As GOP scurries from Trump’s Putin praise, Trump Jr. offers a novel explanation

And while Republicans were slow to distance themselves from it initially, it’s become something of a building stampede. The culmination: Donald Trump Jr. now says his father’s repeated praise and legitimization of authoritarians like Putin was merely playing these foreign leaders “like a fiddle.”

“He knew exactly how to play these guys,” the younger Trump insists.

Let’s quickly deal with the veracity of that claim before we move on. Certainly, there’s something to be said for strategic diplomacy. But to the extent that Trump’s actions legitimizing Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were a ruse, he was really committed to the bit. He even acted much the same way in private. Also, the benefit of a ruse like this generally requires not acknowledging it’s a ruse. Especially with the elder Trump aiming for the presidency again in 2024, perhaps it’s not a great idea to tell leaders who are likely to still be in power come 2025 — there’s not much turnover in leadership in China, North Korea and Russia — that Trump wasn’t really that into them.

Which brings us to the why: Why suddenly give up the game (to the extent it was actually a game)? Because the game looks really, really poorly played right now.

To see how toxic Republicans think Trump’s praise of Putin was, have a look at what a trio of McC’s have said and done about it

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was asked about Trump’s comment last week and said, “What President Putin is is a ruthless thug who’s just invaded another sovereign country and killed thousands of innocent people. That’s what President Putin is.”

Asked the same question on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) offered an even more direct rebuke of Trump’s comments. McCarthy said: “I do not think anything’s savvy or genius about Putin. I think Putin is evil. He’s a dictator. And I think he’s murdering people right now.”

Finally — and perhaps most interesting — came a new move from former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory (R), who is running for the U.S. Senate. Rather than merely offer an opposing view about Putin’s “genius” and “savvy,” he’s actually making his opponent’s defense of Trump’s comments into an issue in his primary.

“As Ukrainians bled and died,” McCrory says in a new ad, “Congressman [Ted] Budd excused their killer.”

Budd’s comments were more nuanced than Trump’s. Budd called Putin “a very intelligent actor” who had “strategic reasons” for the invasion, which included a desire to “protect his southern flank.” But he also emphasized that Putin was “evil” — something Trump has taken significant care to avoid saying. McCrory, of course, connects none of this to Trump — which would be suicide in a GOP primary — but that’s the logical extension of it. And, in fact, the comments McCrory isolates were made in the context of Budd’s defending Trump, who has endorsed him.

McCrory isn’t even the only Republican in the North Carolina primary who seems to regard this attempt to shoehorn nuance into views of Putin as corrosive; in a little-noticed tweet, a fellow hopeful, former U.S. representative Mark Walker tweeted two days after Trump’s comments that the “the undertones of Putin praise is insane.” McCrory isn’t really in the Trump mold, but Walker had angled for Trump’s endorsement.

And the stampede has continued apace because views of Putin and Russia continue to deteriorate.

Yes, there are the polls showing Republicans going from being pretty okay with Putin after he tried to help Trump win the 2016 election (37 percent had a favorable view of him then) to agreeing with Democrats that Putin is a pariah. But even that might undersell things.

The same poll described above — from the Economist and YouGov — has in recent days dug a little deeper on views of Putin. The most striking numbers: Trump voters say by 77 percent to 10 percent that Putin has committed war crimes in Ukraine. They also say, 75-15, that he is a “very serious threat” to the United States.

Both epitomize how much distaste there is across partisan lines for the guy who Trump suggested repeatedly wasn’t worth getting too bothered about — and with such statements inextricably conveyed legitimacy.

Of course, the defense of Trump’s comments is always going to be that he was talking strategy and formidability — not morality. He was merely pointing out that Putin knows what he’s doing and should be taken seriously! (Even as Trump almost always rather conspicuously declined to layer moral judgments on top of that.)

Well, even if you accept that significant narrowing of scope, Trump’s comments haven’t aged particularly well. The same poll shows just 40 percent of Republicans now regard Putin as a “very strong” leader, down from a 53 percent majority in January. In addition, fewer than half of Republicans think Russia — with its vastly superior military — is winning its war with Ukraine.

So even as amended and clarified, Trump’s comments aren’t exactly looking great. And the result is a rare occasion on which Republicans make clear they want nothing to do with his posture on an issue.