The AP is reporting that Vladimir Putin likes Donald Trump. He really likes him.
“I have no disappointment at all,” Putin said when asked about the U.S. president. “Moreover, on a personal level he made a very good impression on me.”
“It’s possible to negotiate with him, to search for compromises,” Putin added.
It does seem safe to say that no one is more compromised than Trump. And apparently unlike previous American presidents, Trump doesn’t make unreasonable demands that Putin concern himself over human rights, press freedom or pesky national boundaries. Trump is willing to compromise by not imposing Russian sanctions and not spending a dime of the funds set aside to battle Russian interference in American elections. Compromise. Surrender. Sometimes it’s the same thing.
While Putin had nothing but nice things to say about Trump, he was less effusive about Western leaders who had supported Democracy in Ukraine and sanctioned Russia for invading the country and occupying Crimea. He stated that Russia was destined to triumph, and had some less than warm words for those who got in its way.
“Those who serve us with poison will eventually swallow it and poison themselves,” he said.
A very interesting statement considering that a former Russian spy who brought secrets to the West is currently in a British hospital, along with his daughter, suffering from an unknown poison.
Many of Putin’s statements seemed designed to serve as pats to Trump’s hair-hatted head. But Putin also mentioned how he talked with Melania, telling her stories of his many outdoor adventures with “bears on Kamchatka and tigers in the Far East.”
And then the AP asked Putin if he had tried to recruit Melania Trump as a Russian agent.
… the KGB veteran responded by saying: “No, I stopped dealing with that a long time ago.”
He added with a smile: “But I liked doing that, it was my job for many years.”
A good recruiter knows to reach out to someone who’s in pain. Feeling isolated. Harboring feelings of neglect and abuse.
And while Putin may have said good things about Trump by name, he did have a few comments about Western leaders who were allowing Russia to behave if they were still a great power.
“If we play strongly with weak cards, it means the others are just poor players, they aren’t as strong as it seemed, they must be lacking something.”
Meanwhile, for those who think of crossing Putin, that sickened spy remains an object lesson.
His wife, elder brother and son have all died in recent years.