‘He’s a war criminal’

The term conservative has become synonymous with being a Republican but has lost its meaning as an ideological foundation. The beginnings of the work to reclaim the name of conservatism took place at the Principles First Summit last month. The purpose of the two-day conference was to refresh memories of the intrinsic qualities of the conservative ideological movement, discuss and debate ideas, highlight those who had not forgotten those ideals, and dedicate ourselves to the values and principles that we true conservatives stand for. The focus was on looking to the future and not looking back. Naysayers will declare that the summit was just a small group of “Republicans in Name Only.” Perhaps. As Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” That small group of thoughtful, committed, principled citizens is growing. The first summit took place in February 2020. There were 300 in attendance. This year, 500, who traveled from near and far, filled the room of the National Press Club in Washington. If the conservative thought movement is going to reclaim its identity and name again, it will start this way. With a group of principled individuals who gather for an exchange of ideas, knowing what they are for and not just what they are against, who recognize their statesmen and heroes, who prefer to not worship idols, and who go on to change the world. —Lynn Schmidt, Renew America Movement Fellow

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• Former Trump aide Steve Bannon tells followers to ‘take down the illegitimate Biden regime’ —Independent

Make Russia great again

If you closed your eyes, you might have thought for just a moment that you were somewhere else. It was a familiar scene last night, with red, white, and blue flags, nationalistic songs, wild chants and enthusiasm for the autocratic leader on the stadium stage. There was even a Bible quote from the leader: “There is no greater love than giving up one’s soul for one’s friends.” But this wasn't a MAGA rally. And the center of attention wasn't a former U.S. president but the current president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, using the Gospel in a sickening attempt to justify his bloody war against Ukraine. —Associated Press

• Russia stands alone. Putin’s appearance celebrated the anniversary of the 2014 invasion of Crimea. It was an otherwise dismal week for him. The International Court of Justice ordered him to suspend the invasion, and the 47-nation Council of Europe expelled Russia from the continent’s foremost human rights body as of Wednesday. —Associated Press

• A heroic address from Zelensky. Putin also couldn’t have been thrilled by the standing ovation Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received after addressing Congress on Wednesday, pleading for more help in his country’s fight. “There are a whole range of things we can do and we should do to make sure that we are providing support for the Ukrainians in this battle, and I think you will see bipartisan support for those things. It is not a partisan issue,” Renewer Rep. Liz Cheney said afterwards. —Wyoming News Now

• “Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime.” Putin also was called a “war criminal” by President Biden this week. Secretary of State Antony Blinken concurs. "Yesterday, President Biden said that, in his opinion, war crimes have been committed in Ukraine. Personally, I agree," he said in a press conference at the State Department. Blinken also warned that as the second phase of the war rolls out, he expects the desperate and isolated leader to stage chemical attacks, meaning more suffering for the Ukrainian people, who’ve already endured tremendous pain and loss. —The Hill

MORE: Frida Ghitis: Putin’s friends in Latin America are abandoning him —World Politics Review

Fighting the disinfo battle

Disinformation has always been one of Russia’s tools of choice in battle, and in the war against Ukraine, it's no different. What separates now from the past is the number of stateside “useful idiots,” like Divider Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and others, who are openly adopting Russian talking points. And of course, the technology has improved. Take, for example, the recent “deepfake” video that appeared to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing his surrender to Russia’s invasion. The biggest challenge of all, however, continues to be social media. —Wired

• Social media is trying. The good news is that efforts by Facebook and YouTube to curb Russian disinfo are having some positive impact. In the first four days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, viewership of more than a dozen Russian state-backed propaganda channels on YouTube and two dozen media channels backed by the Russian government on Facebook spiked to unusually high levels. Just a couple of weeks later, traffic dropped to zero after YouTube blocked the channels globally, and Facebook instituted a ban in Europe. —The Washington Post

• Going after Gen Z. An investigation by VICE News has uncovered a coordinated campaign to pay Russian TikTok influencers to post videos pushing pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine. A secret Telegram channel directs these influencers on what to say, where to capture videos, what hashtags to use, and when to post the video. The campaigns have involved many of the highest-profile influencers on TikTok, some with more than a million followers. —Vice News

• An overwhelming problem. A study released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate examined a sample of 3,593 recent articles posted by Russian state news sources and found Facebook was failing to label 91% of the posts as state-sponsored. “Despite their stated policies, many of these platforms are not labeling disinformation and propaganda appropriately, and that’s a big problem,” said Heidi Beirich, an expert on rightwing extremism at the non-profit Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. —The Guardian

MORE: U.S. soldiers alive, despite Russia 'fake news' report, U.S. military says —Reuters

Fairbanks: Russia’s propaganda war 

“Russian TV peddles lies—both of commission and omission. Russian TV accuses Ukrainians not only of genocide but of other sins, too, such as trying to acquire nuclear weapons with America’s help. Never mind that Ukraine handed all the nuclear weapons in its possession back to Russia in 1996 after it received security assurances from that country as well as from the U.S. and UK. Russia is also accusing Ukraine of preparing for biowar, again with America’s backing. Russian documentaries constantly remind viewers about Ukrainian cooperation with Germans in 1918 and, subsequently, the Nazis. This last part is not completely false, but the rest is.” —Charles Fairbanks on The UnPopulist

Charles Fairbanks is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. In 2006, he founded a liberal education program at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia.

MORE: Visual explainer: Russian disinformation —Voice of America

Wilson: The unity won’t last 

“Not long ago, the two parties worked together to face down, contain, and repudiate Russian aggression and Moscow’s oppression of free peoples. From Truman to Eisenhower, from JFK to Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the Soviets respected American resolve. A few Republicans might yet hear the call to that unity in the face of Putin’s war, aware that Biden is leading the fight about the shape of the world in the coming century. But if you think the majority of today’s GOP will leave politics at the water’s edge much longer, think again.” —Rick Wilson in The Washington Post

Rick Wilson is a former Republican political strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project.

MORE: Divider Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz among eight Republicans to vote against suspending trade relations with Russia —Independent

Focus on voting and elections 

It's official. Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is under investigation for alleged voter fraud by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations. The irony couldn't be more rich. He was one of several Trump allies who pressed senior Justice Department officials to investigate baseless conspiracy theories in a challenge to the 2020 election results. The probe comes after The New Yorker reported that Meadows registered to vote in September 2020 using an address he never even visited, let alone resided at. Stay tuned. —Axios

• Georgia. The Republican-controlled Georgia State House on Tuesday night passed a sweeping elections bill that would give the Georgia Bureau of Investigations the power to initiate election fraud allegations, work that is currently overseen by state election officials. It also would allow public inspection of original paper ballots and make other changes to election procedures in the key battleground state. The bill now heads to the Georgia Senate. —CNN

• Vermont. A setback for ranked-choice voting in Vermont this week. Among a flurry of recent legislation was a late push to adopt RCV statewide. Bill S.229 aimed to have ranked-choice ballots in the hands of voters by the 2024 primary, but Secretary of State Jim Condos, a proponent of RCV, said the timeline was unrealistic given how busy his office is with midterm elections. The bill failed to go to a vote in committee. RCV fared better in California, where a San Bernardino charter committee established an independent redistricting commission starting in 2030, and adopted RCV for city elections. —MyChamplainValley.com

• Wisconsin. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Wednesday had a closed-door meeting with roughly two dozen election deniers. They asked him to decertify the 2020 election in Wisconsin by overruling the slate of 10 electors that represented the state in the Electoral College—a move even Vos says is impossible and illegal. However, he's not opposed to overturning elections. He advised them to elect a Republican governor and attorney general that will sign GOP election bills into law and pursue fraudulent claims of “voting irregularities.” Ugh. —Channel 3000

MORE: Texas quickly shows the impact GOP voting restrictions can have —The Washington Post

Snyder: America is at a crossroads 

“One of two things will happen in a democratic society in which much of the political class has become unrepresentative of the values of a majority of the population. Either the society sees the deterioration of democracy, a fall into one or another form of authoritarianism, or it witnesses a renewal, a rebirth of appreciation of and fidelity to the spirit and the essential processes of democracy.” —Craig Snyder on Broad + Liberty

Craig Snyder was the chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and serves as the Pennsylvania Political Lead for the Renew America Movement. 

MORE: Where does American democracy go from here? —The New York Times

Perhaps Putin's biggest gamble in attacking Ukraine was that Western democracies would not dare to take him on directly—and so far he has been right on that count. The West makes a lot of noise about its sanctions, its unity, and its resolve, but Russian troops continue to advance across Ukraine. It may be taking them longer than first anticipated, but still they continue to roll on. 

At what point does the West determine that economic actions and armaments to Ukrainians will not stop this abomination? When the Ukrainian body count reaches a certain number? When Ukrainian refugees overwhelm the resources of friendly countries? When Russian troops reach the Polish or Romanian borders? I hope someone in authority is thinking through this, because Putin is showing no apparent signs of feeling the war-ending pain that Biden likes to talk about. —Paul G., Utah

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff, the Renew America Movement, or the Renew America Foundation.