Since the last months of the second Bush term, it seems that the Republicans' feelings toward Russia have been about as complicated as the US relationship with Russia itself. In the last primary that has only exacerbated, especially during the RNC speeches when any comments made about Russia were resoundingly negative. Yet, Trump has diverted so much from party orthodoxy on the issue going as far as to
explicitly praise Russia and Putin, both before and after the convention, and embracing their annexation of Crimea, despite so many figureheads in the GOP (not necessarily on the #NeverTrump bandwagon) undisturbed by his rhetoric.
Beyond Trump, we've entered a world where both major US political parties seem to be competing with each other, politically and rhetorically, for who can be tougher on Russia. Obviously dissecting Trump's beliefs is a pointless exercise, but what are we to make of the consensus (or lack thereof) for the Republicans who seemingly dodge this issue and refuse to tackle this huge discrepancy within their own party, Trump notwithstanding? Where are they to go from "evil empire" to Bush "looking into Putin's eyes" to "Obama's too soft on Russia" to the doublethink they have now? Where are Republicans to criticize Obama on his Russian policy when they seemingly not know where they themselves stand on the matter?
And on that, assuming Trump wins this year (not likely at this point, but still very possible) and keeps his word on Russia and embraces a more tender relationship with Putin, how will this affect the GOP as a whole while Democrats inevitably trek to Mitt Romney's much less accommodating attitude toward Russia?
