Idaho newspaper editorial slams state lieutenant governor for embracing the GOP’s 'Putin wing'

At the 2022 America First Political Action Conference — slammed by critics as organizer Nick Fuentes’ white nationalist alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference — one of the far-right Republican speakers was Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. And the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board calls her out for it in an editorial published on March 1.

The 2022 America First Political Action was appalling not only because Fuentes is a white nationalist and a Holocaust denier, but also because Fuentes opened the event by praising Russian President Vladimir Putin at a time when Russian troops are engaged in a bloody invasion of Ukraine. Fuentes told the crowd, “Can we give a round of applause for Russia?” before attendees started chanting, “Putin, Putin, Putin” in solidarity with the Russian strongman.

Other far-right MAGA Republicans who spoke at the event included Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona. McGeachin, like Greene, is upset that she is being criticized for speaking at an event led by a white nationalist and a Holocaust denier who is applauding Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

McGeachin tweeted, “The media wants us to play a guilt-by-association game where conservatives (and only conservatives) are accused of believing everything ever said by anyone with whom they share a stage. Don’t tell me what I believe. Listen to my words.”

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, in contrast, tweeted, “As Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling. All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now.”

The Idaho Statesman’s editorial board wholeheartedly agrees with Cheney, arguing that Idaho Republicans — including McGeachin — need to reject the GOP’s “Putin wing.”

“Might this finally be the breaking point for Republicans like U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo and U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, who have sat quietly by during the Trump era, enduring the quid pro quo that the former president demanded of Ukraine in exchange for dirt on then-candidate Joe Biden by withholding military aid?” the Statesman’s editorial board writes. “They held their tongues during the Helsinki speech in which Trump took the side of Putin over the U.S. intelligence community when Trump diverted congressionally-approved funds from the military to build the border wall, and during Trump’s desperate attempt to hold on to office by claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen. They stayed silent as they watched the end result of those claims: the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, into which they voted against an investigation.”

The Statesman’s editorial board goes on to say that the GOP is in a sorry state if Republicans are afraid to openly criticize Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine.

“Are Republicans now faced with the prospect of being pushed into supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or risk losing the votes of the lunatic fringe of the party?” the Statesman’s editorial board writes. “Is this what some Republicans have to do in order to stave off a primary challenge from a fringe Trump supporter? It’s way past time for reasonable Republicans to take back their party, disavow these extremists and distance themselves from the ‘Putin wing of the GOP,’ who are trying to take over.”

The editorial board continues, “If you lose the votes of those people and you lose your precious seat in Congress, so be it. At least your grandchildren will know that you were on the right side of history — and that you weren’t on the same team as the bad guys.”