CNN commentator and longtime Clinton ally Paul Begala said Wednesday that the U.S. should be debating whether to "blow up" agencies like the GRU in an apparent call for President Donald Trump to bomb Russia.
Begala, who like many Democrats praised Barack Obama for mocking Mitt Romney's description of Russia as "our No. 1 geopolitical foe" in 2012, said on CNN that Russia is a "hostile foreign power" and the Trump administration should be "retaliating massively" for Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election in 2016.
"We were and are under attack by a hostile foreign power, and they seem to be abetting that hostile foreign power," Begala said, according to the Daily Beast. "We should be debating how many sanctions we should place on Russia, or whether we should blow up the KGB or GSU, GRU [Russia's foreign military intelligence agency.] We should be retaliating massively. By the way, if I were a Trump supporter, I would want to retaliate massively because it has tainted his victory."
Obama received praise in the media—and from Begala—for his zing against Romney at a 2012 debate that the "1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back."
POTUS nails Mitt for saying Russia our #1 geostrategic threat. "The 1980's called. They want their foreign policy back." Bam!
— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) October 23, 2012
Begala tweeted in December that he and Obama were "wrong" to mock Romney for his remark.
Absolutely. When @POTUS mocked Romney in 2012 for saying Russia was top threat, I cheered. @POTUS was wrong. I was wrong. Mitt was right. https://t.co/spF0zRZWEG
— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) December 10, 2016