‘I Loved It!’ CNBC’s Jim Cramer Praises Putin’s ‘Fiery’ Speech While Slamming Him as ‘Fascist Totalitarian’

CNBC host Jim Cramer praised Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin’s Monday address laying out a pretext to justify his invasion of Ukraine, telling co-hosts “I loved it” while also denouncing Putin as a “fascist totalitarian.”

On Monday, the Russian president delivered a speech justifying the pretext for his then-imminent invasion of Ukraine that was widely denounced and compared with Adolf Hitler’s similar speech about invading the Sudetenland.

On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Cramer sort of split the difference. He criticized the U.S. because they did not “offer [Russia] anything,” then shaded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called the U.S. sanctions “bee-stings,” then praised Putin’s speech while condemning him as a fascist:

JIM CRAMER: I think that we look at them and we don’t offer them anything. Obviously, I don’t want to come in. But I mean, it’s not like we say, “You know what? We’re not going. NATO’s not going in there, OK? We’re just not going in there.”

But that would be, of course, sacrificing Ukraine. But where’s the soldiers? What are we doing? Where’s the see… By the way, the head of Ukraine has not really distinguished himself in this period.

DAVID FABER: OK, so what? Yeah.

CRAMER: Well, I’m just saying that what

FABER: You’re saying that the sanctions, which are fairly significant, are not going to an impact…

CRAMER: I think, I still think they’re bee-stings. I think they’re bee-stings and it’s time to try to figure out,.

FABER: Did you guys read Putin’s speech?

CRAMER: I loved it! Well, I shouldn’t… it was fiery. I just think that what he said basically is, “Look, let’s get those old Soviet Union back again.” It’s like get the band back, you know? Except, of course, he’s a fascist totalitarian.

Watch above via CNBC.