Hey Lindsey Graham: Sometimes it’s better to keep ideas inside your head and not share everything that goes on in there.
Case in point: Probably not the best idea to be pushing notions of somebody assassinating the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, even though it’s obvious to the world that he’s a power-hungry, bloodthirsty war criminal and madman.
Ever heard of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914? His assassination is widely viewed as the trigger for World War I in which 20 million people died and 21 million were wounded. Twenty five years later, another madman — Adolf Hitler — led a blitzkrieg, or “lightning war,” into Poland that looks remarkably similar to Putin’s early strategy in Ukraine today.
So blithely opining in an interview that somebody ought to think about killing a madman — even though lots of people might be thinking that — doesn’t help in the least. And it telegraphs to the madman watching the American news that things might get worse, which could cause him to ratchet up things ever more and lead more people to die in Ukraine.
Senator Graham, you’re an acknowledged expert in foreign affairs and someone used to compromise. But this hasn’t been your best week. It’s great to be hawkish in support of Ukraine, but pipe down on Putin. Again, you don’t have to share every idea that comes into your head.
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