On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline,” Los Angeles Times’ reporter Eli Stokols said Trump’s base was such a “cult of personality” that they did not see Russian President Vladimir Putin as an enemy of “democratic values around the world.”

Stokols said, “The Trump base just doesn’t see Putin as the enemy the same way. If you want to understand why Republicans are looking the other way, why Pelosi’s argument ‘all roads lead to Putin,’ doesn’t resonate, doesn’t change public opinion, it’s because this base of voters is enthralled in this cult of personality.”

“They look at Putin and they say what’s so bad about him because he supports Trump,” he continued. “Supporting Trump, in this case, is more important to these voters than whether or not he advances or threatens democratic values around the world.”

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