Along with his co-hosts for Showtime's The Circus, MSNBC’s John Heilemann traveled over to CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night to falsely claim in a twisted train of thought that Republicans and the 2016 election are to blame for Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the moment to weaken President Biden because he wants to see Donald Trump to win in 2024.
Despite acknowledging Putin’s history of waging war before 2016, Heilemann couldn’t resist getting in his partisan attacks: “Starting before 2016, Vladimir Putin decided he was going to engage in a systematic campaign of misinformation, disinformation, to try to divide the American people, and sow distrust, division within the Republican Party, within our country. He got Donald Trump elected, or helped get Donald Trump elected. And now we have a more divided country than we've ever had before.”
After criticizing Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) for their recent characterizations of Putin and the crisis, Heilemann declared, “But it's also what Putin wanted and it’s what he planned and to come back to the politics of this, Vladimir Putin has a lot of things on his mind: land in Europe, his place in history, but also American domestic politics.”
Still, he added in a contorted claim that the war represents “a test of Joe Biden, and there's no doubt Vladimir Putin would rather see Donald Trump back in the White House in 2024 than Joe Biden be there, and if he could weaken Biden in this process, it's another win for him. He’s been winning over and over again.”
Not only was Heilemann divisive in decrying division, but his point didn’t even make sense. Putin didn’t need a divided America in order to invade Ukraine and, more importantly, he didn't launch an all-out war against Ukraine during the Trump years. So, if Trump is a Russian agent, would Heilemann's argument then call for Putin to put Trump in power first?
And, more broadly, wasn’t the point of Biden’s candidacy to unite the country?
This segment was sponsored by Applebee’s. Their contact information is linked.
Here is a transcript for the February 23 show:
CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
02/24/2022
12:29 AM ETJOHN HEILEMANN: Starting before 2016, Vladimir Putin decided he was going to engage in a systematic campaign of misinformation, disinformation, to try to divide the American people, and sow distrust, division within the Republican Party, within our country. He got Donald Trump elected, or helped get Donald Trump elected. And now we have a more divided country than we've ever had before, and we have a Republican Party where Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, that senator who shook his fist —
MARK MCKINNON: John Kennedy.
HEILEMANN: No, the guy -- the guy from Missouri with the little tiny bird — bird hands.
JENNIFER PALMIERI: Josh — Josh — Hawley.
HEILEMANN: The bird-handed insurrectionist —
HEILEMANN AND MCKINNON: Josh Hawley.
HEILEMANN: They're all out there kinda — they’re all out there saying at this moment when Putin is thinking about launching a war that will kill hundreds of thousands of people, "He's really clever. He's formidable. He's doing something really smart here." That is in — that is just exactly — I was going to say insane, immoral, horrible. But it's also what Putin wanted and it’s what he planned and to come back to the politics of this, Vladimir Putin has a lot of things on his mind: land in Europe, his place in history, but also American domestic politics. And this is a test of Joe Biden, and there's no doubt Vladimir Putin would rather see Donald Trump back in the White House in 2024 than Joe Biden be there, and if he could weaken Biden in this process, it's another win for him. He’s been winning over and over again.
