Trump and Putin, behind the scenes

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“This is genius,” former President Trump declared as Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declared it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.” “Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine,” he repeated. “How smart is that? And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper.”  At a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, the former president could barely contain himself: “I mean, he’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions. I’d say that’s pretty smart.” In his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference last Saturday, Trump belatedly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but he doubled down on his claims that Putin was “smart” and that the leaders of Western Europe were “dumb.” Trump’s praise of Putin isn’t surprising. Dictators — not small-d democrats — have long been his role models.

Forget the critics, listen to Trump — and consider his role models | TheHill