Courtesy of the “New York Times,” here’s a Pop Quiz.
BEE GONE: A POLITICAL PARABLE
There are two sets of quotes below about the murderous thug who’s the president of Russia. You have to figure out which things Trump has said and which Joe Biden has said.
Set A
Putin is “a butcher” for the relentless shelling of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine that Russian forces have demolished.
“I think he is a war criminal.”
Putin is “a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.”
“Putin has committed an assault on the very principles that uphold global peace. But now the entire world sees clearly what Putin and his Kremlin allies are really all about. It was always about naked aggression, about Putin’s desire for empire by any means necessary — by bullying Russia’s neighbors through coercion and corruption, by changing borders by force, and, ultimately, by choosing a war without a cause.”
Set B
“Putin contacted me and was so nice. He could not have been nicer. He was so nice and so everything. But you have to give him credit that what he’s doing for that country in terms of their world prestige is very strong. So smart.”
“Putin is a tough cookie who loves his country. The people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”
“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”
“So Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy. I know him very well. Very, very well.”