Putin and Republicans share a common purpose.

[Garrett78]

While it's likely that Putin's Russia has dirt on various Republicans, including Trump of course, some of the posts I read about Putin and Republicans seem to be overlooking a key aspect. The Republican goal for the last 5 decades has been to undermine the effectiveness of and trust in the US government. That's also Putin's goal.

Republicans seek super-individualism and super-privatization, an end to any notion of there being a commons, an end to collectivism. The Powell Memo helped get the ball rolling.

Key to that, of course, is denying or ignoring injustices, including any notion that past injustices could possibly continue to impact the present. This ideology has a natural ally in white supremacy, as well as male supremacy.

[Trust Buster]

1. Utter nonsense. The Republican Party exists by doing the bidding of corporations in return for

Campaign contributions. They help corporations achieve monopolistic powers and socialize losses. A Dem SHOULD NEVER claim that Republicans are about “super-individualism”. It simply IS NOT true.

[arthritisR_US]

2. Both yours and the OP view are not mutually exclusive.

[Trust Buster]

3. Yeah, sure......LOL

[Garrett78]

5. Exactly.

Because what those corporations want is deregulation, privatization and to do away with any notion of the commons or collective responsibility.

[Garrett78]

6. Doing the bidding of corporations is about...

...extreme privatization, doing away with any notion of the commons, denying social responsibility, etc. Resulting in massive profits, environmental degradation and a populace with no safety net.

Corporate welfare, yes. Individual welfare, hell no. It takes a village? Nope, just a pair of bootstraps and a church.

Anyway, the point is that Putin and Republicans have a joint goal of undermining the effectiveness of and trust in the US government.

[DFW]

4. I have long held that the Republicans' idol is not Abraham Lincoln, but Josef Stalin

A ruthless strong leader with a personality cult, whose small sycophantic elite controls everything (press, economy, production, culture, police, morals, etc.), squashes all dissent, holds sham elections that they always win, and tolerates (and suppresses reports of) any and all excesses if committed by their own minions. The Soviet States of America.