The simple explanation for Donald Trump’s pro-Putin twaddle

Once upon a time Republicans routinely accused Democrats of being soft on Russia. Irving Kristol, writing in Commentary in 1952, famously allowed that Joseph McCarthy was a ‘vulgar demagogue’ but emphasised that ‘there is one thing that the American people know about Senator McCarthy: he, like them, is unequivocally anti-Communist. About the spokesmen for American liberalism, they feel they know no such thing.’ It seems likely that the grand old man of neoconservatism might well rub his eyes in disbelief were he to observe the ideological somersault that has taken place in the 2016 presidential race. Hillary Clinton, whose myrmidons hope that bashing Moscow will deflect attention from her fresh round of Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner-inspired FBI email woes, is preening herself on her tough stance toward Vladimir Putin, while Donald Trump, who never misses a chance to extol the Russian president, stands accused of being in cahoots with the Kremlin.