Trump

[Bazile]

Donald Trump says if he was in the whitehouse , Putin would not have invaded the Ukraine .

Would that be because they are mates and Putin would have listened to him OR is it because ( as some think ) that Trump is a bit of a wild one and Putin would have feared what Trump's response would have been?

Would the world be a safer place if Trump was in the Whitehouse ? - (He also said that Putins going into the Ukraine was an act of genius )

He also says that he won two elections and will run again in 2024.

[jourdain2]

I rather think that Putin might have hesitated if Trump were in power.

[jim360]

We'll never know. But at the very least, there are clearly plenty of other factors in play than who is the US President. For example, Putin has spent a great deal of the Covid pandemic being isolated; Putin has spent the last couple of years narrowing his inner circle of advisers to remove dissent; and Putin, who's probably always had half an eye on Ukraine and clearly resents its existence based on that deranged speech before this war, might have felt encouraged by watching the collapse of Afghanistan into thinking that something similar would happen here.

Some or all of these will have influenced his thinking, and are far more pertinent factors. And, since NATO wouldn't have intervened militarily regardless, then at the very least I'm unclear what exactly Trump could have said or done, even assuming he *would* have been tougher-sounding against a Ukrainian invasion, that would have changed Putin's mind.

[tomus42]

Putin would have done exactly the same had Trump been in power. The difference is that Trump wouldn't have responded with any sanctions on Russia.

They are not mates. Trump admires Putin, but Putin regards Trump as a useful idiot. It's like Hitler and Mussolini.