Rachel Maddow praised former Vice President Joe Biden’s tough stand against Russia on Monday, saying it’s a sign that if the former VP wins in November, the United States will again have a president who holds foreign adversaries accountable.“Dream of competent, uncompromised governance that stands up for our sovereignty against foreign countries that are trying to eat our democracy,” Maddow said. “Dream big!”The MSNBC host also pointed out that Biden’s line in the sand against Vladimir Putin will put Republicans in a corner.“What about Republican candidates, Republican senators, Republican members of the House? Do they agree?” Maddow asked. “I mean, do they think we should try to protect ourselves from this stuff and punish countries that do it to us?”“Interesting test for the Republican party after this much Trump,” she added.Video:Rachel Maddow says that Joe Biden threw down the gauntlet when it comes to Russia, and she explains how it will put Republicans in an awkward position. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/CXkpn7oBWC— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) July 21, 2020Maddow said:Former vice president Joe Biden tonight throwing down the gauntlet as to how he will respond as president against Russia or any other foreign country if they try to interfere with our election this time like they did in 2016. Now, I think a couple things are interesting here to me. One thing that stands out is the list of examples he gives of the ways that foreign countries might interfere. It’s pretty detailed and interesting: hackers, trolls, money launderers, misinformation to subvert or cast doubt on our elections, hacking voting systems and databases, laundering money into our political system, systemically spreading disinformation, trying to sow doubt about the integrity of our elections. Imagine if we had a whole of government response to try to stop all of that right? To actually investigate it and punish it when it happened. Dream big. Dream of competent, uncompromised governance that stands up for our sovereignty against foreign countries that are trying to eat our democracy. Dream big! … Today, it seems possible, dream about competent, uncompromised governance. … What about Republican candidates, Republican senators, Republican members of the House? Do they agree? I mean, do they think we should try to protect ourselves from this stuff and punish countries that do it to us? It was not long ago at all that basically all mainstream Republicans would have agreed with every single word of this from Biden, but this is kind of a test, right? After this many years of Trump, can Republicans still say so? Can they still say that foreign interference in our election is something that we not tolerate, we will retaliate against, we will make sure nobody gets away with it. Interesting test for the Republican party after this much Trump.Biden reminds America what it sounds like to stand up to RussiaDonald Trump has spent the past three and a half years bowing down to Vladimir Putin after he helped him defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.In 2018, Trump sold out to Putin on the world stage by siding with Russia over his own intelligence community. More recently, it was revealed that Russia was paying to have U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan – and Trump has done nothing about it.After nearly four long years of Trump selling out to the Kremlin, it’s refreshing to hear a potential American president stand up to a foreign adversary.It’s a clear sign that if and when Joe Biden becomes president, the days of Russia having a puppet in the Oval Office will be over.Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and TwitterSean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
