mcconnell, and you also heard people like tom cotton, lindsey graham, ben sasse, critical of the biden administration s response, saying it s not strong enough. then you hear the former president praise vladimir putin, mike pompeo has praised vladimir putin in different words, and tucker carlson, much the same thing. there really does seem to be a split now in the republican party. what are the implications of that? john, i think that to be clear, i do think that what the current president is doing is more important than the former president. but there absolutely, at least in this regard, there absolutely is a divide within the party about how to handle putin, and you see it in the commentary you just described. i think it s one thing to have a television host like tucker carlson saying what he s been saying, and it s entirely something different to have the recent former president who is an old show leading if he want tobts the republican nominee again.
coming in. they depend on that not only for transporting troops but also for delivering weapons. you would see a scene from saving private ryan on steroids along the coast in the sea. and that s, i anticipate that might be one of the next steps that mr. putin might execute. pretty chilling thoughts. general mark hertling, thank you so much for being with us. thank you, john. next, i m going to ask russian pro democracy leader garry kasparov whether he thinks this initial round of sanctions will be enough to deter vladimir putin, and whether he s overplayed his hand, putin has already. later, the domestic political repercussions of what could become the biggest foreign policy challenge for the president, not to mention a big issue for republicans who find themselves split between internationalists and isolationists.
our planet offers countless sources of energy. but it s only human to find the ones that could power a better future. more now on our breaking news. president biden promising more harsher sanctions after the ones he announced today if russian troops encroach further into ukraine. our frederik pleitgen is in russia near those regions of ukraine controlled by the russian-backed separatists. fred, you ve been there for a long time now talking to a lot of people, doing some phenomenal reporting. what s the latest you ve seen in recent hours? reporter: hi, john. it certainly was extremely interesting and insightful to be able to go into that area, which is right near the border with ukraine and right at the border with the donbas region, which is of course those separatist
and even if he commands his army to cross the border, body bags coming back to russia, they could actually shatter the foundation of his power. it is the post world war ii era and order we re talking about, to be sure. garry kasparov, really appreciate talking to you tonight. thank you. thank you very much. up next, as president biden imposes tough new sanctions to punish moscow, republicans appear split in their criticism with the former president, donald trump, praising putin today. we ll have the details next. long day huh? thank you! (beer can opening) hey buddy! you want a sam adams? all right. (slurping, burps, beer can dropping)
jill dougherty, what is putin s likely response to the announcements that were made today with the sanctions? well, you know, interestingly, john, the kremlin said they were a little too busy to be listening to president biden. they had a meeting, the president had a meeting. so that s kind of the mood here. you know, it s really kind of a sense of inevitability that there s a plan unfolding. you had president putin recognizing those breakaway regions. then today on tv, there was a big vote, several votes on giving the president the green light to deploy troops outside of the border of russia because of donbas, and then you had president putin in a quick news conference saying, you know, ukraine really shouldn t even think any more of trying to become a member of nato. and i think one significant thing, too, pushback on the sanctions, the former president of russia, dmitry medvedev, i