In all fairness, Whelan only checks 2 or 3 boxes for the R party:
Supported Donald Trump
US Marine
Is straight (as far as we know...may come out of prison different! haha!)
And I agree that Griner does fit up with the demographics the current administration likes to use for political brownie points with their base (black, gay female), which supports my earlier statement that politicians, regardless of party, are all in it for PR that might get them reelected over trying to make the US a better place for all political ideaologies.
But as I posted above, there's more context to Whelan than people either know or are willing to talk about. The dude was court-martialed from the USM due to larceny. He's lied about being a cop in Michigan, and has lied about having a bachelor's and master's degrees (and he did so under oath during some depositions). Was he spying for the US under the guise as a BorgWarner automotive IT security specialist? Who knows. But one must question why he might have needed to travel so often to Russia as an IT security specialist when most IT folks enjoy remote work and can do a ton of their jobs without leaving home, on more secure networks than what he'd probably get in Russian hotels.
Imagine the outcry, though, from African American females (or females in general), had the US Government managed to trade for a white US marine and left Griner behind! Frankly, the government should have done more to trade BOTH Whelan and Griner for this Russian terrorist. That would have been more of a brownie point to show an administration that's open to help everyone regardless of party affiliation. But it's always about the party base over America as a whole.