When It Comes Down To It, Russians Aren’t So Different Than Americans. And That’s Putin’s Problem

Earlier tonight I wrote that there were more than 150,000 Russians that took to the streets today to protest Putin’s decision to go into the Ukraine. Bit just now, on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, former Obama NSA advisor Ben Rhodes just added a whole new perspective.

Putin may be a moron, but he’s not like Trump, a totally self obsessed moron. Going into the invasion, Putin was already aware that it would be unpopular with the general population. And so Putin banned any protests against the military action. And still, more than 150,000 Russians risked being jailed or harassed. Arrests in Moscow alone were more than 900.

I wrote that Putin already domestic issues at home. His rule is not popular, and there have been massive protests after each of the last two elections. After he first poisoned, and then jailed dissident political figure Alexei Novalny, it only made the movement stronger.

But Rhodes did the work, and he burned the proverbial shoe leather. He reached out to many of his common everyday Russian contacts and friends to try to find out what was going on. These aren’t pro Putin people, or anti Putin people, just regular Russians he has met. And what he found was striking.

In this country, Joe Biden is a cat on a hot tin roof. Putin is invading the Ukraine, but he also has to deal with inflation, popularity, and a Supreme Court Justice pick. And all of that while he works on his SOTU speech for next week. And he has to worry about explaining the economy in a positive manner.

Putin is an autocrat, he doesn’t have to worry about popularity numbers. But when Rhodes talked to his Russian common people contacts, he found they’re no different than everyday Americans. Inflation is up, their pay is stagnant, utilities and fuel costs are rising. They want their President concentrating on fixing their domestic problems, and not on invading a peaceful neighboring country!

In other words, the Russian people want Putin to start acting more like Biden! They want Putin to pay attention to what he was allegedly elected to do, take care of the domestic problems Russia faces, and not fucking around invading basically friendly neighboring countries.

Stick a pin in this. The Russian economy was already in tatters, and the new sanctions are only going to make the problem worse. The Russian people have already shown that they are willing to rise up en masse to protest Putin and his policies. And if they keep doing it, and to greater effect, say a national strike, how long before the other major power brokers in Russia decide that Putin is too unstable to continue. Don’t touch that dial.