Trump sides with Putin as Biden tries to stop a war

 

It took only 24 hours for Donald Trump to hail Russian President Vladimir Putin's dismembering of independent, democratic, sovereign Ukraine as an act of "genius."

The former President often accuses his enemies falsely of treason, but his own giddy rush to side with a foreign leader who is proving to be an enemy of the United States and the West is shocking even by Trump's self-serving standards.

As President Joe Biden reprises the fabled presidential role of leading the free world, the predecessor who wants to succeed him is showing Putin that impunity, dictator-coddling and hero worship will return if he wins back the White House. Trump's remarks on a conservative radio show on Tuesday will not only find a warm welcome in the Kremlin. They also will concern allies standing alongside the US against Russia who fear for NATO's future if Trump returns.

Trump also sent an unmistakable message to Republicans, who are already playing into Putin's hands by branding the current President as weak, that siding with a US foe is the way into the ex-President's affections ahead of this year's midterm primaries.

Trump didn't take long to make sure Putin knew he approved of his movement of troops into parts of eastern Ukraine, knowing that his comments would be picked up and beamed around the world.

"I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful," Trump said in an interview on "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show."

The ex-President added: "So Putin is now saying, 'It's independent,' a large section of Ukraine. I said, 'How smart is that?' And he's going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That's the strongest peace force," Trump said. "We could use that on our southern border. That's the strongest peace force I've ever seen. ... Here's a guy who's very savvy. ... I know him very well. Very, very well."

Trump was referring to Putin's declaration on Monday that he would regard two rebel regions of eastern Ukraine, where he has been fostering separatism, as independent and his order for Russian troops, which Putin misleadingly called "peacekeeping" forces, to reinforce the enclaves. The move was a flagrant violation of international law, was resonant of the tyrannical territorial aggrandizement of the 1930s that led to World War II and was, as Biden said on Tuesday, tantamount to "the beginning of a Russian invasion."

In effect, the ex-President is trying to undermine US foreign policy as the current President tries to stop a war that could kill thousands of people and threaten the post-Cold War peace.

But it's unsurprising Trump would praise anything Putin does, given his genuflecting to the Russian leader while in office. Given that he tried to stage a coup that would have destroyed US democracy, it's hardly shocking either that he's not fretting at the loss of Ukrainian freedom. Trump once stood side by side with Putin at a Helsinki summit and trashed US intelligence agencies that said Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election to help him. And Trump tainted Ukrainian democracy himself, seeking to extort President Volodymyr Zelensky into announcing an investigation into his then-Democratic rival, Biden -- an abuse of power that earned him the first of his historic two impeachments.

More than the average Trump controversy

In the hierarchy of vital news stories on Tuesday, the ex-President's boastful ramblings pale in significance to the alarming events in Eastern Europe. But his comments amounted to more than the normal carnival barking and prioritizing of personal obsessions over national interests for which Trump is known.

No other living former president would dream of, let alone get away with, lionizing a Russian leader who may soon be waging the biggest war in Europe since World War II after declaring on Monday that Ukraine has no right to exist.

But Trump's status as the likely favorite for the Republican nomination in 2024 -- and the possibility that he could return to power -- takes his latest crowing over Putin's gangsterism to a new level. He's sending the promise of future favors and approval of Putin's illegal land seizures, which suggest he would do little to reverse them as president.

Trump's latest idolization of Putin is likely to widen the growing divide in the GOP between traditional hawks, who have sometimes praised Biden for standing up to the Russian leader, and pro-Trump lawmakers -- and conservative media stars like Tucker Carlson -- who have sided with Putin.

Trump's former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, a possible future Republican presidential candidate, also recently praised Putin, a scourge of democracy, as a "very talented" and gifted statesman. "He was a KGB agent for goodness sakes. He knows how to use power. We should respect that," Pompeo told Fox in January.

The fact that this is coming from leading members of the party of ex-President Ronald Reagan, who beseeched then-Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" in divided Berlin and was credited with winning the Cold War, represents a startling transformation. And it shows how far the GOP has traveled away from its respect for fundamental US democratic values in the pursuit of power.

Some Republicans have been more subtle in their criticism of Biden. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has backed the President's effort to unite Western allies behind the US in order to confront Putin and is in favor of strong sanctions to punish the Russian leader. But not for the first time on Tuesday, the Kentucky Republican demonstrated that he was ready to play the game at both ends -- accusing Biden of causing the crisis through weakness.

"I don't believe Vladimir Putin would have a couple of hundred thousand troops on the border with Ukraine had we not precipitously withdrawn from Afghanistan last August," McConnell said in Lexington on Tuesday. "The impression we have left, first with the abandonment of Afghanistan, is that America is not interested in playing as large a leadership role as we used to."

McConnell is tapping into a sentiment shared by many Americans of both parties that the US evacuation from Afghanistan last year was chaotic and poorly planned and hurt perceptions of Biden's leadership abroad. At the same time, however, Biden's leadership in this crisis has been more assured. He has, for instance, brought NATO members closer than they have been in many years.

The idea that Biden is weak in the face of Putin is sure to play out on the midterm campaign trail all year. But the fact that Republicans are laying such a charge following their complicity in Trump's obsequious attitude toward Putin is hypocritical and absurd. The House Republican leadership, which is in Trump's pocket, accused Biden of "appeasement" on Tuesday -- the same day that their de facto leader described Putin as a "genius."

Trump's repeated fawning over Putin

While the last administration often laid out a firm stance against Russia, it was repeatedly undermined by Trump's gushing admiration for Putin in public and his habit of making impulsive decisions that played into Russia's foreign policy goals, including the US withdrawal from northern Syria.

Trump lauded Putin in the interview Tuesday as a "tough cookie" who loves his country and he insisted that he had stopped Putin from invading Ukraine on his watch.

"I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it. I said, 'You can't do it. You're not going to do it.' But I could see that he wanted it," the former President said. In reality, Trump suggested during his 2016 campaign that Russia could keep Crimea, another Ukrainian territory which Putin had annexed in 2014. "The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were," Trump said, parroting a Kremlin talking point.

The idea that Trump's toughness prevented Putin from invading Ukraine is undermined not only by his chummy exchanges with a leader who imprisoned opponents and presides over a country where journalists are often killed.

One of the goals of Putin's pressure on Ukraine -- as he has made repeatedly clear -- is to drive NATO back to its boundaries at the end of the Cold War and to divide the Western alliance. With Trump in power, the Russian leader didn't need to bother with the latter goal, since his counterpart in the White House frequently berated trans-Atlantic allies and cozied up to US enemies.

And it's not as if Putin let up on America when Trump was in power. Cyberattacks emanating from Russian soil also took place throughout the Trump presidency, including the SolarWinds operation that breached US federal agencies. Supposed respect for the US didn't stop Russian agents from using a biological weapon on British soil to poison a defector, according to the UK government.

There are multiple documented instances of Trump being soft on Putin. And GOP criticisms of Biden as failing to stand up to Putin conveniently forget Trump's notorious Helsinki news conference, not to mention the multiple strange contacts between his 2016 campaign team and Russian outsiders.

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Ukrainian official tells CNN Biden's call with Ukrainian President 'did not go well' but White House disputes account

 

A call between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday "did not go well," a senior Ukrainian official told CNN, amid disagreements over the "risk levels" of a Russian attack.

The White House, however, disputed the official's account, warning that anonymous sources were "leaking falsehoods." They did state that Biden warned Zelensky an imminent invasion is a "distinct possibility."

On the call, which the Ukrainian official described as "long and frank," Biden warned his Ukrainian counterpart that a Russian attack may be imminent, saying that an invasion was now virtually certain, once the ground had frozen later in February, according to the official.

Zelensky, however, restated his position that the threat from Russia remains "dangerous but ambiguous," and it is not certain that an attack will take place, the official said.

National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne disputed the senior Ukrainian official's description of the call. "Anonymous sources are 'leaking' falsehoods," she told CNN. "President Biden said that there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February. He has said this publicly and we have been warning about this for months. Reports of anything more or different than that are completely false."

The frank discussion between the two leaders comes as the US and NATO continue to brace for the prospect of a Russian invasion. Though they have stressed the need for diplomacy, the White House has warned an invasion could be imminent with tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border.

The call lasted an hour and 20 minutes Thursday, according to a US national security official, highlighting the extensive issues the two leaders had to discuss amid the Russian troop buildup. The official described the call as "long and serious," but "productive," as Biden and Zelensky discussed Russia's recent aggressions.

Biden told Zelensky that US officials have assessed an invasion could potentially happen in February, but did not say it definitely would, the official said.

White House says Biden promised US would 'respond decisively' if Russia invades

A White House readout of the call said that Biden "reaffirmed" to Zelensky that the United States would "respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine." Biden also said the US will explore "additional macroeconomic support" to help the Ukrainian economy as a result of Russia's military buildup.

"President Biden noted the United States has provided Ukraine with over half a billion dollars in development and humanitarian assistance in the last year, and is exploring additional macroeconomic support to help Ukraine's economy amidst pressure resulting from Russia's military build-up," the White House said in the readout.

A spokesman for Zelensky also disputed the Ukrainian official's characterization of the call. Zelensky tweeted that he and Biden had a long call where they "discussed recent diplomatic efforts on de-escalation and agreed on joint actions for the future." The Ukrainian President said he thanked Biden for the ongoing military assistance and said "possibilities for financial support to Ukraine were also discussed."

The senior Ukrainian official, however, told CNN that Biden said Ukraine would not be offered significantly more military help.

Zelensky urged his American counterpart to "calm down the messaging," warning of the economic impact of panic, according to the official. He also said Ukrainian intelligence sees the threat differently.

The Ukrainian leader pointed to a recent breakthrough in negotiations with Russia in Paris, saying that he hoped a ceasefire agreement with rebels in eastern Ukraine would be maintained. He also said the talks between the US, Russia and NATO still had some distance to run before diplomatic efforts had been exhausted, the official said.

Earlier in the day, another source from the US side said there is a recognition in the White House that Zelensky has "multiple audiences" and is trying to balance them. "On the one hand, he wants assistance, but he has to assure his people he has the situation under control. That's a tricky balance," the source said.

Pentagon says Russian buildup is continuing

Russia's military buildup along the Ukrainian border has increased over the past 24 hours, the Pentagon said Thursday, while the US awaits Russian President Vladimir Putin's response to its written proposals submitted to Moscow on Wednesday.

"We continue to see, including in the last 24 hours, more accumulation of credible combat forces arrayed by the Russians in, again, the western part of their country and in Belarus," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at a press briefing.

Kirby described the buildup as "not dramatic" but "also not sclerotic."

The US is still holding out hope that diplomatic efforts with Russia can lead to a de-escalation. On Wednesday, the US and NATO submitted separate written responses to Russia's publicly aired concerns, an overture that Moscow had requested. While the US did not disclose what was contained in the document, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Wednesday it did not give any ground NATO's "open-door policy," leaving the US at odds with Russia's central demand that NATO commit to never admitting Ukraine.

Putin has read the responses from the US and NATO, a Kremlin spokesman said Thursday, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said they failed to address Russia's primary concerns.

"There is no positive reaction on the main issue in this document," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. "The main issue is our clear position on the inadmissibility of further expansion of NATO to the East and the deployment of strike weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation."

Blinken said Thursday he had "heard a variety of initial responses from different people in Russia to the paper that we shared with them, as well as to the paper that NATO shared with them."

"But the response that counts is President Putin's response, and to the best of our understanding, according the Russians, these papers are on his desk," he said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"And we'll look forward to his response, which I'm sure will be conveyed through Foreign Minister Lavrov and others in the days ahead. That's what matters most," he said.

On Thursday evening, US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called for a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis to take place on Monday.

US officials have continued to emphasize they were prepared to act regardless of whether Russia pursues diplomacy or further aggression toward Ukraine, and on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that "nothing is off the table" when it comes to sanctions should Moscow invade -- including killing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany and removing Russia from SWIFT international payment system.

"The commission is responsible for designing, shaping and developing the sanctions," von der Leyen told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. "We are very clear that if there is any further aggression or military aggression of Russia against Ukraine, there will be massive consequences, and severe costs for Russia."

Pentagon details troops on heightened alert

Earlier this week, as many as 8,500 US troops were placed on heightened alert to prepare to deploy to Eastern Europe. Those troops include elements of the 82nd airborne division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as well as elements of the 18th Airborne Corps, the 101st Airborne Division and the Fourth Infantry Division, Kirby said Thursday.

These units include "medical support, aviation support, logistical support" and "combat formation," the Pentagon spokesman said.

Inside Europe, Kirby said top general of US European Command, Gen. Tod Wolters, was "taking prudent steps" to make sure that US troops based in Europe could be moved within the continent if needed.

The Pentagon was "not ruling out" the possibility that forces in Europe could be moved to "help bolster capabilities of NATO allies," Kirby said.

CNN reported Wednesday that the US and a handful of allies are in discussions to deploy thousands more troops to Eastern European NATO countries before any potential Russian invasion of Ukraine as a show of support in the face of Moscow's ongoing aggression, according to three US officials familiar with the discussions.

Among the countries considering accepting the deployments are Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The deployments would number approximately 1,000 personnel to each country and would be similar to the forward battle groups currently stationed in the Baltic States and Poland.

"We take our NATO commitment seriously. And we're going to be consulting with allies as we have been certainly in coming days. And if there's ways in which we can help bolster their capabilities to help their defensive postures, we're going to take a serious look at that," Kirby said.

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