Timothy Snyder on Trump’s “negotiating” skills as reflected in his meeting with Zelensky yesterday:
This piece by Will Saletan in the Bulwark is quite good as well:
TRUMP’S FOREIGN POLICY, like his views on everything else, is about loyalty to Trump. He prefers a dictator who likes him to a freely elected leader who doesn’t. As Trump put it at a rally on Monday: “I don’t like anybody that doesn’t like me.” That’s why Trump likes Vladimir Putin. He knows Putin is trying to help him recapture the White House.
On September 7, three days after the Justice Department exposed a Russian disinformation campaign designed to help Trump in this year’s election, Trump rebuked DOJ officials for the announcement. “They don’t look at China, and they don’t look at Iran,” he complained, falsely, at a rally in Wisconsin. “They look at Russia. I don’t know what it is with poor Russia.”
Trump made it clear that he appreciated Putin’s help. With a wry smile, he noted:
I don’t know if you saw the other day, he [Putin] endorsed Kamala. He endorsed Kamala. I was very, uh, offended by that. [Laughter in the crowd.] I wonder why he endorsed Kamala. No, he’s a chess player. “I endorse Kamala.” Should I be—Congressman, should I be upset about that? No, huh? Was it done with a smile, Ron? Was it done with a smile? I think it was done maybe with a smile.
It’s not great for Ukraine that Trump sees Putin as his friend. But until this week, Trump also seemed to have a soft spot for Zelensky. He often praised Zelensky for standing by him during the Ukraine impeachment, when Trump was accused of coercing Zelensky in a phone call. “He was very honorable,” Trump told podcaster Shawn Ryan a month ago. Trump went on:
I got to know Zelensky then, because they asked him at a news conference or something, “Did President Trump say anything that was threatening to you or bad?” . . . And he said: “Not at all.” He was very—he was a gentleman. “He called me to congratulate me.” Said it was a very normal call. Now, he could have grandstanded. I respect him for what he did. . . . He said [I] did nothing wrong. And that sort of ended it all. But he was very honorable.
Trump’s gratitude to Zelensky has influenced the way Trump talks about the Ukraine war. Earlier this month, Trump continued to say that he could work out a deal to end the war because he had a “good relationship with Zelensky,” in addition to having a good relationship with Putin.
Unfortunately, Trump’s idea of a good relationship was one-sided. In the interview with Ryan, as in other venues, he parroted pro-Russian talking points: that Russia was invincible, that its nukes were too scary to risk further hostilities, and that the United States was vulnerable because it had sent too much ammunition to Ukraine. On September 10, in his debate with Kamala Harris, Trump was asked: “Do you want Ukraine to win this war?” Twice, he refused to say yes.
In their embarrassing meeting yesterday Trump tried to go both ways:
He is a disaster at foreign policy and national security, the two most important jobs as president.