Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin (analysis)

(CNN) – Donald Trump took 24 hours to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fragmentation of independent, democratic and sovereign Ukraine as the work of a “genius.”

The former president often falsely accuses his opponents of treason, but the side of a foreign leader who proves to be the enemy of the United States and the West is shocked by his own stalemate over Trump’s self-serving standards.

When he was president of the United States, Joe Biden, Re-enacting the role of the legendary president who will lead the free world, showing Putin that if he wants to succeed his predecessor, the White House will regain impunity, dictators and hero worship. Trump’s comments on a conservative radio show on Tuesday will not only find a warm welcome in the Kremlin. If Trump returns, they will also worry about allies that stand with the United States against Russia, which fears the future of NATO.

Trump has sent a clear message to Republicans who are already playing into Putin’s hands, branding the current president weak, and leaning with the primary American opponent ahead of this year’s midterm elections is the path to the former president’s affection.

It did not take long for Trump to confirm that Putin had endorsed his troop movement in some parts of eastern Ukraine, and his comments would be picked up and broadcast around the world.

“I went there yesterday and there was a TV screen, and I said, ‘This is awesome.’ Putin declares most of Ukraine, in Ukraine, Putin declares it freely. Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump said in an interview. The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show “.

The former president added: “So now Putin is saying, ‘This is independence, a large part of Ukraine. I’m saying,’ How smart is that? ‘ And he’s going to go in and be a pacifist. That’s a strong peacekeeping force, “Trump said. “We can use it on our southern frontier. That’s the strongest peacekeeper I’ve ever seen … here’s a smart guy … I know him very well. Very good.”

On Monday, Trump noted that he was considering two independent territories in eastern Ukraine that could provoke separatism and that Putin had misquoted the order to send Russian troops to what he called “guard” forces. Strengthen the habitats. The move is a blatant violation of international law, echoing the territorial expansion of the 1930s, which led to World War II, which Biden said on Tuesday was equated with “the beginning of the Russian invasion.”

In fact, the former president is trying to undermine US foreign policy, while the current president is trying to stop the war that could kill thousands and threaten post-Cold War peace.

But while in office, it is not surprising that Trump praised Putin for giving the Russian leader anything he could do. Given that he was trying to stage a coup that would destroy American democracy, it is not surprising that he is not worried about Ukraine losing its independence. Trump once sided with Putin at the Helsinki summit and tore up US intelligence agencies, claiming that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election to help him. Trump sought to destabilize Ukrainian democracy and intimidate President Volodymyr Jலlensky into announcing an investigation into his then-democratic rival, Biden, whose abuse of power topped the list of two historic allegations.

Beyond the average former president controversy

In the wake of Tuesday’s headlines, the former president ‘s boastful remarks were significant for the dangerous events in Eastern Europe. But his comments were more than ordinary festival rhetoric and Trump prioritized personal outbursts over known national interests.

After declaring on Monday that Ukraine has no right to exist, no other living former president would dream of talking about a Russian leader who could soon wage the biggest war in Europe since World War II.

But Trump’s position as a pioneer for the 2024 Republican nominee and the possibility of him returning to power takes his latest boast of Putin’s thugs to a whole new level. He sends word of future aid and approval to Putin’s illegal land grabs, suggesting he can do little to replace them as president.

Trump’s recent Putin idolization will widen growing divisions in the GOP, with pro-Trump lawmakers and Republican conservative stars, at times, praising Bitten about the Russian leader. The media, such as Tucker Carlson, sided with Putin.

Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, even the future Republican presidential candidate, recently hailed Putin as the “most capable” and capable politician, the whip of democracy. “He was a KGB agent for God’s sake. He knows how to use power. We must respect that,” Pompeo told Fox in January.

This comes from leading members of former President Ronald Reagan’s party, which told then-Soviet Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in the divided Berlin, and the fact that it had claimed victory in the Cold War reflects significant change. It shows how far the Republican Party has strayed from paying homage to America’s key democratic values ​​in its quest for power.

Some Republicans are very sophisticated in criticizing Pita. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell backed Putin’s attempt by the president to mobilize Western allies behind the United States and strong obstacles to punishing the Russian leader. But on Tuesday, not for the first time, the Republic of Kentucky showed readiness to play the game on both fronts, accusing Biden of causing the crisis by weakness.

“I do not think Vladimir Putin will have two million troops on the Ukrainian border if we do not leave Afghanistan in a hurry last August,” McConnell told Lexington on Tuesday. “The first impression we left of leaving Afghanistan was that the United States was not interested in playing a bigger leadership role than it had before.”

McConnell taps into a sentiment shared by many Americans on both sides that last year’s US withdrawal from Afghanistan was confusing and poorly planned and damaged ideas about Biden’s leadership abroad. However, at the same time, Biden’s leadership was more credible in this crisis. For example, it has brought NATO members closer than it has been for years.

The idea that Biden is weak against Putin is sure to play into the interim campaign throughout the year. But it is hypocritical and absurd to bring up such an accusation after Republicans have been complicit in Trump’s derogatory attitude towards Putin. The House Republican leadership, which is in Trump’s pocket, on Tuesday accused Biden of “pacifying” her, and on the same day described its true leader, Putin, as a “genius.”

Trump repeatedly praised Putin

Although the previous administration has often taken a strong stance against Russia, it has been repeatedly undermined by public praise for Trump and Putin’s habit of making disruptive decisions that play into Russia’s foreign policy goals, including the withdrawal of the United States from northern Syria.

In an interview on Tuesday, Trump praised Putin as a “tough man who loves his country” and stressed that Putin had prevented him from invading Ukraine under his rule.

“I know he always wants Ukraine. I will talk to him about it. I said, ‘You can’t. You’re not going to do it,’ but I could see he wanted it,” he said. Trump actually recommended it during his 2016 campaign. “The people of Crimea, from what I have heard, are more with Russia than they were,” Trump said. Said, repeating the Kremlin speech.

The idea that Trump’s toughness prevented Putin from invading Ukraine was only undermined by his friendly exchanges with a leader who imprisoned his enemies and headed to a country where journalists are often killed.

One of the goals of Putin’s pressure on Ukraine, as he has repeatedly made clear, is to push NATO to its borders at the end of the Cold War and split the Western alliance. With Trump in power, the Russian leader need not worry about the latter goal, as his White House representative often scolds Atlantic allies and befriends America’s enemies.

It is not as if Putin left the United States when Trump was in power. Cyber ​​attacks on Russian soil have occurred during Trump’s presidency, during which Solar Winds operation violated US federal agencies. .

There have been several documented cases of Trump being lenient with Putin. The GOP’s criticism of Biden for failing to stand up to Putin conveniently forgets Trump’s ill-fated Helsinki press conference, noting the many odd links between his 2016 campaign team and Russian outsiders.