Trump Praises Putin: Just What Is It That Donald Trump Likes About The Russian Dictator?
As reported by CNN, the American public was treated yesterday to yet another jarring statement in which Donald Trump praised Putin, Russia’s current president. Trump’s apparent infatuation with Vladimir Putin is one of the strangest features of an already bizarre campaign season. But just what is it about this Russian oligarch that Donald Trump finds so admirable?
Btw, if you want a write-up of the presidential forum that talks about the most important moment, here you go https://t.co/eAVxYhYiEw
— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) September 8, 2016
When speaking at the NBC News Commander-In-Chief forum on Wednesday, Trump praises Putin as a strong leader. Looking at what Vladimir Putin is doing in Russia might give us a clue about what Trump feel should be done in the United States in the increasingly unlikely event Trump is actually elected president.
As Trump puts it, Putin is “more of a leader” than President Obama and is able to handle divisions within his country in a way that Obama can’t or won’t. But the reality of this in Russia is that Vladimir Putin, a former KGB operative, has reestablished the totalitarian state he remembers so fondly from the old Soviet Union. When Trump praises Putin for his high favorability ratings, he overlooks the fact that Russians having an unfavorable opinion of Putin turn up dead with some regularity.
Those high favorability numbers also reflect the fact that freedom of the press in Russia isn’t exactly alive and well. Certainly, Trump himself has a love-hate relationship with the media in the United States. He praises them when they silently listen to him, but it annoys him when they ask pesky questions about his policies and how he would actually go about implementing them.
From mocking reporters with disabilities to suggesting that Megyn Kelly was on her period when she was questioning him at the Republican Party debates, Trump apparently tries to antagonize the media whenever he can. Even aside from Trump himself, the bloviating candidate’s campaign staff also appears to have a strong disdain for reporters, either manhandling them or leaving them behind during Trump’s ill-considered trip to Mexico.
@AuntLulie @smileyt22 @Alllwftopic
I AGREE FOR ONCE: Megyn Kelly says media 'thumb on the scale' for Donald Trump. https://t.co/WvrqdqkPIB— Mahogany, MBA (@Mahogany1992) September 8, 2016
Perhaps we can assume that, in an alternate reality where Donald Trump becomes president instead of Hillary Clinton, one of the first things he would do is slash the current presidential press pool. If Trump’s praise for Putin’s strangling of the media in Russia is any indication, Trump might trim it to just Fox News and Breitbart.
Another feature of Vladimir Putin’s management of Russia that Trump almost certainly admires is his ability to combine his personal business interests with running the country. Putin operates Russia as though it were his own personal bank from which he can withdraw funds whatever he likes.
It is rumored that Putin has literally billions of dollars squirreled away from his underhanded dealings, which is a business technique the frequently shady Trump can fully understand and appreciate. In fact, Donald Trump has failed to make it clear just what he plans to do with his own business interests if he becomes president of the United States.
Virtually all modern presidents have placed their investments and businesses in the hands of a third-party-controlled blind trust to avoid any conflict of interest. However, Trump has suggested that instead of doing this, he might let his children operate his array of business enterprises. In practice, that most likely means Trump would continue running his business himself.
So it seems likely that during a Trump presidency, the line between public finances and private finances might tend to blur in a way that Vladimir Putin would recognize. Already, Donald Trump has been seen funneling money from campaign donors into his own personal coffers by forcing the campaign to buy his books and ramping up the prices he charges for the properties he’s renting to the campaign.
When Trump praises Putin, these praises should raise alarm bells in the minds of all Americans, whether they’re Republicans, Democrats or Independents. Because whatever it is that Donald Trump sees when he looks at Putin in Russia might be precisely what Trump wants to bring to America.
[Photo by Evan Vucci/AP Images]
