In addition to Putin, Trump has previously made positive comments about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping.īut other Republicans have steered clear of admiring the Kremlin leader. Those remarks were the latest of many instances where the 45th President has approved of, or admired, authoritarian rulers. His comments on Zelensky come days after he lavished praise on Putin, calling the Kremlin leader “genius” and “savvy” in a radio interview. The former President has repeatedly praised Putin in the days since Russian troops crossed into Ukraine and began launching rocket strikes against the country’s capital of Kyiv. “Putin is playing Biden like a drum and it’s not a pretty thing to watch,” he continued.

“The problem is that our leaders are dumb… and so far, allowed him to get away with this travesty and assault on humanity.” “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which, of course, he’s smart,” Trump said.

“He’s a brave man, he’s hanging in,” Trump said of Zelensky in remarks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, even as he declined to back away from complimenting Putin as “smart.” Putin, however, got exactly what he wanted.Former President Donald Trump defended his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday while also calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a brave man” amid Russia’s deadly invasion of his country. If Trump gained anything at the summit, we don’t know what it is (other than a shiny new soccer ball). Instead, the president confirmed the Russian disinformation narrative that the United States is to blame for the nadir in relations. Trump had many opportunities to counter the Russian president but chose not to take them. To quote the writer Peter Pomerantsev, “ Nothing is true and everything is possible.” Never mind that Russia likely has little will and even less intent to enforce any such agreement-as the Obama administration also learned when trying to negotiate a Syria deal with Russia. This is where Putin had his best moment to bask in how far he’d come, from a mid-level KGB officer to a global statesman, floating above petty politics to solve geopolitical crises. Russia, in other words, is the only country that can bring these disparate states together to work toward a humanitarian solution. While Trump offered no details of a potential Syria deal in response to journalists’ questions-if only to remark that Israeli security is important and that they should do “something to help the people of Syria”-Putin took the reins to offer his vision: Russia would seek to work together with the United States, France, Turkey and Iran to ensure better protection for refugees and work toward an end to Syria’s humanitarian crisis. But even here, Trump let Putin speak for all sides.

No such deal seemed to materialize at the summit (though that may still be a possibility down the road). In the week before the Helsinki meeting, Putin hosted the Israeli prime minister and advisers to the Iranian supreme leader-seemingly in preparation to offer Russian help in moving Iranian-backed militias away from the Israeli border. On Syria, there was plenty of speculation that Putin was preparing a deal to offer Trump. Putin said for Trump what Trump was not able to say for himself. Putin said Trump’s view on Crimea is well known-that he sees the annexation as illegal-whereas Russia disagrees and sees Crimea as a closed issue. But it was Putin, not Trump, who brought up Crimea. Just a few days ago, Volker reaffirmed that the conflict in Ukraine’s east is the direct result of Russian invasion and continued occupation of the Donbas.

The Trump administration’s own special envoy for Ukraine, Ambassador Kurt Volker, has been pushing against this Russian narrative for more than a year. Trump did not dispute the Kremlin line that Ukraine was to blame for the ongoing war in its borders.

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