Is Trump Making Russia Great Again

(CNN)Donald Trump is musing about how two years of his presidency have been stolen (he really wrote "stollen") and sharing a big supporter'southward Twitter post about how he deserves "reparations" because he's been bailiwick to a "insurrection" that limited his success.

This kind of authoritarian talk is the sort of thing yous might expect from a tin pot dictator or an autocrat similar Vladimir Putin. And it makes y'all wonder what the Russian and American presidents have been talking about.

Ever since he held a beauty pageant in Russia, Trump has sought to cultivate a bromance with the head homo in Moscow, musing nigh whether he would become his "new best friend" and periodically cozying up when he should accept been laying downwardly the law.

Virtually recently Donald chatted with Vlad in a lengthy gabfest -- Russia said it lasted 90 minutes -- that raised, once again, the question of whether Trump might actually desire Russia to echo the 2016 set on on the American election system because information technology may have helped him gain the Oval Role.

After his chat with Putin Friday, Trump sounded like a lovesick teen every bit he said he just knew that the guy on the other cease of the line was smiling as they discussed Russia's assail on the 2016 election. According to Trump, Putin "sort of smiled when he said something to the result that it started upwardly every bit a mount and ended upward as a mouse."

Trump said that he didn't mention anything nearly Russia targeting the 2020 election, although his ain director of national intelligence says an assault is expected. He touched lightly on Russia's electric current meddling in Venezuela and didn't mention Putin'due south efforts to gain influence in the Middle East or the Korean Peninsula. After hanging up, he tweeted, "Tremendous potential for a good/peachy relationship with Russia...Dainty!" You'd most call back he wants Putin's aid, going into the 2020 campaign.

Although it is alarming to come across an American president dominated past a Russian leader in the way Trump is being played by Putin, no mystery obscures this human relationship. The Russian president, a ruthless, KGB- trained autocrat, understands Trump's game because he has played it himself, at a college level, for decades. And surely, he recognizes in Trump much that is familiar. What they have in common, abreast the demand to deny Russian federation'due south interference in American democracy, includes:

1.) Vanity -- Trump and Putin both desire to be cute men. Vladimir works out so he tin can exist photographed in manly shirtless splendor or filmed playing hockey. Trump's herculean hairstyling efforts and orangey glow reveal an obsession with looking young.

2.) Greed -- Despite never drawing a big bacon, his critics maintain that Putin has become 1 of the richest men on world. Though he may be far less wealthy, Trump has been more open about his wealth obsession, devoting enormous effort beyond many decades to the pursuit of riches and to burnishing his epitome equally a billionaire.

three.) Lack of conscience -- Trump's vile talk has divided the country and created a mood of distrust. Under his immigration policy, children have died and families have been ripped autonomously. This record pales in comparison to Putin's brutal reign, which has seen allegations of political assassinations, which Putin has called "ungrounded," but the record suggests a common sensibility. )

4.) A penchant for lying -- As the Rand Corporation warned in 2016 written report, Putin'southward government uses a "firehose of falsehood" technique to overwhelm efforts to debunk its lies. Invariably some of the misinformation is accepted as truth. That Trump practices this lie-a-minute technique is confirmed by the fact-checkers at the Washington Mail service, who report Trump has issued more than than x,000 fake or misleading statements equally president.

5.) Cronyism -- Putin favors massively wealthy Russian oligarchs who, in plow, employ their money and influence to benefit him. This includes creating enterprises like the Internet Enquiry Bureau, which carried out internet attacks on the 2016 election. Trump's massive tax cutting benefited people at the top far more than others. Not surprisingly, rich political donors who snubbed him in the past are now funding his re-ballot campaign.

The big differences between the men fall into two categories. The first grouping tin be listed under the heading of "perspective." The 2nd could exist gathered nether the term "competence." In both, Putin holds a singled-out reward.

The Russian President'due south perspective is well-informed and oriented toward the long term. During his rise through the ranks in the KGB agent, his years in Petrograd. and his dominance in Moscow he showed a dandy center for how power is gained and used across Russian order and around the world. He recognized that the advent of control can exist virtually equally valuable every bit possessing it, and gradually made others believe his authority was even greater than it was, in fact.

At domicile and internationally, he saw opportunities to expand his influence -- usurping the Us in Syria for example -- and moved swiftly to capitalize on these openings. Along the way he played up the notion that he was restoring his land's place as a world leader, thereby highly-seasoned to Russians' patriotism.

While a younger Putin was studying Russia, the globe, and the dynamics of ability, Donald Trump spent his time in the pursuit of his own wealth and fame. Ignorant of history, science, and even how the authorities works (he thinks he can fight impeachment in the courts). Trump's perspective rarely considers much exterior of his ain personal involvement. His politics and policies revolve effectually short-term concern for his core supporters and their loyalty to him.

Putin'south advantage when it comes to competence is far more important than the border he gets from his broader perspective. In helping Trump win the 2016 election he made himself the arbiter of Trump'south legitimacy and may have planted in the President's mind twin fears.

One is Trump's fear of being unmasked as a fraud. The other is his fright that he cannot win on his own. At present that Putin holds the keys to Trump's self-image, he can count on him to dance to a Russian tune. American experts warn of Russian cyber-assailment. Trump accepts and repeats Putin'southward denials, including his claim that he isn't involved in Venezuela'southward current political crisis. Two days after Trump and Putin spoke, the foreign ministers of Russia and Venezuela met in Moscow.

With Trump nether his thumb, Putin is complimentary to cause whatever mischief he wants and to rearrange the geopolitical game -- siding with China, embracing North Korea, influencing Due south America -- without fear of being checked. For 2020, the Trump campaign slogan might also be Make Russia Peachy Once again.

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Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/06/opinions/trump-putin-make-russia-great-again-dantonio/index.html

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