Rachel Maddow Ridicules The Mainstream Media For Praising Trump’s Russia Sanctions

Rachel Maddow scoffed at the media’s portrayal of the sanctions imposed on Russia by the Trump administration on Thursday, reminding them that this has been “the only action” taken against Russia by this president.

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The MSNBC host added that special counsel Robert Mueller also deserves credit for the new punishments on Russia given the fact that the administration essentially cut and pasted his recent indictments into the new sanctions.

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Maddow laughed off the mainstream media’s reporting:

All those people charged by Mueller and his team last month are now the subject of new U.S. sanctions against Russia in response to the Russian attack on our election. Lots of news coverage today described these sanctions as the most significant action taken against Russia since President Trump took office. Let the record show this is actually the only action taken against Russia since President Trump took office. There were the indictments from Mueller’s office a month ago and now those indictments have become sanctions. That’s it. That’s all they have done.

Mueller’s earlier indictment likely spurred the administration into action

While it’s appropriate for the United States to slap Russia with sanctions (it has been for awhile), the Trump administration basically had no choice but to impose them. As Rachel Maddow pointed out on Thursday, the sanctions were essentially a cut and paste job of Robert Mueller’s recent indictments.

In other words, even though Mueller isn’t crafting U.S. foreign policy, the charges brought by his special counsel investigation seem to be serving as the only defense America has against Russian attacks. They likely spurred what has been the only action taken against Moscow during the Trump presidency.

The sanctions are a step in the right direction, but it’s troubling that it took so long and that the president himself still doesn’t seem to have any interest in staking out a tough position against Russia – even after they waged an attack on our democracy, gassed a former Russian spy in the UK, and continue to violate international laws elsewhere.

The administration’s actions Thursday weren’t just too little and too late, but they’re not even close to the U.S. retaliation that Russia should be seeing.

Sean Colarossi

Sean 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.