President Trump's souring on Russian President Vladimir Putin — saying he has "gone absolutely CRAZY" and is "playing with fire" — is raising questions about whether Trump's Ukraine-skeptical MAGA base will shift along with him.
The bitter tension in the GOP over how the U.S. should respond to Russia's war against Ukraine has been a defining dynamic of the Trump era, and those with anti-interventionist sensibilities have long thought Trump's instincts would lead him to pull back.
But now that peace talks Trump has tried to broker between Moscow and Kyiv have faltered — with Trump most recently decrying Putin's strikes on Ukraine over the weekend — those hoping for a more aggressive stance toward Russia are cheering what they see as an apparent shift.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is signaling he's ready to go with a bill imposing harsh sanctions on Russia that has more than 80 co-sponsors. Given Moscow's reticence over peace talks, momentum seems to be growing for taking a more aggressive posture backing sanctions.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board called for a Senate GOP revolt on sanctions, but that might not even be necessary: Trump said on Sunday he would "absolutely" consider the move.
That shift marks a "new peak of disappointment" for retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor — a favorite analyst of Tucker Carlson who had a brief stint as a Pentagon advisor in the first Trump administration. Macgregor, a staunch anti-interventionist, advocates for dropping Russian sanctions completely rather than imposing more, and argues the U.S. national strategic interests do not conflict with Russia's.
"I think people are beginning to wonder what's really going on because of the contradictions of his statements," Macgregor told me in an interview, referring to Trump. He added: "It looks like President Trump has done a 180-degree turn. He's moved from a position that was viewed as reasonable with potential goodness for everyone concerned, to a position that is indistinguishable from Lindsey Graham."
But the biggest Ukraine critics on Capitol Hill aren't expressing that same type of disappointment with Trump as they respond to his frustration with Putin. Trump, after all, kept up with his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky even as he criticized Putin, saying the Ukrainian leader "is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does" and that "everything out of his mouth causes problems."
Asked about Trump's description of Putin as "crazy" and the prospect of more sanctions on Russia, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — one of Zelensky's most vocal critics in Congress — echoed Trump's "both sides" message, referencing Russia's assertions that Ukrainian drones targeted Putin's helicopter.
"Ukraine just launched dozens of drones at Putin's helicopter, trying to assassinate him, and Russia continues to attack Ukraine. Both sides are at war with one another, and I personally think that is crazy," Greene told me in a statement. "With President Trump, both countries could be pursuing a peace deal that would lead to historic trade deals. That would be overwhelmingly incredible for the people of their countries. But instead, they are both crazy and pursue war. Shame on both of these countries and shame on any politician that wants to continue to engage America in more meddling actions in more foreign wars."
Greene expressed her desire for U.S. disengagement: "I along with most Americans want nothing to do with either of these countries while they are at war with one another. And I'll extend that to any country that wants to engage in war with others. The people of the world want peace and prosperity and that's what I support."
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), the Ukrainian-born congresswoman who has also been critical of Zelensky, gave Trump some backup in a statement responding to my question about Trump's Putin statements: "President Trump inherited a very difficult and extremely mismanaged situation, but I would not be testing his and the United States limits if I would be Putin."
And Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), another big "America First" congressman, told me in a statement that he's trusting the plan: "In his first term, President Trump proved that he is a president of peace. He and his team are working around the clock to bring an end to senseless violence around the world. With Putin's and Zelensky's refusal to negotiate, I trust that our President will do what's necessary to protect America's interests first."
Some Trump allies are more openly grappling with where they go from here given the president hasn't been able to secure a peace deal yet, as conservative commentator Charlie Kirk said on his radio show on Tuesday.
"The big fear here is how can you broker peace if one of the sides do not want peace?" Kirk said. "And if Russia really does not want to have peace, and they're willing to keep on throwing hundreds of thousands of their own young men as just a meat grinder, then the question is what do we actually do, and reconciling that with what the question of, what is the domestic appetite in America?"
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