Calm down, raising the “Putinista” card on me is beneath you. I made bashing Putinists cool!
But bottom line, you have to pick the best candidates you have. The GOP and its “conservatives” are Free traders who don’t understand Russia or China any better. Cruz’s wife in fact worked for a free trader so maniacle he is described as, well, “a Pro-China maniac.” That’s true for all of them.
Do I like Trump’s statements on Putin? No, but then I don’t expect Trump to be a foreign policy expert, and support a candidate based on numbering the benefits against the costs.
You should realize if you’re against Putin that just as Putin re-positioned himself from communism to ultra-nationalism to stay viable, Trump re-positioned himself from Clintonism to populism to be able to fool conservatives and run as a Republican for president. I get it if you’re for a vain US blowhards but not for foreign ones. I get it if you’re for cynical self-serving frauds, like Trump. But you’re not able to say that the similarities are not there. They have even grown into a mutual admiration society in recent weeks. Undeniable. See what you want, but it’s true.