At this point, the remaining debate in Lesko’s party is more about how far the United States should go in opposing Putin, not whether to oppose him. This also gives Republicans space to criticize the Biden administration’s approach at least a bit, which is in their interest in an election year. Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi have called for the U.S. to enforce a no-fly zone above Ukraine. Senator Rick Scott of Florida said that no option—even deploying troops—should be off the table. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina suggested in a tweet that someone in Russia should pull a Brutus and assassinate Putin.

Many Republicans seem quite happy—eager, even—to use Ukraine as a way to distance themselves from Trump. In normal times, many of them have had difficulty mustering the will to challenge the former president when they might want to, given how much political power he wields. But in this particular case, questioning the GOP figurehead is safe. On Ukraine, Trump has been out of step with most Americans. “I agree with [Mike] Pence, that there’s no room in our party for apologists for Putin,” Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho told me when I asked about Trump’s comments. “Is most of the Republican conference with you on that?” I followed up. “Yep,” Simpson quickly replied. Katko, from New York, was more direct: “Putin isn’t a genius, and neither is Trump.”