Former President Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for the prisoner exchange that took place this week; The Russian strongman had outwitted American officials in the biggest deal of its kind since the end of the Cold War.
“I would like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for closing a smart deal again,” the GOP candidate said Saturday at a rally in Atlanta. He added: “We have 59 hostages; I never paid anything. …Wow, we do terrible, terrible businesses. It’s great to say they were returned to us, but does that set a bad precedent?
At stake is an incredibly complex diplomatic feat, negotiated between seven countries, some of which don’t get along very well. Trump’s first intuition was to complain bitterly about the deal that brought home four U. S. citizens wrongfully imprisoned in Russia.
His instinct of the moment was to publicly congratulate, not the officials of his own country who negotiated this historic agreement, but the leader of the adversary country who wrongfully imprisoned American citizens in the first place.
As for the idea that Trump “never paid anything” to secure the release of Americans, the former president continues to lie about his record and, as the Post report adds, “authorized a settlement that sought to pay $2 million to North Korea for medical care. “Expenses in the release of Otto Warmbier.
What stands out, however, is Trump’s public praise of Putin (or more precisely, his public praise of Putin). In fact, his new congratulatory message follows that of the Republican pointing the finger at the Russian leader for validation to justify his position on Ukraine. .
This comes after the former US president’s Putin birthday party echoed his arguments about the 2024 election and Trump’s criminal accusations.
This follows Trump telling a Mar-a-Lago audience how “smart” Putin is to invade a neighboring country.
This comes after Trump described Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “great” and part of a “wonderful” strategy.
This follows years in which Trump has bowed down, genuflected and displayed abject weakness toward his Russian ally.
U. S. intelligence officials have spent months alerting the public that the Russian government has introduced a “whole-of-government” effort to influence the final results of the U. S. presidential election, hoping to return Trump to power. Last week, NBC News reported: “The U. S. intelligence network believes the Kremlin will direct its propaganda efforts at former President Donald Trump rather than Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election,” an intelligence official said Monday in a media call.
Let no one ask why.
This article updates our previous similar coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” editor-in-chief of MaddowBlog, and a political contributor to MSNBC. It is also the bestseller of “The Impostors: How Republicans Stopped Governing and Took Over American Politics. “
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