Leftist pundit Cenk Uygur says 'right wing' loves Vladimir Putin 'because he's a WHITE authoritarian leader' — and gets torn to shreds for it

Left-wing pundit Cenk Uygur — founder of radical show the Young Turks and known for descending to further extremes when things don't go his way politically — tweeted Thursday that the "right wing" loves Russian President Vladimir Putin "because he's a WHITE authoritarian leader."

Here's his full tweet:

"Right-wing doesn't love Putin just because he is an authoritarian, tyrannical leader, they love him because he's a WHITE authoritarian leader," Uygur wrote. "Race has become more important than even nationality. They've turned on democracy and now even America, in favor of a white warlord."

Putin has launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, and Russia's Defense Ministry claimed early Thursday that its military already destroyed 74 Ukrainian military facilities — including 11 airbases — only hours into its operation.

How are folks reacting?

If Uygur was starving for some attention — even of the negative variety, which he almost certainly must be used to by now — he sure got the job done: Uygur's inflammatory tweet was getting ratioed early Thursday afternoon, with nearly 10,000 comments and counting compared to about 4,300 likes.

And noted commenters responding to Uygur's claim that the color of Putin's skin is any kind of factor at the moment put him in his place with gusto:

• Podcaster Graham Allen replied, "You are the dumbest human in history…..literally the most insane thing I’ve read in a very long time."
• Conservative commentator and author John Ziegler said, "Nailed it… that’s why we white conservatives here in California love our King Newsom so much!!"
• Comedian Yannis Pappas quipped back at Uygur, "As a Greek, your ethnicity and the name of your show is triggering for me. Please change it."
• Songwriter Five Times August wondered, "When do you go away?"

Writer and host Barrington Martin II offered Uygur an object lesson regarding the left's habitual misuse of racism: