Donald Trump clearly loves Vladimir Putin. The list of times that Trump has sucked up to Putin is long and growing by the day. Putin has returned the favor, throwing the weight of the Russian media behind Trump.
In this case, it’s not a case of opposites attracting, but of the same: authoritarian bullies who are building their personal empires.
Here are six specific reasons why the pair were a match made in–well, you figure it out:
Why ask when you can just grab?
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Trump has a well-earned reputation for stiffing people who work for him. In fact, it’s one of his few unchangeable characteristics. Putin, of course, just takes what he wants, too. Putin is even better at it than Trump; he may be one of the wealthiest men in the world.
NATO is for losers
Trump would happily withdraw from NATO unless the participating countries are willing to pay financial tribute. It’s a sharp departure from what most of the West views as a critical tool to check Russia’s expansionist impulses. Putin would love to see NATO disappear so he can go about annexing (by force if necessary) all the small republics that were once part of the USSR.
There are no good neighbors
Trump hates Mexico for sending all of those people to the U.S. Build a wall, make Mexico pay for it–Trump wants to humiliate our southern neighbor. Putin wants to crush his neighbors as well: Crimea, the Ukraine. He may end up giving Donald some unwelcome ideas.
Gays make for good political props
For Trump, we’re the victims of terrorism in Orlando, so we should side with the strong man who will protect us. The message is so far right that even Ted Cruz uses it. For Putin, we’re destroying Russian society, even though he has claims to have no problem with us on a personal level. Bashing gays is a handy political line to feed to the Orthodox Church, which Putin leans on for support.
Vanity unites!
Putin likes to parade around with his shirt off, although if anyone had reason for covering himself in a button down, it’s Vladimir. Apparently, Putin thinks he’s some kind of Adonis of the steppes. As for Trump–just looking at the hair tells you everything you need to know.
Charter members of the Elton John fan club
Both Trump and Putin are big fans of Elton John. There’s no accounting for taste.
Brian
Well at least Trump isn’t afraid to have a man-crush. He’s also not afraid to give his VP choice Mike Pence an air-kiss. Obama, on the other hand, seems to be one of these liberals who is afraid to have a man-crush in case he is perceived to be “gay”.
Liberal males are the worst when it comes to being afraid of other people’s perceptions of them. Liberal males are the ultimate girly men with homophobic reactions to speculation.
Mo Bro
How anyone can perceive the right as anti-American while claiming the left is pro-American is beyond me, when virtually all anti-Americanism stems from the left.
Flag burning? Lefties.
Destruction of property? Lefties.
Anarchy? Lefties.
Cop killers? Lefties.
We could keep going, but you get the picture . . .
Kieran
Ever since Vladimir Putin vetoed US plans to “shock and awe” Syria in order to depose Bashir Assad, he’s been demonized by the warmongers in the corporate US news media. It is thanks to Russia’s veto that the ISIS savages do not have control of Syria today. Wise up:
Kieran
Donald Trump is the only candidate that is speaking out against this kind of US foreign policy lunacy that has cost the US treasury TRILLIONS $$$$$. Hillary Clinton not only voted for the disastrous IRAQ WAR but now she is planning on how she will achieve “regime change” in Syria.
Donald Trump is right. We need to fix our country first before we try to fix the Middle East:
https://youtu.be/SXS3vW47mOE
Paco
@Kieran: I think America is capable of focusing on both Domestic and International goals at the same time. Fix the country how exactly? Why would I trust the Republicans to “fix” anything when the Republican controlled congress has been doing nothing just to spite the President? Opinion polls of the current, Republican controlled, congress are abysmal.
Why do Republicans have such short-term memory loss? The baby Bush regime cost our country “TRILLIONS $$$$$’ of dollars to further destabilize the Middle East. I guess the excuse must now be that all those Republicans were just RINOs and not true Republicans like the ones today.
Sorry, but I have no faith in Mr. Bankruptcy to fix anything in this country, other than to make sure he further enriches himself and his Russian pals at everyone else’s expense.
Gyeonghwa
@Mo Bro: Your strawman is noted but let’s see; a significant portion of cop killers are right wing “Sovereign citizen” types and gun nuts. Right wingers have been responsible for abortion clinic bombings, Sikh temple shooting, and wildlife refuge destroying. They are also responsible for voter suppression, anti-science, anti-educating American childrens. But it’s ironic that right wingers, who screams about free speech, get’s their panties in a knot over something as trivials as seeing out-of-touch hippies burn flags.
Kieran
@Paco: Reality Check: Hillary voted to give Dumbya a blank check for War in Iraq. She voted for the worst foreign policy blunder in US history. DDonald Trump, on the other hand opposed the stupid and illegal Iraq War.
Paco
@Kieran: Donald Trump has proven time and time again that he talks out of both sides of his mouth about every issue. So your response really doesn’t apply, does it? Why do you choose to take the word of a proven serial liar on almost every subject he is confronted with?
inbama
Wow, the Russian Log Cabin is out in full force today for their boy Trump.
Is Peter Thiel, the gay Rupert Murdoch, paying for all these posts?
Mo Bro
@Gyeonghwa: Thanks for the laugh, I needed it.
Alistair Wiseman
@Gyeonghwa:
Please step away from the Kool-Aid.
Hun
That’s six more reasons why I’ll be voting Trump.
NateOcean
@Kieran:
On Trump: It’s well documented that he initially *supported* the wars. Then in his typical Trump style, when he later expressed opposition to the wars, he further claimed that he had *always* been oppossed. That’s straight out of George Orwell’s 1984….re-inventing history.
Hillary, like the rest of congress, voted for war based on the extensive, detailed, and classified presentations made to congress by the war criminal team Bush/Cheney. Remember, this was not a mistake were the best intelligence turned out to be incorrect. This was intentionally falsified and designed to mis-lead congress…at which they were successful.
You might well ask why Bush and Cheney are not in prison.
gaym50ish
There’s another more compelling reason that Trump cozies up to Putin. The U.S. banks will no longer lend him money because of his bankruptcy history. He needs Russian financing, and is likely already getting it. As long as his companies are privately held, he doesn’t have to disclose any of that, so we may never know. And by not releasing his tax returns, it’s likely we won’t know whether he’s being truthful about his wealth — at least not before the election. Some say he’s not nearly as wealthy as he pretends to be.
I wonder whether, if he’s elected president, he will do the ethical thing and put his financial dealings in a blind trust to be managed by someone else. The most ethical politicians and political appointees do exactly that to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.