Former Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman clashed with Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Twitter, calling her Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “useful idiot.”
Greene began by arguing people are dying “because of Biden’s poor decision making leading up to Putin declaring war on Ukraine. Biden’s weakness and failure as a leader not only has put America last but is a danger to the entire world.”
She added, “We can not put American lives at risk under the same failed leadership who ran the Afghanistan withdrawal disaster. We have to put America First.”
Vindman fired back, “Nope. It’s because you and your pro-Putin party encouraged Putin to invade, by cheerleading him. Worse yet, you undermined [President Biden’s] efforts to signal punishing costs… you undermined U.S. efforts deter the war. You have blood in your hands. The American people will not forget.”
Calling Vindman a “clown,” Greene accused him of wanting to “drag Americans into war with Russia with his big tough tweets and his zoom interviews on CNN. Go ahead and go fight yourself since you’re from Ukraine. You are clueless about Americans being fed up with sending our sons and daughters to die in foreign lands.”
He responded, “This is what service looks like. I served my country–the United States of America who welcomed my refugee family–for 21 years, 6 months, and 10 days in uniform and I continue to serve out of uniform. You only serve as Putin’s useful idiot.”
Other Republicans have voiced their criticism of Biden amid the invasion.
“Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a renewed invasion of Ukraine is reprehensible. Sadly, President Biden consistently chose appeasement and his tough talk on Russia was never followed by strong action,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other House GOP leaders said.
They proceeded to share a photo of Biden leaving the podium at the White House, saying, “This is what weakness on the world stage looks like.”