One of the aspects of Donald Trump that continues to amaze is his obvious man crush on Vladimir Putin. He just admires the guy. Part of it is that Trump clearly loves the notion of being a strong man himself, and he appears to see Putin as a prototype.
Aside from the fact that an American president ought not be an admirer of an autocrat as a general matter (at least, that is the quaint way we used to think about such things), but it is also quite obviously the case that Russia is, at best, a competitor with the United States, if not an actual adversary.
I lean to the adversary side of the equation, in fact. This is not the say, therefore, that we should not talk to them. But, maybe just maybe we shouldn’t be literally rolling out the red carpet for them, either.
Side note: I have seen a number of online Trump fanboys carry on about how that flyover was a show of strength meant to intimidate Putin. This is clearly nonsense (unless you think flyovers at ball games are intended to scare the stadium full of fans). The flyover and all the other stuff were demonstrations of respect and the kind of showmanship that Trump likes. It is all performative and nothing that would scare Putin. I mean, come on.
Beyond all of that, and Trump’s inflated view of his negotiating skills, his admiration for Putin is just bizarre.
Clips like this just underscore the simplism that is the mind of Trump.
Here’s the whole quote:
“You know, I always had a great relationship with President Putin. And we would have done great things together in terms of, you know. Their land is incredible. The rare earth, the oil gas — it’s incredible. It is the largest piece of land in the world as a nation by far. I think they have 11 timezones if you can believe it, that’s big stuff. But we would have done a lot of great things we had the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax which stopped us from doing that. We would have done so great. But we have the greatest — one of the great hoaxes. I mean, there were others like the election itself and as you know, as you covered better than anyone. But it was a rigged election and a horrible thing that took place in 2020. But we would have had a great relationship but we did amazingly well considering — you know, he would look and see what happened, he would think we’re crazy with the made up Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. So we had something very important and we had a very good meeting today, but we’ll see. I mean it’s, you have to get a deal.”
First, while the timezone thing is a bit of info that might be useful during trivia night, it is hardly something that should tee up admiration. Trump’s love of big and gaudy could be dismissed as childlike if he weren’t POTUS.
Second, his obsession with what he sees as crimes committed against him is unhealthy and also dangerous. I will not seek to relitigate that matter here.
Beyond that, it is delusional to suggest that Vladimir Putin is a voice of reason on election integrity.
If we assume for the sake of discussion that they actually talked about the 2020 election and mail-in voting (and I think they probably did for the reason I am about to note), then it was because Putin knows how to play Trump. It is about flattery and distraction. And Trump is too vain, shallow, and intellectually challenged to see it. Instead, he goes on TV to confirm his vanity, shallowness, and stupidity. And Hannity, also no intellectual giant, performs the role of quasi-state media happily. After all, the money is good, and he gets to pal around with the wannabe strong man (making this a stealth entry in “Meanwhile in North Korea” series).
One more clip of Trump allowing himself to be played to conclude the post. Because, you know, Putin is the best measure of the health and well-being of the US polity.
A lot of this does remind me of a deceased family member (two, actually) who used to like to attribute the things they wanted to say by attributing those statements to someone else. I don’t discount that there is some of that going on here, but I really do think that Putin tells Trump exactly what he wants to hear, and Trump laps it up.
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Author: Steven L. Taylor
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