# When and why did Republicans start seeing Russia as allies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [December 13, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562 "2023-12-13T17:44:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/61 "2023-12-21T16:02:41Z")
I saw all of them. Also the ones he’d dropped in a couple other threads that also, regardless of topic, have joined his (?) personal row in the Cornfield. Let’s be mindful of where we are and speak no more of this recent unpleasantness. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/62 "2023-12-21T17:19:39Z")
Exactly. It’s a good life, after all. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/63 "2023-12-21T17:39:57Z")
Yes; a Good Life. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/64 "2023-12-21T17:43:03Z")
Posting this carefully so as to not run afoul of a certain moderator, but even up to as recently as 2014-15, Republicans such as Rand Paul were criticizing Obama for being too weak on the Crimea issue and one of Romney’s more-quoted quips from the 2012 campaign was that Obama was being too accommodating of Russia - to which Obama fired back something about Romney being stuck in the Cold War. So it’s certainly not a matter of principle. I never saw any Republicans support Russia until they saw how much support for Russia got under Democrats’ skin, like a bully finding out what annoys his victim the most. That moment was the flip. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/65 "2023-12-22T07:04:39Z")
Under the Soviet Union, Russia wasn’t Russia; it was the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, or R.S.F.S.R. When they got independence and became simply Russia, it was a relief. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/66 "2023-12-22T17:01:08Z")
This is a distinction without a difference. Россия (Rossia) was a word in use, and it referred to the RSFSR. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/67 "2023-12-22T17:04:42Z")
It makes a real difference for the low-level clerical poor schmucks with carpal tunnel syndrome to not have to write or type the five-word official name any more. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/68 "2023-12-22T18:34:51Z")
I’m sure legions of Russian third graders were also overjoyed not to have to write that out longhand. Over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/69 "2023-12-22T18:49:16Z")
It’s a pity they couldn’t have made RUSSIA into a good acronym. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/70 "2023-12-22T18:56:57Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > RUSSIA into a good acronym Russian United Socialist States of Imperial Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/71 "2023-12-22T19:00:25Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Russian United Socialist States of Imperial Asia I had to look that up to make sure that it wasn’t real. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/72 "2023-12-22T19:01:25Z")
I don’t understand this objection. Surely the choice as to whether to use the long form of a country’s name or the short form has more to do with what is being written, and for whom? I rarely write out “The United States of America,” but that’s the name; US and USA are not, but they are widely and commonly used. The same with Russia: not the official name, no, but certainly the common and correct name for RSFSR, and metonymously but less correctly used for the USSR in the same way that England is used to refer to the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/73 "2023-12-22T20:43:52Z")
Whether or not it was strictly accurate, the Soviet Union was also frequently referred to simply as ‘Russia’ in other languages. See for example the [Barbarossa decree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarossa_decree) and [Guidelines for the Conduct of the Troops in Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guidelines_for_the_Conduct_of_the_Troops_in_Russia). The country was frequently referred to as _Russland_ in official German documentation during WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/74 "2023-12-23T00:42:12Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > My question, political issue, what have you, is “when did Russia become the friend for Republicans?” Growing up, the GOP was made up of the coldest of Cold Warriors. Russia was the enemy. > > When and why did it change? Confluence of factors. The extreme right, by which I mean the Proud Boys and various white nationalists and neo-Nazis have always been friendly to Putin. Because authoritarianism. As for Republican mainstreamers, they were notably silent when Trump’s close ties to Russia became obvious, and remained silent afterwards. So in fact the great majority of them were never really anti-Russia or anti-Soviet to begin with. Stuart Stevens: > How do you abandon deeply held beliefs about character, personal responsibility, foreign policy, and the national debt in a matter of months? You don’t. The obvious answer is those beliefs weren’t deeply held. … It was all a lie. Lying and posturing in this case. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/75 "2023-12-23T01:21:11Z")
Russia had been infiltrating the GOP through NRA money since at least the 1990’s, and probably even earlier. We are seeing the results of a decades-long psy-op which resulted in everything from the Trump Presidency to redneck boys “rolling coal.” Putin knew that climate change would be good for Russia. He supported big oil and sent money to the NRA through his oligarchs, who then bought themselves an American political party. > **[The%20NRA%20%20Russia%20-%20How%20a%20Tax-Exempt%20Organization%20Became%20a%20Foreign%20Asset.pdf](https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20NRA%20%20Russia%20-%20How%20a%20Tax-Exempt%20Organization%20Became%20a%20Foreign%20Asset.pdf)** > > 1237.39 KB ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/76 "2023-12-23T15:59:26Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Whether or not it was strictly accurate, the Soviet Union was also frequently referred to simply as ‘Russia’ in other languages. See for example the [Barbarossa decree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarossa_decree) and [Guidelines for the Conduct of the Troops in Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guidelines_for_the_Conduct_of_the_Troops_in_Russia). The country was frequently referred to as _Russland_ in official German documentation during WWII. Good point. General Burkhalter never threatened to send Colonel Klink to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics front. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2023, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/77 "2023-12-27T13:42:33Z")
Excellent write up from Heather Cox Richardson - Letters from an American - today about the connection between the USSR/Russia and the GOP > **[December 26, 2023](https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-26-2023)** > > On December 26, 1991, the New York Times ran a banner headline: “Gorbachev, Last Soviet Leader, Resigns; U.S. Recognizes Republics’ Independence.” On December 25, Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned, marking the end of the Union of Soviet... ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/78 "2024-05-15T16:14:11Z")
This interesting article says how Russia has been moving in a different direction. > **[Opinion | The West Doesn’t Understand How Much Russia Has Changed](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/opinion/putin-china-xi-jinping.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sE0.k_Ke.pT80staw5WDc&smid=url-share)** > > Never before has it been so entwined with China. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/79 "2024-05-15T17:49:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I never saw any Republicans support Russia until they saw how much support for Russia got under Democrats’ skin, like a bully finding out what annoys his victim the most. That moment was the flip. I think that it was that they saw how much Russia helped out Trump. At that point Putin became another constituency which they could please to help their election chances. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562/80 "2024-05-15T18:32:48Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I think that it was that they saw how much Russia helped out Trump. At that point Putin became another constituency which they could please to help their election chances. I find it doubtful that Russia set up a whole operation to just influence one election. I feel it’s much more likely that they’ve been providing illegal assistance to lots of Republican candidates in exchange for favorable treatment. The only difference with Trump is that he was dumb enough to talk publicly about the illegal assistance he was receiving. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-republicans-start-seeing-russia-as-allies/994562.md?page=5)