Americans my age or younger were brought up on a steady diet of TV shows which portrayed the police as selfless public heroes. As a result, there was never any chance that the police were going to be “defunded.” The very slogan was a priceless gift to the political right even before the current spike in violent crime.
The emerging problem for the openly pro-Putin “new right,” however, is that those same TV viewers were brought up to believe that the Russians were an existential threat to our civilization. Stomping into Ukraine and killing lots of civilians isn’t going to change that opinion at all. Americans of both parties are going to rally around Ukraine. That isn’t good news for Trump and Carlson.
If there is an invasion, Ukraine is going to be a wedge issue in the election. It will be particularly interesting to see what, if anything, Kevin McCarthy says. He has openly and consistently sided with the extreme right in an effort to, as he sees it, maintain party unity. What will he do when the bulk of his party sides with Biden against Trump and Carlson on Ukraine?
I’m guessing he will change the subject and hope the issue goes away before November.