Sen. Tom Cotton has practiced his dodge for questions about Donald Trump’s characterization of Vladimir Putin as “smart” and “savvy” for the way he’s invaded Ukraine, and Cotton is not changing course, no matter how incoherent and insulting his dodge may be. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos put that to the test in an interview with Cotton, asking, “Why can’t you condemn Donald Trump for those comments?”
“George, if you want to know what Donald Trump thinks about Vladimir Putin or any other topic, I’d encourage you to invite him on your show,” Cotton responded. “I don’t speak on behalf of other politicians; they can speak for themselves. I speak on behalf of Arkansans, who I talked to this week and who are appalled at what they saw in Ukraine and they want me, right now, to fight in Washington to support those brave Ukrainians.”
Tom, we know what Donald Trump thinks. The question is what you think about that.
What followed was an exchange that showed both the moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party and simultaneously the weakness of the traditional media even when they’re trying.
Stephanopoulos tried again. “You’re a senior member of the Republican Party. Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. He said last night again, suggested that he would be running for president, when Fox News asked him if he had a message for Vladimir Putin he said he had no message. Why can’t you condemn that? I feel quite confident that if Barack Obama or Joe Biden said something like that, you’d be first in line to criticize them.”
Cotton dodged again. “Again, George, if you want to talk to the former president about his views or his message, you can have him on your show. My message to Vladimir Putin is quite clear: He needs to leave Ukraine unless he wants to face moms and teenagers with Molotov cocktails, and grandmothers and grandfathers with AK-47s for years to come. I’m speaking on behalf of all Arkansans who want me to send that message to him.
Again, Tom, George is asking you about your views on Trump’s message. It’s not complicated. Also, Tom, your message to Putin is not actually your message. It’s the message of the people of Ukraine. Funny how you can pass along—or plagiarize—their message, but can’t offer a simple comment on whether you agree with the leader of your party.
Stephanopoulos changed his angle, though in totally the wrong way, asking, “If Donald Trump runs for president again, can you support him?” This allowed Cotton to get on his high horse about how he’s not thinking about future elections because “I’m focused on the naked war of aggression that Vladimir Putin has launched in Ukraine right now.” This would be a fair point if Cotton hadn’t already repeatedly dodged the real issue: Does he agree with the leader of his party’s assessment of Putin? If no—and Cotton's descriptions of Putin are extremely different from Trump’s—then what does he say about the disagreement? Since Cotton refused to answer that, Stephanopoulos defaulted to a horserace question—showing one of the weaknesses of having horserace questions as your default.
“Former President Trump was out there talking about it last night. I simply don't understand why you can’t condemn his praise of Vladimir Putin,” Stephanopoulos said, sounding defeated. There are ways he could have rephrased the question, though, rather than bashing his head against the same way, drawing the same dodge. Like, say, “Do you agree that Putin has been ‘smart’ and ‘savvy’?” Stephanopoulos is a very highly paid professional interviewer and all he could come up with was the question that his interviewee had clearly scripted a way to evade. That’s kind of pitiful.
But the fact that Cotton was so determined not to answer that specific question is also telling. It tells a story that’s been told many times already: The Republican Party belongs to Donald Trump, and its politicians like Cotton should never be treated as meeting basic minimums of honesty. Obviously many in the media still haven’t fully absorbed that. And unfortunately, this won’t help it get through to them, either.
