Opinion – Paul Krugman: Ukraine deflates sexist myths of Trumpism

On August 29, Tucker Carlson of the Fox News TV network attacked President Joe Biden’s policy on Ukraine, stating, among other things, “By any real measure based on reality, Vladimir Putin is not losing the Ukraine War. . He is winning the Ukrainian War.” Carlson went on, incidentally, to claim that Biden is only supporting Ukraine because he wants to destroy the West.

Carlson’s timing was impeccable. Just a few days later, a large part of the Russian front near Kharkiv was defeated by a Ukrainian attack. It is important to note that Putin’s forces were not just repelled; appear to have been razed. As the Institute for the Study of War, an independent organization, reported, the Russians were driven into a “panic and disorderly retreat”, leaving behind “large amounts of equipment and supplies that the Ukrainian forces can use”.

The Russian meltdown appeared to validate analyzes by defense experts who have been saying for months that Western weapons are shifting the military balance in Ukraine’s favor, that Putin’s army is desperate for a lack of quality manpower and has been degraded by attrition and attacks by missiles in its rear. These analyzes suggested that Russian forces could eventually reach a breaking point, though few expected it to come so soon and so drastically.

In fairness to Carlson and other right-wing Putin supporters, they are not the only people who cling to illusions of Russian success. There is a whole school of self-styled “realists” who considered Ukrainian resistance to Russia futile and who, despite the failure of Putin’s initial attack, have spent the past six months urging Ukraine to make major concessions to Russia’s supposedly superior power.

But there’s something special about MAGA’s hug [Make America Great Again, o grupo apoiador de Donald Trump] to the mystique of Russian power: a worldview that effectively equates arrogance and arrogance. This worldview distorted the right’s perception not only of the Russian army, but also of how to address many other issues. And it’s worth asking where it comes from.

Many Republicans have long admired Putin — even before Donald Trump took over the Republican Party. In 2014, for example, Rudy Giuliani said of Putin, “That’s what you call a leader.” And Trump continued to praise Putin even after he invaded Ukraine.

So it’s not hard to see where MAGA’s right-wing admiration for Putinism comes from. After all, Putin’s Russia is autocratic, brutal and homophobic, with a personality cult built around its ruler. What’s not to like?

However, admiring a regime’s values ​​does not necessarily mean believing in its military prowess. As a center-left advocate of a strong social safety net – or, as Republicans would say, a Marxist (which, of course, I am not) – I hold Nordic welfare states such as Denmark in high regard. But I have no opinion on the effectiveness of the Danish army (yes, there is).

On the right, however, the approval of authoritarian regimes is entirely linked to claims about their military prowess. For example, last year Ted Cruz tweeted about a video comparing footage of a tough-faced, shaved-headed Russian soldier to a US Army recruiting video that featured a female corporal raised by two mothers. “Maybe a woken and neutered soldier isn’t the best idea,” Cruz said.

In fact, the US military is half woke in the sense that it is highly diverse and inclusive, encourages independent thinking and initiative on the part of junior officers, and is, at the highest levels, quite intellectual.

The Russian army, on the other hand, is definitely not woken. The recruits face brutal prank calls. According to Mark Hertling, former commander of US forces in Europe, it is full of “mafia-like” corruption and its officers are terrible.

The general point is that modern wars are not won by those who seem tough. Courage – which Ukrainians have shown in almost inconceivable abundance – is essential, but it doesn’t have much to do with bulging biceps. And bravery must go hand in hand with being smart and flexible, qualities the Russian army evidently lacks.

Did I mention that women make up more than a fifth of Ukraine’s military?

The importance of all these factors should be obvious. Modern warfare is like modern economics (with an added element of sheer terror, but still): success depends more on skill, knowledge, and openness to ideas than muscle strength. But the MAGA ethos is all about the exaltation of hard speech and the contempt for knowledge. (Sue Anthony Fauci!) The American right needed to see Putin as a leader who became powerful by rejecting liberal values; admitting that Russia has proved that it is not a great power would call into question the entire MAGA philosophy.

The result is that the war, while primarily a struggle for Ukrainian freedom, has also, strangely, become a front in America’s cultural and political wars.

There is increasing speculation about what will happen inside Russia if the invasion of Ukraine ends in total defeat. But you also have to ask yourself how the US right will handle the revelation that bullies sometimes end up losing.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves