US Republicans have a ‘homoerotic obsession’ with Putin, says Johnson

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson believes US President-elect Donald Trump will have “no choice” but to defend Ukraine when he takes office next month, despite many Republicans and Trump allies developing a “homoerotic obsession” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Johnson, one of the Western world’s most strident supporters of Ukraine’s efforts to resist Russia’s invasion, told a Sydney audience he had discussed Ukraine with Trump since the former president won the November 5 election.

“I don’t think Donald Trump is going to want act one, scene one of his next term in office to be blighted by a sense that America has been defeated, the West has been defeated, NATO has been humiliated and Putin has won,” Johnson said.

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson arrives to speak at the event in Sydney on Friday.Credit: AAP

During the election campaign, Trump brazenly vowed he would end the war in one day, possibly before he took office, without giving further details. Under the Biden administration, many Republicans in Congress have sought to block further aid to Ukraine, and Trump’s isolationist tendencies have prompted many observers to conclude he may try to cut a deal that involves ceding territory to Putin’s Russia.

Johnson – who was British foreign minister during Trump’s first presidency and is known for his colourful turns of phrase – said the incoming president was managing a difficult situation in the Republican Party.

“There is quite a lot of people in the right wing of the Republicans who supported Donald Trump very passionately who have gone bonkers about Putin and who have developed a kind of weird homoerotic obsession with the guy,” Johnson said on Friday.

“They think he’s the stand-up manifestation of Christian family values,” Johnson said, citing ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who interviewed Putin earlier this year. “It’s all total nonsense.”

Johnson said based on his reading of the situation, “logically and politically” Trump would have no choice but to continue the US’ defence of Ukraine, but it was still a “work in progress”.

“I don’t think the president has any choice but to do what I think is in their natural instinct and that is to be strong and not to allow a sovereign European country – a beautiful, blameless European country, Ukraine – to be humiliated and destroyed.”

The former British leader was speaking at Doltone House in Sydney while promoting his political memoir, Unleashed. A Melbourne event that had been scheduled for Saturday was cancelled, with publicist Max Markson saying Johnson had to fly home a day earlier than planned.

Nonagenarian singer Kamahl performed both verses of the Australian national anthem at the event and three pieces of Boris Johnson-themed art were auctioned, including an enlarged copy of his book cover, which sold for $1200.

Boris Johnson’s memoir “Unleashed” went on sale in the UK in October.Credit: Getty Images

The former PM’s comments, made in a question-and-answer session with News Corp journalist Sharri Markson, came as Ukrainian officials met Vice President-elect J. D. Vance and members of Trump’s national security team in Washington.

Vance, who has been critical of assistance to Ukraine, and congressman Michael Waltz – Trump’s choice to be national security adviser – spoke with Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The New York Times reported Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, was also present alongside an aide to retired Army Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s pick as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

Yermak also met Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser.

In Sydney, Johnson’s speech centred on his view that nations such as Australia and the UK should stop “sneering” at aspects of the US we may find distasteful, such as its gun culture or poor social safety net, while depending on its enormous military power for our collective security in an increasingly uncertain world.

Asked if he believed Trump would stick with the AUKUS defence pact between Australia, the UK and the US, particularly the supply of nuclear-powered submarines, Johnson said he had not discussed it with Trump, but he could not see why the president-elect would back away.

“It’s a good deal for the United States,” Johnson said. “There’s a problem with the time it takes to make a Virginia-class submarine, and I think the US will definitely be wanting to look at that, but on the whole, I think it’s a good thing.

“I’ve heard him attack plenty of other deals that the Democrats have done. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Republicans attack AUKUS. On the contrary, I think it has pretty bipartisan support.”

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