Yes, the groupthink is strong for this Ukraine stuff, perhaps even more than COVID.
I think part of it is that FR tends to skew toward an older population. A population that grew up under the mindset of the cold war where Russia/Soviet Union = bad.
That makes them easy targets for what the Democrats are trying to do with this to save themselves in the midterms. They are falling for it all.
There are plenty of us older types that see the intense gaslighting propaganda as you do, and agree.
I could replay that the younger generation’s unfamiliarity with the Cold War and even WWII and WWI that I heard about from my parents and grandparents means they have no understanding of geopolitics.