Tillis is obviously not a fan of Putin:
>>>“I’m a Republican,” Tillis said. “I support President Trump and I believe that most of his policies on national security are right. I believe things are pretty good. But what I’m telling you, whoever believes that there is any space for Vladimir Putin and the future of a stable globe, better go to Ukraine, they better go to Europe, they better invest the time to understand that this man is a cancer and the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.” . . .
“(Putin) decides to allow, under orders, Russian military to go into a community of about 200,000 people — that’s roughly the size of the community I live in in North Carolina, just north of Charlotte,” Tillis said. “Imagine what they’re doing: they’re going through the city, and indiscriminately, when somebody walks past them, shooting them, sometimes with 50-caliber weapons and tank armor, murdering them, stacking them up in mass graves. I went to the site.” Tillis stood in front of a poster board with a photo of one of the graves to solidify his message. His voice cracked as he spoke.<<<
Many other GOP senators are criticizing Putin, but waffling. Grassley is an exception.
>>>Sen. Chuck Grassley was strong in his rebuke of Putin when asked about Trump’s statement calling Zelenskyy a dictator, claiming that it was the Russian president who could claim that title.
“Putin's a dictator. Putin is a murderer because he has his political opponents murdered. He is a kidnapper. He's an international criminal. That speaks for what we're dealing with when we deal with Russia,” Grassley said.<<<
Republican senators went to great lengths to avoid bashing President Donald Trump's comments on Ukraine but they didn't hold back on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
abcnews.go.com
Based on the abcnews article, there is, however, only one GOP senator that seems to be all in on Trump's Ukraine/Russia position.
>>>The only GOP senator to seemingly offer both support for Trump and the premise of his statements on Ukraine and Russia was Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt.
“I think President Trump, on behalf of the American people, is trying to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. He talked about it a lot on the campaign trail. He said he wanted to bring peace. The war has gone on long enough, and I think he's going to deliver on that," Schmitt said. "So how do we get there? I trust President Trump. He's a master negotiator, and I think he's going to get to a lasting peace.”<<<
Assuming all Democratic senators oppose Trump's position, Trump's support in the Senate appears to be 1 out of 100 (if the wafflers are not included). I doubt that will have any influence on Trump, of course.
