Even after Donald Trump faced pushback from his own allies over his praise for Vladimir Putin, the former president still can’t help himself.
Reflecting on authoritarian models, the former American president added, “The smartest one gets to the top.”
But as is often the case, Trump also singled out Russia’s Vladimir Putin for praise.
“They ask me if Putin is smart. Yes, Putin was smart. And I actually thought he was going to be negotiating. And I said, ‘That’s a hell of a way to negotiate, put 200,000 soldiers on the border.’ It shouldn’t have happened…. He made a big mistake. I think he made a big mistake…. But it looked like a great negotiation that didn’t work out too well for him.”The war in Ukraine has shattered the myth of Putin as some kind of brilliant tactician and strategic mastermind. To the extent that the Russian leader was perceived as a competent strategist, the world now knows better.
The rhetoric came about a month after the former president Trump praised Putin’s efforts in Ukraine as “genius” and “very savvy.”