MSNBC's Joy Reid explained why she believes the Republican party has become 'Putinite' in a panel discussion Wednesday afternoon on Russia. Reid tied U.S. support of apartheid South Africa -- part of an attempt to stop the expansion of Soviet influence -- to the current Republican party that she said is "pro-Putin."



Reid said alt-right Republicans look at Putin as a figure who is advancing "white Christianity."



Reid is the host of AM Joy weekends on MSNBC.



From Wednesday's Deadline: White House with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace:





JOY REID, MSNBC: My old Cold-warrior Reaganite father must be spinning in his grave to know that the United States which used to-- he's African, so the desire to limit the expansion of Russian spheres of influence led us to support the apartheid government of South Africa over Nelson Mandella. Now we have a Republican party that not only at its base is becoming Putinite, pro-Putin -- you're seeing it accelerate.



NICOLLE WALLACE, MSNBC HOST: It's not just the president. There are loud voices in conservative media who celebrate [Julian] Assange, who praise the brute strength of Putin.



REID: That's right. And for a lot of reasons the alt-right, for these sort of weird white nationalist reasons, they feel he's advancing white Christianity. Whatever it is, Russia is an adversary of the United States, wants to dismantle our influence in Europe. Trump seems to agree, he seems to agree that we should have less influence in Europe, that we should detach ourselves from the NATO alliance. That we should even dismantle our own cybersecurity and make ourselves more vulnerable to Russia, make ourselves more vulnerable to their influence.



It's shocking to see a Republican president essentially capitulate to almost everything Vladimir Putin could possibly want, the full menu, his Christmas list of what he wants from the United States and wants to do to the West. Donald Trump wants to give him it.