Hinson calls Putin ‘murderer,’ says US should not make deals with Russia
Hinson went with the plainest possible word for Putin, and it lands hard in a political season when Republicans are split over how to talk about Moscow. She's running for Senate in Iowa, a state that backed Trump twice, so her calling Putin a murderer on national TV is a deliberate choice. She's telling primary voters she won't soften her Ukraine stance for anyone.
The timing matters. Witkoff's remark to Putin, whatever its exact wording, came as the administration pushes for a negotiated end to the war. Hinson is drawing a line: no deals with a leader she considers a war criminal. That puts her at odds with the dealmaking wing of her own party, and it raises a fair question about whether the U.S. can negotiate with someone it refuses to legitimize.
I'd want to know how far she'd take this. Is she ruling out all diplomacy, or just objecting to the tone? Because the practical reality is that ending a war usually means talking to the people who started it. That tension isn't going away.