It’s a rare occasion when a New York Post front page could be posted as the cover photo for a Daily Kos diary. But this is the front page of the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid for April 21, 2024, a day after the House passed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine.
And the actual story about the House passage of the overall $95.3 billion aid package was far from fair and balanced when it came to “Moscow Marjorie.” In fact, it is even worth linking to the story. Just look at the framing of the lead paragraph, particularly the use of the word “putsch.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Saturday crushed a putsch by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Republican rebels — pushing through a $95.3 billion aid package that funds the fight against Russia, the defense of Israel and resistance against China.
Lawmakers in a rare bipartisan effort overwhelmingly approved the four-bill package, including one measure providing $60.8 billion for Ukraine.
The Post story went on to emphasize that the Ukraine aid package passed 311-112, with all the “nay” votes coming from Republicans, “including Greene who was hailed as `Moscow Marjorie’ by members of both major political parties.”
The Post then offered some examples:
“Putin’s Special Envoy to Congress already delivering for Mother Russia,” quipped Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) afterward.
He was responding to a social media post by Greene saying, “Mike Johnson’s House of Representatives so proud to work for Ukraine. Not the American people!!! It’s despicable!
Here’s the exchange on X. Greene’s comment included a brief video of Democratic House members waving small Ukrainian flags after the passage of the Ukraine aid package.
Moskowitz had earlier trolled Greene by filing an amendment to the Ukraine aid package that called for her to be appointed “Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”
That came after Greene had introduced a series of her own amendments that echoed Russian propaganda points, including prohibiting funding for Ukraine until it “holds free and fair elections,” “stops persecuting Christians,” “closes all bio-laboratories,” and “turns over all information related to Hunter Biden and Burisma.”
And then to balance Moskowitz’s comments, the Post quoted former Republican Rep. Ken Buck, who resigned from the House last month. “Former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Co.) a day earlier told CNN ‘Moscow Marjorie has reached a new low. … She is just mouthing Russian propaganda.’”
Here’s the a video of the CNN interview with Buck, who first appears at the 3-minute mark, and the discussion turns to “Moscow Marjorie” at the six-minute mark when the host shows clips from Russian TV propagandists praising Greene.
Buck actually went even further in the interview, recalling that during the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin referred to American journalists “who were writing glowing reports about Russia at the time as ‘useful idiots.’”
“I don’t think that Marjorie even reaches that level of being a useful idiot here. She is just mouthing Russian propaganda and really hurting American foreign policy in the process. She’s acting completely irresponsibly.”
The Post then quoted House Speaker Mike Johnson as telling reporters that the foreign aid package is desperately needed because “it’s a dangerous time” for Americans.
“Three of our primary adversaries, Russia, Iran, and China are working together … and they’re a global threat to our prosperity and our security,” he said. “Their advance threatens the free world, and it demands American leadership.”
The story emphasized that the majority of House Republicans backed Johnson’s plans—with the exception of Ukraine aid—despite threats by Greene and other far-right lawmakers to oust him as speaker if he pushed the package through the House.
And it further noted that Trump “hasn’t criticized Johnson’s efforts despite opposing most overseas aid for Ukraine.”
So what can we read between the lines?
The Post story did make clear that CIA Director William Burns had warned that without additional U.S. military aid, Ukraine could lose the war by the end of the year because it’s “running out of ammunition.” By the way, this warning came in a speech Burns made Thursday at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
So maybe Murdoch and others have realized that it’s time to rein in Greene and her fellow travelers in the most extreme pro-Putin wing of the GOP. Any hopes of Republicans retaining control of the House would go up in smoke if the Russians were breaking through Ukrainian defenses in the weeks before the election.
And even Trump—who always does what he believes to be in his own best interests—wouldn’t back Greene’s threat to oust Johnson. Trump threw a lifeline to Johnson when the two met at Mar-a-Lago on April 12 when he declared that the speaker is doing a “very good job.”
Trump was obviously preoccupied with the start of his criminal trial in New York. But he toned down his resistance to the Ukraine aid package as indicated in a comment on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday. Trump wrote:
Why isn’t Europe giving more money to help Ukraine? Why is it that the United States is over $100 Billion Dollars into the Ukraine War more than Europe, and we have an Ocean between us as separation! Why can’t Europe equalize or match the money put in by the United States of America in order to help a Country in desperate need? As everyone agrees, Ukrainian Survival and Strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! GET MOVING EUROPE!
Trump also repeated the canard that the war in Ukraine wouldn’t have started if he were president.
Of course, Trump has indicated that if elected he would end the war in Ukraine by forcing Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Russia. And Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orban, who visited Mar-a-Lago last month, claimed Trump told him that he will force the war to end because “he will not give a penny” to help Ukraine.
But even Trump realizes that Greene’s antics could hurt his election prospects. So it’s better to bide his time because he’s got more pressing matters to deal with in the courtroom right now.
And let’s give the last word to Lindsey Graham, who supports military aid to Ukraine, but is a Trump sycophant. He had the audacity to say this on Fox News about the Ukraine aid package: “This wouldn’t have passed without Donald Trump.”