Vladimir Putin And Donald Trump: Budding Bromance Emerges Between Russian Leader And US Tycoon
Russian leader Vladimir Putin praised U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump during his annual news conference on Thursday. Putin noted that Trump was the “absolute front-runner we see today in the presidential race.” Putin applauded Trump as a “talented” and “very colorful” person that he would absolutely welcome as President of the United States of America. Putin said that electing Trump would absolutely result in “closer and deeper relations” between the United States and Russia should the American people vote him into office.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in his annual new conference address, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the upcoming presidential race in the United States. Putin praised presidential hopeful and business tycoon Donald Trump, noting that if the businessman were elected into office as the President of the United States of America, relations would be greatly improved with Russia as he would welcome Trump openly.
“He [Donald Trump] says he wants to move to another level of relations, to closer and deeper relations with Russia, how can we not welcome that? Of course we welcome it.”
The budding bromance between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin seemingly began during the CNN GOP debate in which Trump noted that he would reapproach the Kremlin and vowed to get along well with the Russian president. However, the bromance between Trump and Putin isn’t just one-sided. Trump has openly praised Putin for his leadership skills on numerous occasions, noting that he has a very high approval rating in Russia.
Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned that he jointly appeared on 60 Minutes this fall with the Russian leader and said that the pair are “stablemates.” In the interview above on Fox News, Trump noted that Putin is a “strong, tough and respected leader,” and he’s “making Obama look bad.” Trump says that when he notes Putin is a strong leader that does not mean Putin is either bad or good, but rather respected by those in his country which is proven by his consistently high approval rating in the Russian general public.
“I think that I would at the same time get along very well with him. He does not like Obama at all. He doesn’t respect Obama at all. And I’m sure that Obama doesn’t like him very much. But I think that I would probably get along with him very well. And I don’t think you’d be having the kind of problems that you’re having right now.”
According to the New York Times, Putin praised Trump but stopped short of advocating that the America people should vote for him in the upcoming election. Instead, Putin said that the election is up to the American people but that he feels relations between the U.S. and Russia would be improved should Trump win the presidency. He also noted that according to current polls and standings, Trump is the “absolute front-runner” in the American presidential race.
Trump is somewhat alone in his stance that the United States should allow Russia to continue its fight against ISIS in Syria, as other GOP candidates say we should take a strong-arm stance against Russia. Presidential hopeful Chris Christie went so far as to say during the CNN GOP debate that he would have no issue shooting down Russian planes if they entered Syrian airspace following a imposed flight restriction in the area.
Donald Trump does not agree with that assessment and says that we should allow Russia to continue their fight against ISIS because ultimately we want to get rid of ISIS too.
“Russia wants to get rid of ISIS. We want to get rid of ISIS. Maybe let Russia do it. Let them get rid of ISIS. What the hell do we care?”
What do you think of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s praise of presidential hopeful Donald Trump? Do you think the budding bromance between Trump and Putin will continue until next year’s election?
[Image via AP]
