We are dramatically understating the threat Donald Trump and the MAGA movement pose to the security of the United States, Europe and the world.

It is time to move beyond the political spin offered by GOP propagandists and Internet trolls and acknowledge that Trump and the MAGA movement are today active assets of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, as essential to Russia’s future global ambitions as that country’s own armed forces.

It is time to remove from our analytical lexicon the terms that are commonly used to minimize the dangers associated with the Trump-MAGA-Putin alliance. After more than eight years of compiling evidence that demonstrates Russia’s efforts to co-opt the American right is perhaps the most successful intelligence operation of our time, we have to reject the transparent vocabulary of keyboard warriors that still cry “hoax” every time new and irrefutable evidence of GOP-Russia ties is presented.

In the past two weeks alone, there has been the evidence that the core of the GOP sham impeachment effort against President Biden turned on the testimony of a man with ties to Russian intelligence; Trump’s invitation to Putin to do “whatever the hell he wants” with Europe; the MAGA right’s decision to postpone further even considering aid to Ukraine; Tucker Carlson’s jaunt to Moscow to amplify the Kremlin’s lies about itself; the refusal of Trump to condemn the murder of Alexei Navalny in Russian prison; and the arrest of yet another American for no good reason in Russia.

It is time to reject terms that blur or weaken our sense of what is happening. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are not “defending Russia.” They are not “Putin apologists.” They are actively attacking U.S. and allied interests and putting America and our friends in grave danger. They are not “dumb” or “naïve”; they know exactly the consequences of their actions. They have been repeatedly told their efforts to delay Ukraine aid could lead to Kyiv’s defeat, to the death of thousands of innocent Ukrainians and to the potential for further Russian aggression in Europe—and via their actions, their response seems to be,........

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