Former President Donald Trump has weird, unhealthy relationships with many world leaders. This is a man who’s admitted to falling in love with North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un. He approvingly cites the claim by Viktor Orban, Hungary’s quasi-authoritarian leader, that Trump is the “most respected, most feared” leader in the world. He’s regularly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he infamously tried to shake down for dirt on his 2020 presidential rival, Joe Biden.
However, there is no more bizarre or deeply uncomfortable relationship than the one between Trump and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
In the latest saga of Donald and Vlad, as revealed in Bob Woodward’s new book, “War,” Trump secretly sent Covid testing kits to Putin. This was happening at the same time that Americans were desperate for Covid testing. Trump’s generosity with Putin stands in sharp and bewildering contrast to his demand during the height of the pandemic that Democratic governors show appropriate deference to him in return for lifesaving supplies. Trump showed more concern for the health of Vladimir Putin, a brutal authoritarian dictator with ample blood on his hands, than he did for Americans.
There is no more bizarre or deeply uncomfortable relationship than the one between Trump and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
Woodward also reports that Trump may have spoken to Putin as many as seven times since 2021 — including a call early this year in which Trump reportedly shooed an aide out of the room to speak privately with the Russian president (no other media outlet has confirmed Woodward’s reporting). All this was happening at the same time that Trump pushed congressional Republicans to block renewed military assistance for Ukraine.
What could these two men need to discuss? It’s anyone’s guess, but it seems unlikely that Trump was counseling the Russian president to remove his armies from Ukraine, which Putin invaded in 2022.
Indeed, as Woodward notes, Trump has had nothing but praise for Putin’s decision to invade his Western neighbor. He’s publicly described Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s easternmost provinces as a “genius” move and called the Russian dictator a “very savvy guy.”
In February 2022, he said of Putin that he is “pretty smart” for having “taken over a country for $2 worth of sanctions, really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people — and just walking right in.”
All of this, of course, follows a pattern that’s been evident since Trump entered public life. He simply can’t quit Vladimir Putin.
Over and over again, he has deferred to the Russian leader. Only a few weeks into his presidency, he brushed away concerns that Putin is a “killer” (which he is) by besmirching the one he ran, “You think our country’s so innocent?”
Trump simply can’t quit Vladimir Putin.
According to a report in The New York Times this week, in July 2017, he met with Putin in Hamburg, Germany, “armed with hawkish talking points drawn up by his advisers.” But instead of raising them, he asked Putin what he thought about sending arms to Ukraine. Putin told him it would be a “mistake” and Trump never pushed back.
In 2018, at an infamous press conference with Putin in Helsinki, Trump said he believed the Russian president when he said that he hadn’t interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election — a view that stood in stark contrast to the consensus view among America’s intelligence agencies.
As recently as last month’s presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, he refused to say that he wanted Ukraine to win its war against Russia and has been notably vague as to whether he would continue U.S. support for Kyiv if he wins the presidency in November. Conspiracy theorists will likely argue that Trump’s deference to Putin is further evidence that he is blackmailing Trump or that the former president is a Russian agent. But the more likely explanation lies in Trump’s fragile and paper-thin ego. In his interviews with Woodward, Trump falls back on his usual explanation that it’s a good thing to be friends with Russia, “especially because they have 1,332 nuclear f—— warheads and they work.” But dig a little deeper and the real truth emerges. “Nobody ever has been tougher on Russia than me,” Trump told Woodward. “Putin respects me. And I respect Putin. I think Putin likes me. I think I like him. I do like him.” If there is one defining characteristic of Trump’s emotional makeup, it is an overweening desire for constant validation — particularly from men. The fact that Putin “likes” him is far more important to Trump than the threat the Russian leader represents to American interests, U.S. allies or global stability. Indeed, it’s why Trump’s closest relationship with a foreign leader was with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who went out of his way to cultivate a close, personal relationship with him — and reaped the policy benefits. It’s why Trump went from deriding North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “rocket man” to boasting about the love letters he received from him. If there is one defining characteristic of Trump’s emotional makeup, it is an overweening desire for constant validation — particularly from men. The Trump-Putin relationship can perhaps best be explained by a team of psychologists. But whatever the reason, it should seriously concern the American electorate. Is there any reason to believe that Trump will uphold U.S. national security interests if that means upsetting a man who he believes “respects” him? If Russia attacks a NATO country, how confident can they be that America will come to their defense? If Putin continues interfering in U.S. elections, will Trump say anything? (The answer is almost certainly “no” since such interference has always benefited Trump.) If Trump is elected, the occupant of the Oval Office will not only likely defer to Putin, but may also subsume U.S. interests to those of Russia. That’s worse than just weird — it’s downright terrifying.
Michael Cohen is an MSNBC columnist. He is also the publisher of the newsletter Truth and Consequences and hosts the weekly podcast That ‘70s Movie Podcast. 
