Don’t think the American mid-term election on November 8 matters to the rest of the world?
Igor Novikov, associate of Ukraine President Zelensky, says that Putin’s “number one goal” in the current Russian bombing of Ukraine is to affect “the mid-terms”. He doesn’t even have to say what mid-terms he’s talking about.
Your donation to Democratic candidates and committees right now IN SWING DISTRICTS is literally a way to fight Putin.
No kidding.
Don’t believe me.
Take it from Igor Novikov.
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How does Putin think his invasion of Ukraine will impact the midterms? Assuming he favors Republicans does he really think that Americans are going to care enough about Ukraine AND blame Biden? I feel like I’m missing a connection here.
He wants MAGA Republicans and Trumpists to win, especially at the state level. The connection you seem to be missing is the extent to which today’s GOP — and Donald Trump — are agents of Vladimir Putin.
Please remember that Vladimir Putin has been actively seeking to annex Ukraine since before the 2016 election. The behavior for which Mr. Trump was impeached (and should have been removed) was all about retaking Ukraine.
I wrote here earlier this year that the timing of the Ukraine invasion was driven by the probably-correct conclusion of Vladimir Putin that the GOP and Donald Trump had reached the high-point of public support in the US.
Mr. Putin wants to annex Ukraine. Mr. Putin wants to weaken the US as much as possible. Mr. Putin wants his agents in the US to have as much influence as possible.
The best way to resist this attack is to do all we can to keep MAGA Republicans as far away from power as much as we can. That’s true at both the national and state levels.
I would not say that Mr. Putin wants to weaken the US. Quite the contrary, he seeks to strengthen the USA as his ally. Installing Trump back in office along with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz et al will bring about a very strong and robust USA if one is a wealthy white heterosexual male and/or in favor of a world dominated by same.
I get all that. The part I’m missing is how Putin thinks his Ukraine invasion will influence American voters, especially in the direction he prefers.
There is a significant number of American voters who admire the strong arm tactics of a wealthy white male over those who seek to dethrone him. They are easily identified identified in the USA by their red hats, oversized American flags flapping from their pickup trucks, and so on. Putin sticking it to someone they feel was a friend or even remotely associate with President Biden and “the libs” gives them pleasure, a feeling of superiority and the hope that the USA will someday have such a leader.
They were voting Republican without Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. If the only question on voters’ minds this year were do you support Ukraine and those who do voted Dem and those who did not voted Republican, the latter party would be absolutely obliterated. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is not going to gain votes for Republicans they did not already have.
As I just posted elsewhere here, Mr. Putin is not in any way attempting to change anybody’s vote. He doesn’t care who votes Democrat or Republican.
Mr. Putin wants MAGA Republicans to end representative democracy in America. He wants to weaken American resolve to defend freedom domestically and internationally.
Mr. Putin has minimal interest in gaining votes for Republicans that they did not already have.
Mr. Putin seeks to inflame and motivate MAGA Republicans in hopes of fomenting armed insurrection.
I don’t mean that Mr. Putin wants to increase the outcome of any election.
I mean instead that Mr. Putin wants to increase the power of the MAGA Republicans. Not political power, but actual I’ll-kill-you power.
Mr. Putin wants to destroy or weaken democracy in America. He wants the American electoral system to crumble. He wants to end the peaceful transfer of power in America.
I did not suggest that Mr. Putin thinks is Ukraine invasion will change American votes. I meant the opposite. I meant that Mr. Putin wants as free a hand as possible to do what he chooses in Ukraine. The more POWER — not votes, but POWER — that MAGA Republicans have in the US, the less influence the US will have in Ukraine.
MAGA Republicans explicitly seek to overthrow legitimate government in America. They explicitly seek to impose their own minority rule. Vladimir Putin doesn’t care who votes for whom in any US election. He seeks to destroy the electoral system itself.
The resulting destruction of the “America” that has led the world for the last century is the goal that Mr. Putin seeks.
Again, the Ukraine invasion accomplishes that how? The diary said Putin wanted to affect the midterms which I interpreted as influence the outcome thereof. In order for Republicans to get more power, whether generally, or specifically over how much we will help Ukraine, they need more votes. The Ukraine invasion per se has absolutely no impact on how strong our democracy is.
The thread-starter is quoting Igor Novikov, a Ukranian official who I assume does not share your deep knowledge of the US political system.
I’ve attempted to explain several times that Mr. Novikov is not talking about changing votes. That’s not what he means by “affecting the midterms”.
Mr. Novikov correctly, I think, asserts that Vladimir Putin wants the OUTCOME of the midterms to hurt Ukraine, hurt the US, and help Russia.
Mr. Novikov therefore asserts that Mr. Putin wants the MAGA Republicans to win the mid-terms. He astutely implies that MAGA Republicans are advancing Mr. Putin’s agenda at the state and local levels, where the MAGA Republicans are explicitly attacking the bedrock of representative democracy in the US. I remind you that the GOP nominee for the Arizona Secretary of State is Mark Finchem — an election denier who as recently as last month doubled down on the false and bizarre lies of the GOP about 2020 election. Mr. Finchem was present at the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Mr. Novikov’s quoted comment is not about changing votes. It is instead reminding us of America’s place in the world order.
I think we’ve hit a syntax issue possibly assisted by a language barrier that I’m still struggling with. IOW something about the original comment from Novikov is literally getting lost in translation.
Indeed, that seems to be the case.