berg80
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- Oct 28, 2017
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Trump’s Affinity for Putin Grows More Consequential Than Ever
In early 2017, American intelligence agencies delivered an unequivocal judgment about why President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had ordered a sprawling effort to sabotage the recent American presidential election.
Mr. Putin wanted to cripple the faith Americans have in their own elections, they found, and to undermine a United States-led “liberal world order” that the Russians see as a threat to their security. As a way to achieve this goal, the assessment found, Russia worked to help Donald J. Trump win the election.
Eight years later, Mr. Trump sat in the Oval Office for a blustery meeting with President Voldymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and rendered, once again, his own judgment on that period. There was no Russian sabotage, just a “phony witch hunt” of which both he and Mr. Putin were victims.
“Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” he said.
The statement was a tell. The president sees common cause with Mr. Putin, a merging of interests forged through battles against those he believes are his and Mr. Putin’s mutual adversaries — including Democratic lawmakers, European leaders and a spectral “deep state” inside the U.S. government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/...putin-grows-more-consequential-than-ever.html
Putin could not have chosen a more willing partner than trump to achieve his goal of undermining faith in our elections. Don started saying the 2016 election was rigged months before any votes were cast. Even after he won he claimed, without evidence, millions of votes for Hillary were fraudulent.
Trump also seems hellbent to see the US recede as the leader of the free world by taking a more isolationist approach to foreign policy.
In these ways he sees himself as being aligned with Putin, because he is. As evidenced by the shocking events at the 2018 Helsinki conference and his parroting of Russian talking points during the recent, now infamous, Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy.
It's weird to have the POTUS find common ground with, and affection for, a murderous dictator, right? It will never be normal, but it's the new reality.
In early 2017, American intelligence agencies delivered an unequivocal judgment about why President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had ordered a sprawling effort to sabotage the recent American presidential election.
Mr. Putin wanted to cripple the faith Americans have in their own elections, they found, and to undermine a United States-led “liberal world order” that the Russians see as a threat to their security. As a way to achieve this goal, the assessment found, Russia worked to help Donald J. Trump win the election.
Eight years later, Mr. Trump sat in the Oval Office for a blustery meeting with President Voldymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and rendered, once again, his own judgment on that period. There was no Russian sabotage, just a “phony witch hunt” of which both he and Mr. Putin were victims.
“Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” he said.
The statement was a tell. The president sees common cause with Mr. Putin, a merging of interests forged through battles against those he believes are his and Mr. Putin’s mutual adversaries — including Democratic lawmakers, European leaders and a spectral “deep state” inside the U.S. government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/...putin-grows-more-consequential-than-ever.html
Putin could not have chosen a more willing partner than trump to achieve his goal of undermining faith in our elections. Don started saying the 2016 election was rigged months before any votes were cast. Even after he won he claimed, without evidence, millions of votes for Hillary were fraudulent.
Trump also seems hellbent to see the US recede as the leader of the free world by taking a more isolationist approach to foreign policy.
In these ways he sees himself as being aligned with Putin, because he is. As evidenced by the shocking events at the 2018 Helsinki conference and his parroting of Russian talking points during the recent, now infamous, Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy.
It's weird to have the POTUS find common ground with, and affection for, a murderous dictator, right? It will never be normal, but it's the new reality.
