFhZr53 pic.twitter.com/pv7rnosy16
— The View (@TheView) February 24, 2022
In her question, Joy let viewers know just how angry she was to see conservatives go soft on Putin. “I am disgusted by the response by some on the right, who seem to embrace Putin over America’s own interest. To me, they’re aiding and abetting and giving comfort to the enemy, and now that this invasion is fully in motion. Do you expect to see sentiments change here in the United States at all? Because it’s getting worse,” she said to Martha.
The View co-hosts had discussed Republicans who seemed to compliment the Russian president on the show on Wednesday February 23. They played clips of interviews with former President Donald Trump, who called Putin’s moves “genius,” and said that the attacks in Ukraine wouldn’t have happened during his administration. “Putin is now saying that it’s independent, a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?'” Trump said in the soundbite. They also spoke about a clip of Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, who also questioned why he should be against Putin. “Why do I hate Putin so much? Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Does he eat dogs? These are fair questions, and the answer to all of them is no. Vladimir Putin didn’t do any of that. So why does permanent Washington hate him so much?” he said.
“The love of Vladimir Putin is something that is startling to all of us… After what Vladimir Putin has done, is invade a sovreign country and try to take it back for all sorts of reasons that make absolutely no sense. I hope people look up and listen to see exactly what he’s doing and how horrendous this truly is.
After Martha’s response, Whoopi Goldberg followed up with a question about the Russian government weaponizing those clips of right wing figures as propaganda to justify Putin’s attacks. ” There’s reports that Russian state leaders are playing soundbites from his fans here over their airwaves,” she said. “This to me seems very peculiar, because I remember when everybody was upset that Obama went and talked to our allies and people went to try to mend fences with folks, and people were up in arms. I don’t hear anybody [complaining] about the fact that they’re apologists. We have, for the first time in my lifetime, Russian Apologists on our airwaves, and Russia’s playing it back,” she said before asking how dangerous it was.
Before cutting to a commercial, Martha explained how the Russian government will utilize whatever they can to justify their actions. “Russia will use any sort of propaganda that they possibly can to bolster their cause, but their cause here and what they’ve done is just simply inexcusable. We are talking about lives. We are talking about history. We are talking about the worst conventional war on the European continent since World War II,” she said.
While some Republicans have seemed to go easy on Putin, there have been some notable exceptions. Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger called out his colleagues for not standing with Ukraine in a February 13 interview with Face The Nation. “This is a frightening moment, and any Republican that has affection for Vladimir Putin has no understanding of what our party stands for or what out country stands for,” he said.