On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” New York U.S. House candidate John Avlon (D) responded to a question on why Russia didn’t invade Ukraine under President Donald Trump by stating that they didn’t invade “Because they were waiting for a second term.”
While discussing the DOJ’s announcement about Russian meddling efforts this week, Avlon asked National Review Editor Rich Lowry how he explains the “sort of creepy confluence between the Russian talking points and what passes for Trump talking points these days?”
Lowry responded, “I’m a Ukraine hawk, I don’t like what any of these guys said about Ukraine. But, unfortunately, they were saying it before they got Russian money. And if you read the indictment, there was a huge effort to dupe them, maybe they should have been — shouldn’t have been so credulous.”
Later in the segment, Lowry stated, “Donald Trump, he gave lethal arms to the Ukrainians. … Vladimir Putin did not invade Ukraine on Donald Trump’s watch. Our enemies feared us under Donald Trump.”
Avlon responded, “No, they thought he was a patsy that they could do whatever they want with.”
Lowry cut in to counter, “Why didn’t they take Ukraine then?”
Avlon responded, “Because they were waiting for a second term. … What has happened in this administration…NATO has expanded under this administration. The international community has rallied to stop Russian aggression and Republicans have been protesting that and criticizing Ukraine.”
Lowry countered that it wasn’t every Republican who did that, and Avlon countered that there were “too many” Republicans who did.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.