Donald Trump has always had a soft spot for tyrant, as seen in the “love letters” he swapped with North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un. But the former president has often acted downright giddy about Russian president Vladimir Putin, and several people within Trump’s inner circle are asking him to tamp his man-crush down.
As The Daily Beast reports, even many of those people who have perfected the art of smiling and nodding along when the former president says something outrageous are bothered that instead of condemning Putin’s actions and standing with the United States in its support of Ukraine, Trump is instead describing Putin as being both “smart” and “savvy” and in a way seems to be applauding Russia’s decision to launch an attack on Ukraine.
“I was stunned to hear that,” Dan Coats, who previously served as the director of national intelligence under Trump, told The Daily Beast. “I cannot think of any other U.S. president that would in a situation like this say what he said.”
According to The Daily Beast’s Corbin Bolies and Asawin Suebsaeng:
It got to the point that by Thursday afternoon, several longtime associates who had spoken to Trump since Tuesday told him that he might want to avoid lavishing too much praise on Putin, and perhaps refrain from complimenting the Russian president’s intellect so much, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. At least one adviser recently mentioned to Trump that it would be more advantageous to simply stick to calling Biden feckless and bumbling. Neither of them had high hopes that the ex-president would take the advice.
Sounds about right.
(Via The Daily Beast)