'Putin Is Playing Trump Like A Fiddle': Republicans Turn On US President Over Ukraine

Republicans are starting to publicly turn on Donald Trump after the US president cosied up with wartime dictator, Vladimir Putin.

Trump shocked fellow Ukrainian allies when he agreed to temporarily lift sanctions against Russia so Moscow could supply America with its cheap oil exports last week.

It comes as Americans are expected to punish the Republican Party in the November midterm elections over the soaring cost of living worsened by Trump’s war against Iran. 

The president has also excused Russia’s brutal ongoing strikes against Ukraine, despite trying – and failing – to unilaterally call an energy ceasefire earlier this month.

Kyiv has accused the US administration of suspending its access to the essential Starlight satellite network, hindering its self-defence efforts, though the White House denies any such interference.

Republicans are now so concerned over Trump’s latest behaviour, they are publicly calling him out. 

Thom Tillis, Republican senator for North Carolina, said Putin was “playing Trump like a fiddle”.

Speaking to CNN, he said: “The Russians are lying. Putin is lying. Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle.

“And history is not going to look good on an America that failed to rise up and defend the western world if Putin actually gets his way.”

Tillis said he had witnessed the “devastation” in Ukraine’s war zones just last month.

“I saw what this murderer Vladimir Putin has ordered,” the senator noted. “I heard the stories about women being raped in front of their husbands and then their husbands being assassinated.

“I went to schools that are meeting in subways in Kharkiv because they can’t meet above ground. I talked to victims who escaped from Crimea, where they are basically brainwashing them into thinking they’re de-Nazifying Ukraine.

“It’s interesting when you consider that they have a Jewish president.”

Nebraska’s Republican representative Don Bacon also tore into Trump in a social media post, writing: “Trump is VERY WEAK on Putin.

“And VERY WEAK on Ukraine and democracy.

“Americans want better. Americans stand for Freedom. We oppose the dictator and hate the war criminal.”

Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, from Pennsylvania, slammed Trump,too – but without saying his name.

In a post on X, he said: “I will be assuring President Zelenskyy that anyone who attempts to limit the use of Starshield for Ukraine will be fully investigated and will be held fully accountable, to include public congressional oversight hearings, and immediate harsh and punitive budget cuts to any responsible agency or agency head.

“Congress will unequivocally reaffirm that Ukraine is an indispensable ally to the United States, that Russia is a self-declared enemy of the United States, and that the United States will 100% support and defend the people of Ukraine in their fight for their own freedom against this brutal, illegal, and unprovoked Russian invasion.”

Six prominent Republican senators also signed a public letter slamming Trump for his “betrayal” of Ukraine last week in a major shift from the previously overwhelming support for the president’s overseas actions.

“Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin’s murderous, illegal war,” the letter read.

“This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our allies; it should be rescinded.”

Tillis signed the letter along with Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, Maine’s Susan Collins, Oklahoma’s Alan Armstrong, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Texas’s John Cornyn.

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