A prominent conservative and former Trump defender has blasted President Donald Trump for cozying up to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, warning that the administration’s latest concessions to Moscow should be “the last straw” for Republicans and Democrats alike.
Andrew C. McCarthy, who wrote a book in support of Trump in 2019 but later broke with the president following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, berated Trump’s largely failed “energy ceasefire,” which was announced on Sunday, as well as the administration’s decision to drop sanctions on Russian diesel.
The “reprehensible” diesel deal comes with “no concessions from Putin on Ukraine,” McCarthy wrote in an op-ed for the National Review.
“The Trump administration will waive sanctions against Russia (in likely violation of federal law) in exchange for a relatively trivial amount of Russian diesel fuel that would have negligible impact on sky-high diesel prices,” he continued.
Trump has tried to pin soaring global fuel prices on Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries—conveniently glossing over the far greater damage experts say his own war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have inflicted on energy markets, sending prices skyrocketing and forcing countries to drain their fuel reserves.
McCarthy also denounced the “energy ceasefire,” which has largely been ignored since Trump announced it on Truth Social on Oct. 11, as “rigged against Ukraine.”
Once the White House clarified that the ceasefire referred only to oil refineries, McCarthy argued it was clear Trump was choosing to side with Putin.
“As Trump officials knew, Ukraine has no operational oil refineries, Russia having bombed the last one four years ago,” he wrote.
McCarthy also accused the Kremlin of supporting the U.S. war with Iran by providing drones and intelligence, as well as cozying up to China. “Russia is a pillar of an anti-American axis led by China and joined by Iran and North Korea,” he wrote.
“While Trump embraces Putin, Putin aids and abets the ‘Death to America’ regime,” he continued.
McCarthy is not the only Republican voice to denounce Trump over the White House’s deference to Russia.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas blasted Trump’s actions as “reckless.”
“Putin is fanatically committed to restoring Russia’s glory days, calling the collapse of the Soviet Union ‘the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century’ and claiming Russia was ‘robbed’ in the breakup,” Cornyn wrote on X.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina was equally scathing, calling the decision to drop sanctions against Russia as “beyond irresponsible.”
“If the president wants to actually bring down energy prices, he can do it by solving the Iran problem,” he wrote on X. “Not by doing a solid for Vladimir Putin.”
