I want to ask is there any American who thinks that Putin is more truthful than James Clapper, the former head of the CIA? Yet our president believes Putin is genuine when he denies any involvement in the U.S. election. Clapper believe that Trump is being played by Putin and I think he is right. Trump has more problems with people like John McCain, Jeff Flake, Mitt Romney, all Republicans, than with Putin. He thinks CNN is fake news and yet let Russian journalists tour the West Wing while denying American journalists. He accused China of raping our economy and said that he was going to call China a currency manipulator. Yet in China last week, he call Xi a special leader and that he doesn't blame China for the trade imbalance. Looks like he is being played by Putin AND Xi!
Lets say that Trump did not collude with Putin. Why does he like Putin so much. Well, I think he owes parts of his play book from Putin and Xi. Dictators have two big tools. Blame foreign powers or people and bring on nationalism is one. The other is try to get rid of opposition by charges like corruption or fraud. Nationalism is easy, thus Ukraine for Russia and South China Sea for China, for example. On the domestic front it is easier to get rivals for fraud and corruption than to accuse them of being against the government. Saudi Arabia just did that last week. Xi has been trumping (no pun intended) up charges for corruption in the past year. Putin is the master of this. So Trump is trying to do this by calling for America first thus spurring nationalism. It is much harder to trump up false charges and make it stick in the U.S. But the firing of Comey shows that he is not beyond what dictators might do.
So either Trump has a lot to hide or he is just wishing he can have powers like Xi and Putin. That is why he praises the Saudi government over the latest "corruption charges" against the rivals of the crown prince. I am sure that he is rooting for right wings to win in Europe as well. As of now, I have not heard what he is going to say in Manila. But I am quite sure he is not going to call out Duterte over human rights abuse under him. I don't think the term "leader of the free world" applies to the American president anymore.
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