If the United States shared a border with Russia, the state of Florida might now be a new “people’s republic”. Much like Kremlin-friendly elements in the Ukrainian occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, Florida’s Republicans – who dominate the state’s leadership – align more with Russian President Vladimir Putin ’s world view than the post-World War II international order he is trying to dismantle. In a move that would warm the hearts of policymakers in Moscow – not to mention Beijing, which has been working overtime to enforce a conservative mindset – the state’s House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would prohibit “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in Florida’s primary schools. Florida resident and best friend to autocrats worldwide Donald Trump called Putin “smart” and “savvy” when the Russian president announced his official recognition of what he called the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk. Much of these areas have been occupied by Russia since it annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014. The two men have a knack for lies capable of giving far-right causes legitimacy that leads to consequences for everyone. For example, Trump’s evidence-free narrative about how the 2020 election was stolen is every bit as stupefying as Putin’s allegation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, has unleashed genocidal Nazi tactics in the two breakaway regions. Trump’s lie led to new laws in many Republican-controlled states that add levels of complexity to the voting process and restrict absentee balloting, which Democratic constituencies are more likely to use. Meanwhile, Putin’s lie led to the carnage we see unfolding in Ukraine. This brings America’s Republicans to a critical juncture. China has given its most strident critics in the US – Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and others – what we would expect to be the biggest concern about Beijing: its reluctance to criticise the Kremlin for Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and a narrative that portrays Washington and Nato as the aggressors. But we are getting mixed messages from them instead. As Politico reported from last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering that serves as a jumping-off point for Republicans looking to prove their viability in whatever election is on the horizon, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “hit on everything from immigration and ‘mob violence’ to critical race theory, the Bill of Rights and the peril of a ‘biomedical security state’”, but notably did not mention Ukraine. Welcome to the convergence of the American Republican Party with the Chinese government, which has yet to refer to Putin’s aggression against Ukraine as an invasion. US sought China’s help to avoid invasion; Beijing told Moscow, insider says Why? On many ideological fronts, these influential Republicans are on the same page as Putin and President Xi Jinping. Take Florida Senator Rick Scott , a former governor of the state, as an example. He is promoting a plan to “rescue America” that starts with a call for “every child in every school to say the Pledge of Allegiance, stand for the national anthem and learn that America is the greatest country in this world”. Bravo, Rick, for ripping directly from the playbook of the Communist Party and whatever indoctrination method has kept Putin in power for two decades. In a world where white racists are finally brought to justice for hunting down black people, as we saw in the case of Ahmaud Arbery , and police officers did not get away with choking the life out of George Floyd, Putin and Xi offer the promise of a return to an old world order. It is an order where minority rights are subsumed to the priorities of the men in charge, the LGBT community is silenced and women are kept in their place. Scott also includes in his American rescue plan a call to end the country’s economic relationship with China. This sounds great until you consider that one out of every five Floridians is a retiree, most of whom live on fixed incomes. How will he explain to his constituency that they should pay double or triple the price of a made-in-China coffee maker for a snappy German model? But let’s give Scott some credit. He issued a statement after Putin’s recognition of the new “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, saying, “Now is the time to implement all measures to destroy the Russian economy, which predominatly [sic] serves Putin and his thugs”. Maybe he recognised how close Floridian political rhetoric, including his own, is aligning with that of Moscow and Beijing. Robert Delaney is the Post’s North America bureau chief