“I mean, if we heard a leader around the world saying that, we would obviously consider that to be tyrannical, a repression of freedom of speech, a repression of freedom of expression. It's based on this premise that there couldn't possibly be anything good about Russia. So, the fact that anyone would do it must be some kind of conspiracy or foreign propaganda or something,” Maupin explained. “I mean, the level of arrogance that goes into it.”
“They're just kind of assuming that their perspective and their view on the world is very tainted and biased and written by the military industrial complex and the big monopolies that see Russia as a competitor. Their view is the only way to see things. And so, if people are seeing things another way, they must be part of a malign conspiracy," he added.
“...this is the level of totalitarianism that the discourse is starting to take. It reminds you of, you know, the John Birch Society of the early 1960s or something. I mean, it's that level of do not question anything, march blindly behind our leaders, and if you don't, you're probably working for the enemy.”