The Accused Russian Agent as Trump Republican
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/artic...ump-republican
In a Republican Party where many are still wary of gangster politics, Butina chose her targets well. The gun militants of the NRA and the Christian militants of the religious right are Trump’s most unflinching supporters and pillars of the GOP’s authoritarian-racial wing. Those who are not already fans of Putin’s racist, homophobic, macho and militaristic Mother Russia are increasingly Putin-curious.
Putin clearly sees the potential for transnational white Christian solidarity. Dozens of Russians attended the most recent National Prayer Breakfast in February. As the New York Times reported:
In 2013, Bryan Fischer, then a spokesman for the American Family Association, called Mr. Putin a “lion of Christianity.” In 2014, Franklin Graham — the politically influential evangelist and vocal Trump supporter — defended Mr. Putin for his efforts “to protect his nation’s children from the damaging effects of any gay and lesbian agenda,” even as he lamented that Americans have “abdicated our moral leadership.” In December 2015, Mr. Graham met privately with Mr. Putin for 45 minutes.
Butina didn’t camouflage her Putin connections in courting the NRA. She flaunted them. She worked as an assistant to Alexander Torshin, a Putin crony, oligarch and high-ranking member of United Russia, who had already been welcomed into the NRA’s embrace with a lifetime membership and social engagements with NRA leaders – despite credible allegations that he is has connections to organized crime.