Republican enablers of Putin are in a tough spot. 7 years straight of loving on Putin is hard to erase. I guess the best course of action is just to pretend none of it happened. That the entire Republican Party hasn't been grinding on Putin publicly with about a trillion hours of readily available quotes and youtube clips to run non-stop during the 2022 and 2024 campaigns.
Even now you can see the love is just bristling to pop out. The slightest Putin victory will bring them scurrying from their crevices bleeting with glee at the return of their orange leader's BFF.