That all is likely not right in the mind of Vladimir Putin is hardly breaking news. Yet while former president Donald Trump continues to swoon over how “smart” and “sexy” “savvy” the Russian president is for starting a war with Ukraine, much of the rest of the world isn’t as impressed with the ex-KGB officer’s brute tactics. While some GOP leaders have refused to condemn Trump’s pro-Putin comments (we see you, Tom Cotton) and instead attack Joe Biden’s response to the Russia Ukraine War, Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who has broken with his former puppetmaster Trump in calling out Putin’s actions.
On Sunday night, the Florida senator sent out a series of kinda cryptic tweets about Putin and his current state of mind. And while he clearly has more information that he’s able to share (that’s part of what being a vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee requires), he was clearly trying to send up a smoke signal that all might not be well in Putin’s brain.
This is the most dangerous moment in 60 years#Putin’s is facing a humiliating military fiasco & he has triggered extraordinary consequences on #Russia’s economy & people that will not be easy to reverse
And his only options to reset this imbalance are catastrophic ones
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 28, 2022
Let me stress again that we are NOT dealing with 2008 #Putin
It is a grave error to assume he will make the same calculations & decisions today that he would have made in the past
The old Putin was a cold blooded but calculating killer
This new Putin is even more dangerous
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 27, 2022
I wish I could share more,but for now I can say it’s pretty obvious to many that something is off with #Putin
He has always been a killer,but his problem now is different & significant
It would be a mistake to assume this Putin would react the same way he would have 5 years ago
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 26, 2022
On Monday morning, Rubio elaborated a bit more.
DANGER#Putin’s legitimacy built on image as the strong leader who restored #Russia to superpower after the disasters of the 90’s
Now the economy is in shambles & the military is being humiliated & his only tools to reestablish power balance with the West is cyber & nukes
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 28, 2022
The main point Rubio seemed to want to make is that something has changed in Putin. And while he freely admitted that “the old Putin was a cold-blooded but calculating killer,” he claims that “this new Putin is even more dangerous.” He hinted at knowing more when he tweeted that “I wish I could share more, but for now I can say it’s pretty obvious to many that something is off with Putin.”
As The Washington Post reports, Rubio is far from the only political leader who has reason to communicate or mingle with Putin on occasion to notice a shift in his demeanor. Former national security adviser and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who served under President George W. Bush and has sat in for meetings with Putin on several occasions, says the Vlad the world is seeing now is “a different Putin” who seems to have “an ever-deepening delusional rendering of history.”
Rubio had more to say about the Russian leader to CNN’s Jake Tapper as well, though when shared in Twitter-sized bites, it sounded a lot like another (now former) president we all know and many loathe.
Interesting from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fl, vice chair of Senate Intel Committee, who notes that Putin “has created a system of people not telling him bad news or facts that contradict his preferences.
“He also appears to have some neuro/physiological health issues…
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 27, 2022
2/ “But most telling is this is a man who has long prided himself on emotional control. His recent flashes of anger is very uncharacteristic and show an erosion in impulse control.”
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 27, 2022
The first round of talks between Russia and Ukraine have now ended, with CNN reporting that both delegations have returned to their capitols “for consultations.”