going on talk shows and primetime television shows and basically saying, "well, putin never ate a dog. why should we pick a fight with him," they think this is going to be met with respect and admiration on the part of russian strong men. no. useful idios are that. they're seen as convenient until they're expendable. they're held in contempt by the people in moscow right now, who are plotting this strategy. statin took fellow travelers cooling their heels in moscow in the 1930s and sent them away. that's how they treat people who flatter them, okay? it is really important to emphasize that this sort of trope in american politics coming from the far right and also parts of the far left only feed into moscow's grand strategy here. >> i'm so glad you used the word "useful idiot." that's what we called people in the cold war who were constantly