In Rare Criticism, Trump Says Putin Is 'Destroying Russia'

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/us/politics/trump-putin-russia-ukraine.html

In Rare Criticism, Trump Says Putin Is ‘Destroying Russia’
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia praised President Trump’s second inauguration, but the American leader did not return the compliment.
By Anton Troianovski
Jan. 21, 2025 Updated 9:22 a.m. ET

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia heralded President Trump’s second inauguration with glowing praise, saying Mr. Trump showed “courage” in his campaign and won a “convincing victory” in the election.

But hours later on Monday, in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump didn’t return the favor. The American president made some of the most critical comments he’s ever made about Mr. Putin, declaring that the Russian leader is “destroying Russia” by waging war in Ukraine.

“He can’t be thrilled, he’s not doing so well,” Mr. Trump told reporters Monday evening, referring to Mr. Putin’s war. “Russia is bigger, they have more soldiers to lose, but that’s no way to run a country.”

The whiplash underscored why celebrations of Mr. Trump’s return to the White House have been muted in Russia in recent months: Russian officials know that Mr. Trump is unpredictable. Indeed, Mr. Trump has often spoken warmly about Mr. Putin, and in 2018 accepted the Russian leader’s word over his own intelligence agencies at a summit in Helsinki.

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"Elon is my daddy now"

[hlthe2b]

1. Yet Clueless Trump is adopting many of the same tactics to destroy the US as well.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Why doesn't Trump go run Russia

And leave us in the US alone.

[Irish_Dem]

3. What's going on?

Is Trump drunk with power and thinks he is more powerful than Putin?
Has Putin pissed him off?
Is he playing a sick game with Putin?

[QED]

4. Did T forget about the pee tape?

Putin still has that trump card.

[sakabatou]

5. Funny, didn't he say they were best bros or something?

[Emrys]

6. It's a step on from when Trump lauded Putin's invasion of Ukraine as "genius" and "savvy" move just two years ago

Whether it'll last if Trump and Putin have the face-to-face (two face-to-two face?) get-together the Kremlin's seemingly desperate for, we'll have to wait and see. Maybe he'll about-turn and emerge from the meeting looking like a whipped dog again.

Trump is always transactional. Putin's cornered and weak, getting weaker by the day, and Trump may see richer pickings in reconstituting Ukraine once the hostilities end and the lure of a series of Trump-branded resorts and hotels on handily created brownfield sites in Ukraine becomes too juicy to resist. It's a sickening prospect, but his greed and ambition may be decisive in the end.

Meanwhile, I hope behind the scenes Ukraine's European and NATO allies don't give Trump carte blanche to land Ukraine with a deal that will only store further trouble for the future. I don't recall any vote or diplomatic moves that have given the Trump administration the right to do that, albeit Zelensky's having to butter up Trump at the moment in the hope of benefit for his country.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. He sees Putin as weak

And if someone has to take an L it's him. Putin Is weakened. The challenge is he seems willing to fight to the last Russian. OTOH the USSR did enter into a face saving peace treaty with Finland that left it largely intact after they invaded it in 1939.

[Emrys]

11. There's also the question of Russia's alliances with North Korea, China and Iran,

not to mention lesser engaements in Africa.

The Iran tangent may be faltering after recent developments in the Middle East, and its status as an arch-enemy of Israel no doubt goes against the Trump family interests in that area (not much point in Kushner building plush resorts on the smioking ruins of Gaza if they're under threat of bombardment). Trump fancied himself as the Jong Un Whisperer in his previous term, and heaven alone knows where he stands on China at the moment - is it an economic enemy or potential ally?

[Johnny2X2X]

7. Is the War in Ukraine over now?

I thought that was day 1.

[Blue Full Moon]

8. Admission of guilt

[GoCubsGo]

9. Sometimes, reality is hard to ignore.

Putin IS destroying Russia. Their economy is circling the bowl. Unemployment and inflation are skyrocketing. The Ruble is worthless. They're a petrostate, and nobody wants their oil any longer. His illegal invasion of Ukraine has produced over 800,000 casualties, and it's not exactly going very well right now. His navy has been nearly destroyed, and his military is being exposed as incompetent, rather than the scary superpower that everyone thought it was. I'm sure that Shitler sees this during his rare lucid periods, and is probably starting to recognize Putin as a loser, who no longer has anything to offer to him.