SMEARING MIKE POMPEO. The former CIA director and secretary of state has come under fire for mixing some praise in with criticism of Vladimir Putin in a recent podcast interview. That is enough, in some corners of Twitter, to be called a traitor. Other critiques have been slightly more sophisticated, like the Lincoln Project’s Steve Schmidt, who wrote that “Pompeo is an American Gerhardt Schroeder,” referring to the former German chancellor who became close to Putin and profited enormously from it. Continuing, Schmidt said Pompeo is “a self dealing blusterer whose grift, vanity and ambition has twisted him into a smiling shill for Vladimir Putin.” Denunciations quickly followed on Morning Joe.

That’s par for the course these days, when critics of President Joe Biden’s handling of the Ukraine crisis can quickly face vilification from a chorus of American voices quick to accuse other Americans of disloyalty. For example, Matthew Dowd, the former George W. Bush political strategist, tweeted recently, “If you are blaming Biden today for what Putin is doing in Ukraine please take down the American flag from your home or social media account and replace it with the Russian flag. It will help us all know where you clearly stand.”