Trump's Russia love is a hard and fast reason I would not vote for him. I think his flirtations with dictators who flatter him is a flat-out disqualifier.
I imagine the excuse some of his supporters would make for this is that it is just typical Trump hyperbole, and he probably doesn't mean it. The problem with that explanation is that is not how the rest of the world, including both enemies and allies, see it.
Me too - but that is in the handling. Tumpy obviously built an opening toward better relations. He also seems to have turned the Democrats against mother Russia... An interesting confluence, that.
A friendly demeanor in such things is fine... Even a magnanimous one. After all, the very best defense against Russian aggression is very probably good business. If everybody is making money and economies are lifting because of a good relationship, it becomes a matter of Russian interest to beat their swords into plowshares - That's how Ukraine should have been handled too, btw...
So the overtures don't bother me. And in that fashion, I would give Tumpy credit... He did make that opening.
BUT (and here's the big hairy but), that is a rigorous game, both sides operating from adversarial positions - Lawyers might pick up what I'm putting down here... They live inside of a rigorously maintained formal system based in amiable adversity. Salesmanship (more Tumpy's domain) operates in a similar but loose fashion, with the lawyers taking over after the glad-handing is done.
I think Tumpy made an excellent opening. I think he made word with Putin. But that word had all the consistency of the rest of Tumpy's efforts - Gone like a fart in a windstorm the very day he left office... Leaving Russian diplomacy in the hands of the pissed off Democrats... And left Putin as the bag-holder.
I am not pro-Putin. But I do believe that decades in the political world have made him a silver fox. I do not believe he would do as he is without either a blessing from the west, or being forced into the position. I don't know what that means. But I think Tumpy cooked a deal he couldn't carry - A deal that went sour when Tumpy lost power. Whatever that deal was, it surely pissed off the Democrats, and they have jumped on Russia with all four feet.
That's what I think.
Can't prove it... Just looking at the sign.
