It’s hard to know if the former president could have said anything more disturbing as Russia bullies a much smaller country. But it is certain that in siding with the American adversary, he was true to himself.
Noting Putin’s strategy of incorrectly calling his troops “peacekeepers,” Trump told an interviewer, “that’s pretty savvy.” “It’s the strongest peacekeeping force I’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’ll keep the peace, okay.” Trump has long admired strength above all else, and his new comments about Putin are fully consistent with his longtime admiration for the Russian president.
World War II is an appropriate point of reference for anyone looking for the roots of Trump’s behavior. This war had ended the year before he was born and had shaped his mentor at the New York Military Academy, which he had attended during his middle and high school years.
If anything could be more un-American than praising an authoritarian as he invades a weaker, US-friendly democratic nation, it might add to that indecency a bit of whining about political concerns. personal.