A couple of things:

1) This adds weight to my contention that had Gore been declared president in 2000, the Republicans would have stuck a shiv in him. There can only be unity with a Republican president because the GOP won't fall in line behind a Democrat, even to save the world.

2) I think you have your order a little out of sequence. The GOP has been, along with the authoritarian rightwing movements worldwide, making a hero out of Putin for years. They aren't lining up behind him to spite Biden, they were already there.