Trumps Zuneigung zu Russland ist kein Geheimnis

Jonathan Chait: “A large majority of the Republican Party, including many officials who initially viewed Donald Trump with deep skepticism, decided early in Trump’s first term that the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election were the hysterical product of Trump Derangement Syndrome in the Deep State and the media. There was no mystery to solve, no scandal to uncover, in Trump’s affinity for Vladimir Putin. And yet this strange alliance continues to bedevil American foreign policy.

“On Friday afternoon, Trump announced that he had held another call with Putin, and came away once again depicting the Russian dictator as a cherished friend to whom he owes a great deal. ‘I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter,’ he wrote on Truth Social …

“Trump typically depicts international trade in starkly mercantilist terms. Exports, in his mind, are a form of profit, and imports are a loss. Trump sees trade deficits as a form of theft, and conceives of a ‘good deal’ as one in which the United States reduces its imports or increases its exports. This holds true of all goods, including oil … Yet when it comes to imports from Russia, Trump inverts his standard accounting methods. He presents Russian oil as a kind of gift, something Putin plans to ‘supply.’ (A more accurate verb to describe this transaction would be *sell*.)

“In reality, diesel fuel exists in a global market, and adding a small amount of Russian diesel into this enormous international supply would have a barely detectable effect upon its price. A more important effect would be on the Russian economy. Economic sanctions have hampered its ability to attract foreign currency, and the Trump-Putin plan would suspend sanctions on Russian diesel exports. Doing so would in fact appear to violate American law, which prohibits importing oil from Russia unless it makes peace with Ukraine …

“There is no universally agreed-upon explanation for why Trump has remained so consistently faithful to Putin … Explaining the depth of Trump’s identification with Putin may require looking at a possibility that conservatives have been dismissing out of hand for a decade.”

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Is it because he’s stupid and easily manipulated? I’m gonna guess its because he’s stupid and easily manipulated.

I think it’s largely because he respects and envies dictators with a certain aura. The Venezuelans and Iranians don’t have it. But Putin and Xi do. I suspect North Korea attracts him due to the wild personality cult, which is the holy grail for a narcissist.