‘This is genocide’

In an era when breathless, apocalyptic predictions about all manner of threats, both real and imagined, litter traditional and social media, legitimate warnings can get lost in the morass—or dismissed as just more sensationalism. That's the problem we face now. There have always been radicals on the fringes of our national politics, but now, they're on the cusp of taking over. RAM has identified hundreds of radicals running for federal, state, and local offices across the country this year. They are building an anti-democracy coalition that can steer America toward autocracy and ultimately overturn elections. If we don’t take the threat seriously, this Conspiracy Caucus could become a deciding factor in American politics. That’s why RAM is fighting back, by mobilizing the “Sensible Center”—a cross-partisan coalition to defend democracy and support principled leaders from all sides. This is the only way to create our own powerful caucus in Congress, one that isn't beholden to demagogues or demands of partisan allegiance. Just a handful of principled leaders can force Congress—and our politics as a whole—back from the extremist brink. —Mike Ongstad, Communications Director, Renew America Movement

Ed. Note: How can ordinary citizens reform our political system to make it work better for everyone? Dr. Sondra Cosgrove, executive director of Vote Nevada, answers that question on the next RAM Chat, tomorrow, April 6, at 2p ET. Join us!

• Ivanka Trump testifies before Jan. 6 panel —Associated Press

• House committee advances contempt motion against Navarro and Scavino —CBS News

• Collins, Murkowski, Romney help break deadlock on Jackson’s nomination —The Hill

• Fred Upton, Republican who voted to impeach Trump, retiring from House seat —CNN

• With Obama looking on, White House to open ACA plans to more families —The Washington Post

Russians killed Ukrainians ‘just for their pleasure’

A beleaguered but resilient Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the United Nations Security Council today, days after evidence from the Ukrainian town of Bucha indicated that Russian forces “directly targeted” civilians, killing at least 300 of them. Graphic images of bodies in the streets, made public by human rights groups and independent journalists, prompted President Biden to say yesterday, "You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. You saw what happened in Bucha...he is a war criminal."

While it remains to be seen whether Vladimir Putin would face a war crimes trial, there have been other ramifications for Russia’s atrocities. Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and Spain have expelled Russian diplomats. The U.S. and European Commission have proposed more sanctions on Russia, including a ban on coal imports. And Zelensky has implored the UN to expel Russia from the Security Council, saying that if it remains, “Where is the security?” —Al Jazeera

• "There will be accountability and justice for this brutality.” The U.S. also will seek Russia's suspension from the UN’s Human Rights Council. "My message to those 140 countries who have courageously stood together is: the images out of Bucha and devastation across Ukraine require us to now match our words with action,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, referring to the more than 140 countries that voted in early March to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. —Axios

• “We believe that our job is to support the Ukrainians.” NATO countries, some with bitter memories of the Soviet years, are concerned about any peace deal that would cede Ukrainian territory to Russia. Officials say they are considering how a settlement to end the fighting could impact the overall security of the alliance. But National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, “[Ukraine] will set the military objectives. They will set the objectives at the bargaining table. And I am quite certain they are going to set those objectives at success, and we are going to give them every tool we can to help them achieve that success. But we are not going to define the outcome of this for the Ukrainians.” —The Washington Post

• “We will welcome them.” In the meantime, NATO is about to grow larger. Finland and Sweden are expected to join the alliance “quite quickly." While NATO has not commented on what a fast-track process would be; a spokesperson for the Defense Department said any decision to admit the two nations would need to be agreed upon by all 30 allies. “President Putin wants less NATO on Russia’s borders,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “But he is getting more NATO.” —Reuters

MORE: Renewer Rep. Susan Wild among elected officials saying images coming out of Ukraine evidence of war crimes by Russian military —WFMZ

Applebaum: The West won’t survive without a fight

“Perhaps, in the aftermath of this crisis, we can learn something from the Ukrainians. For decades now, we’ve been fighting a culture war between liberal values on the one hand and muscular forms of patriotism on the other. The Ukrainians are showing us a way to have both. As soon as the attacks began, they overcame their many political divisions, which are no less bitter than ours, and they picked up weapons to fight for their sovereignty and their democracy. They demonstrated that it is possible to be a patriot and a believer in an open society, that a democracy can be stronger and fiercer than its opponents. Precisely because there is no liberal world order, no norms and no rules, we must fight ferociously for the values and the hopes of liberalism if we want our open societies to continue to exist.” —Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic

Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She is the author of “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.”

MORE: Tom McTague: The West’s World War II moment —The Atlantic

Higgins: Winning the disinformation war

“Social media has played a particularly significant role in the spread of disinformation. Malicious state enterprises such as the notorious Russian ‘troll farm’ are part of this, certainly. But there is a more powerful mechanism: the way it brings together people, whether flat-earthers or anti-vaxxers, who would find it difficult to meet like-minded folks in the real world. Today, if you’re convinced our planet isn’t round, you don’t have to resort to standing on street corners with a sign, shouting at passersby. Instead you have access to an online community of tens of thousands of individuals producing content that not only tells you you’re right, but also builds a web of pseudo-knowledge you can draw from any time you feel your beliefs are being challenged.” —Eliot Higgins in The Guardian

Eliot Higgins is a British journalist and the founder of Bellingcat, a website that investigates current events using open-source information. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and sits on the technical advisory board of the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

MORE: Russia disinformation on Ukraine spreads on Spanish-speaking social media —NBC News

Focus on global democracy 

The German government is warning its citizens, especially those with Russian roots, not to fall for Russian disinformation. Across social media and on Russian national outlets, false claims made by the Kremlin—such as that the killing of civilians in Mariupol and Bucha was staged, or that people of Russian heritage are being widely targeted by xenophobic attacks abroad—have become ubiquitous. "No one should give credence to the cynical and trivializing disinformation campaign led by Russian state media," deputy spokesman Wolfgang Büchner said. Unfortunately, Russian disinfo may be having real-world impacts on national elections taking place in Europe this week. —Deutsche Welle

• Hungary. Hungary's authoritarian leader Viktor Orban clinched a fourth consecutive term in power in a landslide election win on Sunday. His Fidesz Party also strengthened its position in parliament, with 53% of the vote and a commanding lead over a united coalition of opposition parties. Orban, a longtime Russian ally, touted his victory as a rejection of liberalism, the European Union, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Orban called one of his "opponents" during the campaign. —CNN

• Serbia. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his far-right party appear headed to victory in last Sunday’s national election. The governing populists have denied opposition claims of widespread irregularities, including ghost voting—voting under the names of people who are dead or don’t exist—as well ruling party activists offering money in exchange for votes. Serbia has supported a UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but has not joined Western sanctions against Moscow, a historic Slavic ally. —Associated Press

• France. The first round of the French presidential election takes place on Sunday, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen is making a late surge. With President Emmanuel Macron side-tracked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Le Pen, in her third attempt to gain power, has surged in polls with a focus on cost-of-living issues and anti-immigration sentiment. France’s allies are concerned that a Le Pen victory would threaten European unity, as she has expressed past support for Putin’s policies and is opposed to hard-line measures against Russia. Stay tuned. —The New York Times

MORE: Tunisia's future darkens with dissolution of parliament —AL-Monitor

Rubin: Why Democrats should listen to their moderate members

“Democratic senators and Senate candidates might have the money and profiles to carve out identities independent of the president, but lower-profile House members are uniquely dependent on the White House in the midterms. If voters are mad at Biden, they will likely take out their anger on anyone with a ‘D’ after their name.” —Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post

Jennifer Rubin is an attorney and political opinion columnist at The Washington Post.

MORE: Build Back Center: Biden plows a revamped lane for the midterms —Politico

Dent: The US needs more gutsy, independent leaders

“Some would suggest [Sen. Susan] Collins is a throwback to a bygone era of bipartisan comity. To the contrary, she represents the future if the Senate and country are ever able to move beyond the partisan trench warfare that defines our times. What has changed over the years is the number of pragmatic centrists in Congress, which have shrunk, along with the number of competitive House districts, while those who embrace the party line have grown.” —Charlie Dent on CNN

Charlie Dent is an advisor to the Renew America Movement. He formerly represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he chaired the House Ethics Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies.

MORE: Geoffrey Skelley: Why Liz Cheney can’t rely on Democrats to save her in Wyoming’s Republican primary —FiveThirtyEight

No one should be fooled by what Vladimir Putin is doing. He isn’t retreating from his goals to sub-divide Ukraine; rather, he is sowing confusion to give himself time to move reinforcements from his private (mercenary) armies into the Donbas region, where he hopes to cut off, encircle, and destroy 40% of the Ukrainian army facing off with the separatists there. In my opinion, NATO should move the bulk of the U.S. forces stationed in Germany to Latvia and Estonia and begin wargames there. This would force Putin to move a large portion of his troops to those borders, making his Ukrainian exploits untenable. At the same time, the U.S. should recognize the freely elected president of Belarus, Sviatlana Heorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya, as a tit-for-tat for Putin's recognition of the Donbas Oblasts as independent republics. —Dave M., Colorado

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.