There’s a new list of 500 Americans Vladimir Putin has banned from traveling to or having business in Russia, and it’s a who’s who of Donald Trump’s enemies. Putin is using American sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine as an excuse for the travel bans, but his real reason seems clear: to strengthen his alliance with Trump and MAGA Republicans.
From Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who refused to find those 11,780 votes for Trump in 2020, to Letitia James, the state attorney general of New York who is currently prosecuting Trump, and late-night variety show hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers, who ridicule Trump on a nightly basis. Oh, and former President Barack Obama.
It sounds like Trump wrote the talking points, as the list cites “those in government and law enforcement agencies who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called storming of the Capitol,” including special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating Trump’s hoarding of classified documents and his efforts to steal the 2020 election, and Lt. Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police officer who shot insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt.
Raffensperger, for one, isn’t too bothered by the prospect of not getting to go see the wonders of Putin’s Russia. He retweeted this from his chief aide, Gabriel Sterling.
He’s in good company.
