For posterity, let’s put down what Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo have said about Putin and the Russian incursion into Ukraine:

Trump, on some wingnut radio show:

“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.

“I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna 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. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace all right.“

Pompeo:

Mike Pompeo has lauded the Russian strongman over the past month as a “talented,” “savvy,” “capable statesman,”

Putin is “very shrewd. Very capable,” Pompeo said in another recent interview with the Center for the National Interest. “I have enormous respect for him.“

What to chalk this up to? This strange, slavish devotion to strength and masculinity is so weird. Is this what Republican voters want to hear? Well…