We Know Why Putin Loves Trump, But Why Does Trump Love Vlad?

[BarryLaverty]

 

I have my thoughts about it, but I don't really get it and view it as being a very bad thing for us. 
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/02/27/we-know-why-putin-hearts-trump-but-why-does-trump-heart-putin/
We know why Putin [hearts] Trump, but why does Trump [heart] Putin?

Whatever the reason, the relationship is dangerous.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump conferred in July at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

By Carl P. Leubsdorf

2:00 AM on Feb 27, 2020

 

It’s no secret why Vladimir Putin would want Donald Trump reelected: No other American president would have been as forgiving of his efforts to create chaos and destabilize the Western alliance.

But the mystery remains why Trump has been such a willing participant, repeatedly excusing Putin for everything from aggression toward Ukraine to meddling in American elections.

The issue arose again last week when Trump replaced the acting national director of intelligence, after a top subordinate told the House Intelligence Committee that Russia is repeating its 2016 interference, again on Trump’s behalf. A subsequent report said they’re also helping Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race — again.

Trump was angry the intelligence assessment was provided to Democratic lawmakers, lest they use it against him. His reaction resembles his past efforts to absolve Russians of interference, lest they appear responsible for his very close 2016 victory, not his own political acuity.

He argues, and it is true, that his administration maintains anti-Russian sanctions and has increased defense spending. But Trump has taken policy decisions helping Putin like removing U.S. troops from Syria and raising questions about U.S. willingness to fulfill its NATO commitments.

 

Analysts have raised various potential explanations:

A desire to reorient global geopolitics? Trump’s belief in the importance of personal relationships? His admiration of autocrats like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Putin who rule with minimal constitutional constraints? Something involving his personal finances, like longtime Russian support for his real estate empire? Or all of the above?

Trump’s personal interest in forging closer U.S. relations with the old Soviet Union dates back to a rejected 1984 bid to mediate the global nuclear arms race and his initial 1987 Moscow visit to discuss building a Moscow Trump Tower.

Trump’s financial relationship with the Russians is shrouded in the mystery enveloping his tax returns. Their secrecy has been a major Trump obsession, perhaps because of what they would reveal about the true extent of his wealth or foreign investment in his businesses.

Trump has repeatedly denied doing any personal business with Russia, almost certainly another of the thousands of lies since he became a significant political figure.

“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets,” Donald Trump Jr. told a 2008 New York real estate conference. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."

Wealthy Russians purchased millions of dollars of units in Trump-owned apartment buildings in the United States, Reuters and McClatchy have reported.

More recently, the relationship has centered on politics. Trump backed Putin’s 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, its neighbor and former fellow Soviet republic. As Western nations led by President Barack Obama united to condemn Russia, Trump declared "the people of Crimea ... would rather be with Russia."

Rather than blame Putin for his naked aggression, Trump faulted Obama, declaring in 2018, “President Obama lost Crimea because President Putin didn’t respect President Obama, didn’t respect our country and didn’t respect Ukraine.”

At the 2016 Republican National Convention, Trump’s allies weakened a platform clause reflecting GOP support for Ukraine, replacing language urging “lethal defensive weapons” for Ukraine with a softer provision urging “appropriate assistance.”

 

His administration actually increased aid to Ukraine, despite last year’s delay that led to Trump’s impeachment and frequent reports he privately condemned Ukrainian corruption.

Trump’s Helsinki summit with Putin in July 2018 provided the most public example of the American president siding with his Russian counterpart on the issue of who meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.

"President Putin says it's not Russia,” Trump said, standing next to the Russian leader. “I don't see any reason why it would be.”

Meanwhile, Putin pushed the unproven alternative explanation blaming Ukraine, a theory Trump’s own cybersecurity adviser, Thomas Bossert, said was “completely debunked.” When other advisers sought to dissuade Trump from blaming Ukraine, The Washington Post reported, he said he knew that was correct because “Putin told me.”

Some Republicans were candid about Trump and Russia before all closed ranks behind him.

Most Democrats believe that — somehow, for some reason — Putin continues to influence Trump.

“All roads lead to Putin,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last fall, explaining that’s why Trump undertook the steps leading to his impeachment: withholding U.S. aid and a promised White House meeting to convince Ukraine’s new president to reopen probes of former Vice President Joe Biden, his son and Ukraine’s 2016 role.

One day, this mystery will likely be solved. The world will learn if Trump’s motivation was his decadeslong desire for closer U.S.-Russian ties or something else.

Meanwhile, his sensitivity toward anything involving Russia continues to affect U.S. policy to a dangerous degree, something that could increase if an unfettered Trump wins a second term.

Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News and a frequent contributor. Email: [email protected]