As with so many other things, Trump is stuck in the distant past of his youth, and time in which the Soviet Union was considered a super power. (They actually weren’t but that’s another story.)
Daniel Dale at CNN give him a swift fact check to the solar plexus:
President Donald Trump claimed Monday that he knew why Russian troops weren’t able to enter Kyiv in the days after they invaded Ukraine in 2022. Russia’s tanks, Trump said, got destroyed by missiles “because the tanks got stuck in the mud.”
“You know, they would’ve been in Kyiv in four hours going down the highway. But a Russian general made a brilliant decision to go through the farmland instead,” he said, sarcastically criticizing the supposed general.
This is fake history, as military analysts and various Ukrainians have pointed out since the president began making similar claims months ago. In reality, Russia tried and failed to make it to Kyiv using roads and highways. Its tanks were thwarted by fierce Ukrainian resistance and logistical problems in addition to muddy conditions.
That’s not the only lie/misapprehension/delusion about Russia:
Trump’s phony narrative about the Russian invasion is only the latest in a long line of false claims from the president about the war. Among other things, Trump has this year:
- Repeatedly used imaginary figures to incorrectly make it seem as if the US has provided far more aid to Ukraine than Europe has; the opposite is true.
- Falsely said he was speaking “in jest” and being “sarcastic” when he solemnly promised dozens of times during his 2024 campaign to immediately end the war if he was elected.
- Used inaccurate numbers to understate Ukrainians’ support for President Volodymyr Zelensky early in the year and overstate their support for a negotiated end to the war today.
- Falsely claimed Ukraine started the war that was actually started by Russia.
- Falsely claimed Zelensky admitted half of US aid money went missing, though Zelensky made no such comment.
He lies about everything so I suppose this doesn’t mean anything in itself. But it will always be strange that he remains so enamored of Putin and Russia. I think some of it may just be that he doesn’t ‘t really understand that Russia isn’t the Soviet Union — literally. I’m not sure he knows the history or that he understands how diminished the Russian federation is. He genuinely sees Russia as a superpower equal to the US as it was in the 50s and 60s and treats it that way. It isn’t.