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b'MAGA Republicans Pose Threat to U.S. National Security and FreedomMany MAGA Republicans have positioned themselves as weak and even impotent on the fundamental issue of basic freedom, even while the U.S. is effectively at war.The United States is, effectively, at war. Except it\\u2019s a different kind of war so far. One in which we don\\u2019t have troops on the ground. \\xa0It\\u2019s an indirect conflict. We, along with our closest allies, are in a fight against rising global fascism as represented most horrifically right now by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. \\xa0But the threat is bigger than Ukraine, and that\\u2019s why we and our closest allies are pouring so many resources into helping Ukraine defend itself. Putin isn\\u2019t going to stop at Ukraine. He has an avaricious, predatory outlook and is driven by revenge against countries he feels have weakened and wronged Russia.MAGA Republicans continue to attack President Biden and even call for his impeachment as he takes brave steps to help Ukraine win this bloody, tragic, genocidal war Russia is waging on them in their home country.It\\u2019s past time wondering if this is a feature, not a bug, given the connections and money flowing from Russia to MAGA Republicans, their leader, and even Republican Senate funds and the NRA. There\\u2019s a pattern that is simply too blatant to ignore, but at the same time there is not evidence that someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Speaker Kevin McCarthy is working for Putin or Russian oligarchs.But they are both, for some reason, doing their best to assist Putin in his goal to undermine democracy. \\xa0Their latest effort being to give Tucker Carlson, himself an ongoing mouthpiece for Russian propaganda, access to footage from the January 6th terrorist attack, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pointed out puts everyone in that building at risk because it shows, for example, where all of the security cameras are.\\u201c(T)he Senate strongly objects to the release of this sensitive security footage to Tucker Carlson & Fox News. The speaker\\u2014 nor any elected official\\u2014 does not have the right to jeopardize the safety of senators nor Senate & Capitol staff for their own political purposes.\\u201dState of PlayGlobally, every weak spot in the fabric of democracy is strained as encroaching authoritarianism keeps pushing at the vulnerable spots. This is why it\\u2019s so important that we somehow get Republicans on board to act as a unified coalition on this one issue.Russia pulled out of the START treaty on Wednesday, the last arms control treaty between the United States and Russia. Together, the two countries possess \\u201croughly 90 percent of the world\'s nuclear weapons with a stockpile of over 8,000 between them.\\u201dForeign policy reporter Laura Rozen wrote on her Diplomatic Substack, \\u201cPutin holds arms treaty \\u2018hostage\\u2019 to war on Ukraine,\\u201d noting, \\u201cWorld powers that previously compartmentalized arms control from their other disagreements now no longer appear willing to do so, putting solutions to limit the threat of nuclear proliferation in jeopardy, on Iran and globally.\\u201d\\u201cIt\\u2019s terrible,\\u201d one European official who works on arms control said, about the end of Western/Russian cooperation on curbing Iran\\u2019s nuclear program. \\u201cThe work of twenty years somehow lost.\\u201dThat\\u2019s pretty alarming. Alarming enough that anyone with an ounce of care for the basic concept of freedom should be grabbing the hands of whoever is nearest to help hold the line. But that\\u2019s not happening here, in the United States. Too many MAGA Republicans are undermining the United States\\u2019 unity, with Marjorie Taylor Greene even calling for secession in the form of a national divorce.World War III Threats\\u2026 Can\\u2019t Ukraine Just Give In For \\u201cPeace\\u201d?One of Russia\\u2019s strongest talking points to get people to parrot their propaganda is that if Ukraine would just give in, there would be peace and if they don\\u2019t, there will be World War III.This idea has taken root on both the far Left and not so far Right, and is repeated constantly on conservative media, Elon Musk repeats it on Twitter, which he owns now. Most of you probably know this isn\\u2019t workable, but let\\u2019s examine what\\u2019s going on right now because the stakes have been raised by Russia with the START treaty suspension and threats to other countries.This conflict, which has given rise to the bloodiest war since World War II, started in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. Ukraine was a divided state and Russia took advantage of this by arming separatists. (This might seem little too close to home for comfort for those of us paying attention to Putin\\u2019s successful efforts at dividing this country - see MTG\\u2019s \\u201cdivorce\\u201d call.) Ukraine represents power to Russia, power and the image of being a superpower. Putin wants it back because Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is aligned with western-style democracy, which makes a stark contrast to Putin\\u2019s autocratic regime in Russia. There are additional interests for Russia in terms of trade, energy, and Putin\\u2019s feeling that NATO\\u2019s post\\u2013Cold War expansion is a humiliation.\\u201cDuring one year of the full-scale invasion Russia launched almost 5000 missiles and made almost 3500 airstrikes against Ukraine. Russia also made almost 1100 attacks using drones, the Ukrainian General Staff reported,\\u201d the Kyiv Post reported. Russia is threatening GermanyDuring a rally led by Putin on Wednesday, \\xa0Russians sang that they are \\u201cdefending the fatherland by raising the red flag over Berlin.\\u201dThe Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine warned: \\u201cAttention, Germany! Russians sing about "Russian flag over Berlin" at Luzhniki stadium.\\u201dRussia, the country that invaded the sovereign state of Ukraine, calls Ukrainians \\u201cdemons\\u201d and claims that missiles are flying as a \\u201ccure for sick Ukrainians.\\u201d\\u201cMeanwhile in Mordor: Putin led another rally, full of gruesome narratives. Listen to the words of their songs, about their arms covered in blood up to their elbows and sending missiles \\u2018to cure sick Ukrainians,\\u2019 whom they also described as "demons,\\u2019\\u201d Russian media monitor Julia Davis wrote above this clip.ChinaThere is also growing concern over China\\u2019s support for Russia\\u2019s military.MexicoJust as an example of how the world is at war with encroaching authoritarianism, \\xa0the President of Mexico\\u2019s majority in Congress passed \\u201clegal changes to gut Mexico\'s independent elections body in what most experts see as the country\'s most consequential democratic setback in recent decades.\\u201dIf that sounds a lot like what Ron DeSantis is doing in Florida, based on the model set by Viktor Orb\\xe1n \\xa0of Hungary, that\\u2019s because it is.Bowing Down to Global ThreatThe president of the United States is very busy upholding freedom. Naturally, MAGA Republicans are outraged.As Republicans war within their own party about support for Ukraine and the more vocal members attack President Biden for his show of strength and support for Ukraine via his iconic visit, Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz introduced a bill to cease support, citing Ukraine \\u201cfatigue\\u201d (if you Google this phrase, you\\u2019ll see that they\\u2019re running with it as hard as they can with former Rush Limbaugh replacement host using that phrase as the title to an opinion piece claiming that Ukraine fatigue is \\u201cbuilding on the horizon\\u201d). Speaker McCarthy is doing that McCarthy dance, the one many have tried before him and failed, of not taking a public side but even then he still made sure to make it known that Republicans wouldn\\u2019t rubber stamp any aide for Ukraine.McCarthy, who barely won his gavel after a record setting 15 rounds of votes, hit Biden with an accusation that his actions are \\u201ca bit too late.\\u201d So, they don\\u2019t support Ukraine funds and they hate Biden\\u2019s trip to Ukraine, but also, Biden is late and not doing enough. Yikes. Over in the Senate, the grown up in the room happens to be the same Senator who single-handedly stole a Supreme Court seat from President Obama, and thus can be held responsible for a lot of the resulting current loss of freedoms in this country (from abortion to state\\u2019s rights to make gun laws).Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to change the narrative from the weak isolationist voices in his party to his own pronouncement, \\u201cReports about the death of Republican support for strong American leadership in the world have been greatly exaggerated.\\u201dWell. Even Mitch McConnell can\\u2019t bring Marjorie Taylor Greene to heel to pretend to support a Democratic president purely because it looks bad on the global stage to have Republicans not supporting freedom and American leadership.Former Republican Representative Adam Kinszinger wrote of Greene\\u2019s secession push, \\u201cIn the old days a politician would be kicked out for oppos'