Just days after US Secretary of Defense visited the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to reassure them of the US commitment to their defense as Russian and Belarusian troops undertake war games on their borders, Republican Florida Governor and guy who obviously never reads more than his horoscope in the newspaper Ron DeSantis asserted there's no need to fear further aggression by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Well, I think it's important to point out, I mean, y'know, the fear of kind've Russia, ah, going in to NATO countries and all that and steamrolling, y'know, that has not even come close to happening," DeSantis said in with his characteristic junior high speaking style. "I think they've shown themselves to be a third-rate military power. Ah, I think they've suffered tremendous, tremendous losses. Uh, I got to think the people in Russia, ah, are probably disapproving about what's going on–I don't think they can speak up about it for obvious reasons–so I think Russia has been really, really wounded here, umm, and I don't that they are the same threat to our country, even though they're hostile, I don't think they're on the same level as a China."

The US Department of Defense disagrees with the Florida Man's assessment. "I want to make one thing very clear to the Estonian people today," Austin said in a visit with Estonia's defense minister in Tallinn Monday. "[The] United States remains steadfastly committed to the freedom and sovereignty of our Baltic allies. And we stand united with you to deter and defend against any threat to our shared security."

"Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania are neighbors of Ukraine where war is raging. They're NATO members and the United States has bulked up troop presence in the region in response to President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked and brutal war to exterminate Ukraine," the Defense Department said in a statement. "The Eastern European nations are among the leaders in supporting Ukraine and providing refuge for the millions of Ukrainians who have fled the Russian invasion."

Well, Ron, Putin has already invaded and occupied the Crimea regions Donbas of Ukraine, and attacked Ukraine as a whole, while also sending its forces to Syria, Chechnya, and Georgia. Ignoring the whines from conservatives, Democratic administrations have bolstered US troop levels in the Baltics to counter Russia's amassed troops along the borders with the Baltic states–some of which were moved to Ukraine to fight because the US and our allies are effectively supporting Ukrainian fighters–something Republicans want to end. And the Republicans also want to end US investigations into Russian interference in US election. So, Ron, to use a phrase from the Bush Jr. Administration: If we don't fight them there, we'll end up fighting them here, right?

From Spartan: Ronnie Meatballs plainly upset his important visit with NYPD on Staten Island overshadowed by surprise Biden visit to Ukraine

DeSantis also said that because Russian troops have gotten their asses kicked in Ukraine so badly that the Putin regime is no longer a threat to any other neighboring countries, which is a not particularly subtle way of hinting that he wants to pull the US out of NATO if elected.