"Commenting on Putin's invasion of Ukraine this week, Trump called Russia's leader "savvy" and praised his tactics as "genius," though he did not endorse the invasion. He also claimed that had he still been president, Putin would not have invaded Ukraine. "
What did you expect? I mean, Putin had Trump eating out of his hand, while Trump was more than eager to capitulate. Need I remind everyone of the very recent, infamous role Trump played as Putin's loyal sycophant, a role he seemed to prioritize at times over his own presidency.
Trump,
- Trump froze U.S. aide for Ukraine in it's war against Russian proxies. He repeated Russian disinformation surrounding Ukraine as well.
- Praised Putin constantly, called him a "strong leader", has peddled statements like "he's done a really great job outsmarting our country"
- Trump dismissed and cast doubt about Russian hacking, particularly when the U.S determined that Russia hacked the DNC in 2016, while ironically enough, he encouraged Russian cyber attacks on national TV saying, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,"
- When addressing Russian election interference and cyber attacks, Trump proclaimed "I don't see any reason why it would be Russia" after speaking directly with Putin, defending Russia and trusting Putin over our own intelligence agencies. Later he "corrected" himself, claiming that he meant to say "wouldn't" instead of would.
- Trump suggested the U.S. work directly with Russia on cybersecurity.
- Almost directly after the 2016 election, Trump sought to weaken U.S. sanctions on Russia, while he was even open to lifting sanctions.
- Trump dismissed the notion that Putin was a "killer", downplaying the idea that Putin resorts to using violence and oppressive tactics to crush political opponents. He defended Putin, rationalizing his ruthless despotism in the process, declaring, "There are a lot of killers. Do you think our country is so innocent?"
- Trump shared highly classified U.S. intelligence with Russian officials in the Oval Office in 2017.
- Trump repeated Kremlin talking points related to the Russian annexation of Crimea, reiterating things like, "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were."
- Trump constantly attacked NATO, aligning himself with Putin. (quite relevant)
- Trump thanked Putin for expelling hundreds of U.S. diplomats as a retaliation for sanctions.
- Trump refused to make a statement about the 10th anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war. According to John Bolton, European leaders noticed Trump's silence and "became even more concerned about American resolve."
- According to congressional testimony, Trump declined to publicly condemn a Russian attack against Ukrainian military vessels in November 2018, even though the State Department prepared a statement for him
- Trump congratulated and gave legitimacy to Putin's re election win in 2018, a victory said to "lack genuine competition"
- Sergei Skripal, an ex Russian spy that defected to the UK, was poisoned. Sanctions were announced, Trump attempted to rescind them, while asserting that the U.S. was being "too tough on Putin"
- When congress passed new sanctions against Russia in 2017, Trump was very reluctant to signing the bill, and probably wouldn't have signed it if the bill didn't pass with veto-proof majorities in both houses
- In 2017 it was reported that Trump was considering returning spy bases to Russia.
- Trump praised and highlighted pro-Russian leaders in Europe. Far right European leaders with close ties to Putin. He even met a Kremlin ally at the Whitehouse.
- When Trump withdrew troops from Syria, it gave Russia and Putin an opportunity to control abandoned U.S. outposts and checkpoints.
- Trump made requests to bring Russia back into the G7 and invited Putin to the 2020 G7 summit
While that's certainly not everything, particularly when it comes to circumstances related to Trump's first impeachment, where he was impeached for withholding aid to Ukraine in return for "dirt" on Joe Biden, and not to mention Trump's general support for Russian disinformation and lies centered around this very conflict and the justifications from Putin himself that served as a pretext to war. I don't think I've included anything related to the Mueller investigation either, but at this point, It would just be redundant. Hell, you could make the argument that this entire post is redundant, it's pretty clear where Trump's allegiances lie.
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