Patton: Trump's Bromance With Putin Continues

(Photo by Gage Skidmore)

Donald Trump is having a "love affair" with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, the United States' long-time adversary. Why?

In his continuing efforts to re-establish the Soviet Union and weaken NATO, Putin has (a) gone to war in 2008 with neighboring Georgia, (b) in 2014 militarily intervened in a civil war in eastern Ukraine (c) took over Crimea, and (d) threatened the current independent status of former Russian-dominated republics of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

This year, In order to embarrass the United States and demonstrate our vulnerability, Russia under the leadership of Putin hacked into communications at the Democratic National Committee and gained access to personal information contained in voter data files in Illinois and Arizona.

Vladimir Putin is no friend of the United State. And yet Donald Trump is a great admirer of Putin. Never before in the history of American politics has a major party presidential candidate warmly embraced a foreign leader whose actions are designed to undermine and damage the United States.

"Trump has continually praised Mr. Putin's government. He has hailed Mr. Putin's tight control over Russian society; hinted that he may not defend the NATO-aligned Baltic nations formerly in Moscow's sphere of influence, and for a time employed a campaign chief with close ties to Ukraine's pro-Russian forces.

Most extraordinarily, he used a news conference over the summer to urge the Russians to hack into Mrs. Clinton's emails to find messages the F.B.I. might have missed." (Jonathan Martin and Amy Chronic, New York Times, 09/08/2016).

Apparently, Trump's friendship is easily won. Trump likes people who praise him; he dislikes those who criticize him. Says Trump about Putin. "If he says great things about me, I'm going to say great things about him."

That is not surprising given Trump's ego and vanity. However, the praise from Putin may be misinterpreted. Allegedly, Putin called Trump "brilliant." However, the Russian word Putin used was translated incorrectly. Instead of meaning brilliant, it meant "glittery," "shiny" or "eye-catching." So, as Trevor Noah pointed out, Putin felt Trump was not so much like Albert Einstein as he was Ronald McDonald.

Trump's praise of Putin produced a torrent of criticism, not only, as might be expected, from Democrats, but also from Trump's fellow Republicans.

Lindsay Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina, loudly condemned Trump. "If you're running for leader of the free world and you're expressing admiration for Putin, well then you're losing me. . . I think Vladimir Putin is a thug, a dictator, an autocratic ruler who has his opposition killed in the streets of Russia. He has dismembered his neighbor." (Sabrina Siddiqui, The Guardian, 09/08/2016).

Graham continued. "Other than destroying every instrument of democracy in his country, having opposition people killed, dismembering neighbors through military force and being the benefactor of the butcher of Damascus, he's a good guy. . . This calculation by Trump unnerves me to my core." (Kristin East, Politico, 09/09/2016).

Marco Rubio, former Florida senator and Republican presidential candidate, joined the critics. "I don't think what Vladimir Putin exhibits is leadership . I think what he exhibits is thuggery . . . and we should be clear-eyed about that," he added, noting that Putin controlled the media, the military and often his political opponents were either imprisoned or found dead." (Sabrina Siddiqui, The Guardian, 08/09/2016).

Even Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan took issue with Trump, "House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) was visibly exasperated on Thursday after being asked to answer for Trump's declaration that Putin was a stronger leader than Obama.

'Vladimir Putin is an aggressor that does not share our interests,' Ryan said during his weekly press conference, adding that it 'certainly appears that he is conducting . . . state-sponsored cyberattacks on what appears to be our political system.'" (Kristen East, Politico, 09/09/2016).

Other than Putin's (misunderstood) flattery of Trump , what causes Trump to admire Putin so much? Trump feels that Putin is a strong leader who keeps Russians firmly under his control. That gives us a clue as to what type of leader Trump would be should he become president. As Putin does with Russians, Trump would aspire to keep America firmly under his thumb.

The problem , of course, is that Trump's desire to be an autocratic president would directly conflict with the sharing and balancing of power specified by our Constitution. We are ruled, not by a dictator, but rather by the authority vested in government by the people. That is the basis of a democracy. Let's hope we don't have to learn that the hard way with Trump as president.

Gary Patton is the author of two books, Selling Mt. Washington, a political satire, and Outtastatahs: Newcomers' Adventures in New Hampshire, a work of regional humor.