Republicans running in high-profile primary races aren't racing to defend Ukraine against a possible Russian invasion. They're settling on a different line of attack: Blame Biden, not Putin.

• Leery of the base, they are avoiding — and in some cases, rejecting — the tough-on-Russia rhetoric that once defined the Republican Party, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Andrew Solender report.
• GOP operatives working in 2022 primary races tell Axios they worry they'll alienate the base if they push to commit American resources or troops to help Ukraine fight Russia.

Why it matters: Any assistance President Biden provides to Ukraine could grow instantly into an ideological war back home.

• Biden has ruled out sending troops to Ukraine. But he is shipping U.S.-made weaponry to Kyiv, promising "unprecedented" sanctions if Putin invades, and preparing to deploy U.S. forces to reinforce NATO allies in eastern Europe.

The big picture: Republican hopefuls who vow not to assist in any potential conflict in Ukraine are reflecting — and fanning — anti-interventionist sentiments in the modern GOP.

• Frustration with the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and former President Trump's warmer posture toward Russia, helped drive the shift.

Between the lines: There's a stark split in the GOP over how to handle Russia's threat to Ukraine. It's less useful to think "doves" versus "hawks" — and more illuminating to view it as a divide between Republicans who are responsive to their base, and incumbents who feel they can afford to maintain some distance from GOP primary voters.

• Those without the buffer of time baked into a six-year term are increasingly either muffling their hawkish instincts — or wondering aloud why America should care at all what Russia does to Ukraine.
• GOP House members are notably less interventionist than GOP senators. GOP primary candidates are the least interventionist of all.

Zoom in: Blake Masters, one of the top Republican contenders for the Senate in Arizona, said in a statement to Axios:

• "This country has actual problems that our politicians should prioritize: election integrity, the border crisis, soaring inflation, violent crime, failing schools, and Big Tech, to name a few."
• "The Ukrainian border isn't even in the top 20," Masters added.

In Ohio's GOP Senate primary, candidates J.D. Vance and Bernie Moreno have both made the same argument: that Biden cares more about Ukraine's border than America's southern border.

• Adam Laxalt, who's well-positioned to win the GOP primary for Nevada's Senate race, approvingly tweeted a Tucker Carlson clip in which the top-rated Fox News host ridicules Vice President Kamala Harris for pledging to defend Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The other side: Prominent Republicans in Washington, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are still making statements that sound more at home in the pre-Trump GOP.

• McConnell and other leading GOP senators, including Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are pushing Biden to go farther.

But House Republicans are generally warier than the senators about pushing Biden to respond militarily to Putin.

• Axios found nearly a dozen public statements from House Republicans criticizing the idea of sending troops to the region — or wondering why Americans should care at all about a conflict that's thousands of miles away.
• We could find no similar statements from Senate Republicans.

That safe political space — criticize Biden as weak but don't get too specific about what being "strong" against Russia would look like — is being used by Republicans on the campaign trail who aren't willing to go "full Tucker," as one GOP operative put it.

The backstory: Two shifts have happened in the GOP electorate over the past 15 years. The first is a growing skepticism about foreign intervention in general — frustration and anger still fueled by the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• The second is a more recent warming towards Russia — initiated by the party's most powerful figure, Donald Trump.

A 2018 Gallup poll quantified the Trump effect. The number of Republicans calling Russia a friend or ally rose sharply from 2014-18 — from 22% to 40%.

• Part 2 is below.

Tucker Carlson has had a profound effect on how Republican candidates talk about the Russia-Ukraine issue, GOP operatives working on primary races tell Axios' Jonathan Swan and Andrew Solender.

• GOP offices have been fielding numerous calls from voters echoing arguments they heard on Carlson's 8 p.m. ET show on Fox News.
• Carlson has been telling his viewers there's no reason why the U.S. should help Ukraine fight Russia.

Even Democratic offices have been fielding these calls from Carlson's viewers.

• Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) tweeted that he got "calls from folks who say they watch Tucker Carlson and are upset that we're not siding with Russia in its threats to invade Ukraine, and who want me to support Russia's 'reasonable' positions."

Carlson told Axios that despite the changes in how Republicans talk about Russia and foreign intervention in general, he thinks the party isn't changing fast enough.

• "I just want to go on the record and say I could care less if they call me a pawn of Putin," Carlson said. "It's too stupid. I don't speak Russian. I've never been to Russia. I'm not that interested in Russia. All I care about is the fortunes of the United States, because I have four children who live here."
• "I really hope that Republican primary voters are ruthless about this," Carlson added — and vote out any Republican "who believes Ukraine's borders are more important than our borders."

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When Olympic athletes from all over the world land in Beijing for the 2022 Olympic Games, they'll be loaded up with burner phones and will likely leave their own devices behind, Axios' Ashley Gold reports.

• Why it matters: China is trying to put on a good show for the world ahead of the Games. But experts are sounding the alarm about cybersecurity fears, because of the Chinese Communist Party's penchant for cyber espionage and desire to control online content.

Team USA warned in a tech advisory obtained by Axios: "Assume that every device and every communication, transaction, and online activity will be monitored."

Context: The last time the Olympics were held in China was 2008, before the explosion of smartphones and social media.

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Amy Schneider's 40-game streak on "Jeopardy!" came to an end last night after Chicago librarian Rhone Talsma beat her during Final Jeopardy.

• Why it matters: The engineering manager from Oakland made history as the first woman to win $1 million on the show — and the first transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions.

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President Biden and Justice Stephen Breyer are expected to hold an event at the White House today to announce Breyer's plans to retire.

• Biden pledged during the campaign to nominate the first Black woman to the high court. Among his options (with their undergraduate schools, followed by their law schools):

New COVID infections are declining in the U.S. — a sign the Omicron wave has likely peaked, Axios' Sam Baker and Kavya Beheraj report.

• Reality check: Deaths are rising, and the U.S. still has a lot of COVID — a reminder that even this milder variant is still a very real threat to unvaccinated Americans.

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MSNBC will soon announce plans to move morning anchor Stephanie Ruhle to the 11 p.m. ET hour that Brian Williams turned into an elite destination, Axios Sara Fischer scoops.

• The 9 a.m. ET hour, currently hosted by Ruhle, will become part of MSNBC's flagship morning show, "Morning Joe," which now runs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET.

The "Morning Joe" team also programs "Way Too Early" at 5 a.m. ET.

• So the Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski empire now will extend across 25 hours a week on MSNBC.

In September, "Morning Joe" will celebrate 15 years on the air — with Scarborough, Brzezinski and Willie Geist together the whole time.

• I'm told "Morning Joe" will also add prime-time specials — and hit the road for remote editions throughout America.

Disclosure: NBC is an investor in Axios, and our journalists appear regularly on "Way Too Early" and "Morning Joe."

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Neil Young's music will be removed from Spotify at his request because of COVID misinformation on Joe Rogan's popular podcast, AP reports.

• Spotify said it regretted Young's decision, "but hope to welcome him back soon ... [W]e've removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic."

Young, 76, said many of Spotify's listeners are "impressionable and easy to swing to the wrong side of the truth."

• Spotify is responsible for 60% of his music streamed all over the world. He said it was "a huge loss for my record company to absorb."