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Trump thinks Putin is his friend. The Russians just issued a humiliating statement to the contrary. (slate.com)

submitted 1 day ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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Summary

Putin’s actions after Trump’s election, including a delayed congratulations and a denial of a phone call, suggest a lack of respect for Trump’s personal relationship with him.

Russia’s intelligence chief’s statement that Trump owes them favors for their support in his election, along with hints that he is expected to “pay back” certain obligations, amounts to a bold threat of blackmail.

Trump’s foreign policy, which favors a realignment with Russia, may be challenged by Putin’s actions and the revelation of Russian interference in the election.

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[-] andallthat@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

I'm not a master diplomat but this is negotiation 101: don't look too keen to negotiate, start from a position of strength.

Trump's opening offer was to allow Putin to keep whatever he's managed to invade and, by most accounts, Russia is now gaining territory again. Plus, Trump is clearly not so keen to continue supporting Ukraine militarily and economically (not to speak of his stance on NATO) and in Europe we are weak, divided and also increasingly voting for our own small versions of Trump (Trumpets?). Put these things together and why would Putin get all chummy and sit down to negotiate now? He's signaling strength and taking a position of "YOU want to end this war, not me, so if you want me to stop, you better come begging and bringing gifts".

[-] neuroneiro@lemmy.world 33 points 20 hours ago

“Russia’s intelligence chief, [Nikolai Patrushev], made the following comment in an interview with the Moscow newspaper Kommersant:

‘The election campaign is over. To achieve success in the election, Donald Trump relied on certain forces to which he has corresponding obligations. As a responsible person, he will be obliged to fulfill them.’”

This sounds less psychological & more like an official confident that no one will do a damned thing about it.

[-] Paddzr@lemmy.world 14 points 20 hours ago

While I'm sure Trump used Russia's help, but this statement is for Russians to believe they're some sort of masters of the world. I wouldn't read too much into that statement because it's just fucming propaganda aimed at Russia, be it true or not. What else is there to gain by potentially exposing their greatest asset? They surely can reach him, a publicity stunt isn't how you send a message to Trump.

[-] neuroneiro@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago

One of the great beauties

of being human

is our ability

to agree to disagree

[-] Paddzr@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Yup, I admit it could swing either way... But they do have a track record.

[-] Cheems@lemmy.world 6 points 15 hours ago

Fucking duh

[-] Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world 43 points 22 hours ago

This was obvious and it’s still obvious that your country cucked itself to the world pariah stupidpower when it was at one of its lowest times. On purpose. Oooh so tough.

Losers.

[-] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 points 1 day ago

So, we think Russia and Putin are telling the truth NOW?

When you're destabilizing and spreading misinformation, you just want people at each other's throats, so they aren't at yours.

It's idiotic to follow Russia or Putin News. There's nothing there but outage fodder... for both sides.

[-] barsoap@lemm.ee 21 points 23 hours ago

Don't look at what they said. Look at what they did, like showing nudes of Melania on state TV.

[-] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

He's proud of that. That's not shaming him.

Show nudes of other world leader's wives/husbands. Have a nude-off!

#PornNobodyWantsToSee

[-] frezik@midwest.social 5 points 21 hours ago

There's other things, like not giving a phone call congratulations. Putin quite obviously thinks Trump is a clod to be controlled.

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[-] Kilometers_OBrien@startrek.website 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Eh, seeing as how Putin assisting le trump has been the elephant in the room since 2015 I don't think I'm going to turn my brain off yet.

I just want to see the kompromat lmao

[-] LittleBorat3@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

I mean how bad can it be, some hooker shitting in his mouth? That's not good enough for all this.

[-] Glitterbomb@lemmy.world 11 points 23 hours ago

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[-] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 102 points 1 day ago

Trump was never under the impression that anyone is his friend. All his relationships, including to his wife and biological children, are transactional.

Russia has dirt on him and has for a loooong time. That's why Putin doesn't need to suck his dick like the rest of the world's wannabe dictators do.

[-] UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world 77 points 1 day ago

I’m nearly certain it is true that Russia has dirt on him. But serious question: what possible dirt on trump could even slightly alter his base in the United States? I’m not convinced anything could. They could have videos of him raping an entire kindergarten class and his cult wouldn’t care. So at this point, what power does Putin actually hold? Trump (in theory) could tell Putin to fuck off and that would be the end of it.

I think it’s admiration and not blackmail that keeps trump sucking Putin’s dick. I think Trump looks at Russia and wishes he could have the same unchecked power that Putin has and so he looks up to him.

[-] Skydancer@pawb.social 41 points 1 day ago

Gay sex tapes would do it. Not that I think there are any, but his base are homophobic enough to turn on him for that. Rape and pedophilia they can understand, accept, and support, but gay sex is where they would draw the line.

Sigh.

[-] Windex007@lemmy.world 50 points 1 day ago

He's already conditioned his base with fake pictures and videos of tons of stuff. He's already convinced them to reject a reality they can see and hear and touch.

Putin could release that tape, DNA, and have the Pope and Joe Rogan personally attest to it's authenticity and it wouldn't matter.

Trump would say "deepfake" , fake news, radical left fabrication. His base would believe him. We've been living in a post-truth world for longer than most of us are willing to admit.

There is no kompromat that could shake his base.

[-] UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago

I completely agree with the conditioning, but the crazier part is even if his base knew some horrible tapes were real, I don’t think they would care. It’s sunk cost fallacy at this point. There is nothing that will get people off the Trump train.

[-] Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 17 hours ago

I think you’re right, but I don’t think holding blackmail is relevant to their goals anymore, so there’s no point in releasing it right now.

Even if Trump could be blackmailed into doing more to help Russia, does it matter? The republicans control the house and senate.
All the U.S. has to do to benefit Russia is allow republicans to enact their domestic and foreign policies.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

He simulated sucking someone's dick at a recent rally, just before the election. Not sure that would be enough to phase them.

[-] jballs@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

Seriously great question at this point. In 2016 it was commonly accepted knowledge that if Putin released a video of Trump getting pissed on by a woman in a Moscow hotel, that would be the end of his political career.

Since then, he's been found to be a rapist in court, has attempted to overthrow the government, and has been found guilty of about 3 dozen felonies with more charges pending - which doesn't matter any way since Trump's judges have granted him legal immunity to anything he wants to do. And he was just convincingly reelected with his party winning both the House and Senate.

At the point, Putin could put out a video of him personally pegging Trump, and it would make no difference.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 6 points 22 hours ago

There are photos of him hanging with Epstein.

Ghislaine Maxwell said in court that he frequented Epstein's Manhattan mansion, where she would introduce him to her friends and acquaintances.

If there was anything to that, and the KGB had some media to support that fact. Certainly, some decent part of his base is unshakable, but not the whole base. It would have to be some pretty gross crap, but I don't think it's anywhere near impossible.

[-] A1kmm@lemmy.amxl.com 1 points 9 hours ago

Seriously great question at this point. In 2016 it was commonly accepted knowledge that if Putin released a video of Trump getting pissed on by a woman in a Moscow hotel, that would be the end of his political career.

Since then, he’s been found to be a rapist in court, has attempted to overthrow the government, and has been found guilty of about 3 dozen felonies with more charges pending - which doesn’t matter any way since Trump’s judges have granted him legal immunity to anything he wants to do. And he was just convincingly reelected with his party winning both the House and Senate.

He is not going to run for president again ever in a free and fair election in accordance with the US constitution; that would require changing the constitution in ways that the Republicans don't have the numbers for, or at least interpreting the existing constitution in a way that is so contorted I don't think even the most conservative supreme court judges could support it.

So in other words, he does not need anything from the American public anymore. He has no reason to care if part of his base opens their eyes to what he really is (at least, as long as at least 1/12th of the public will vote not to convict on any jury - but he can also self-pardon for anything except impeachment).

I therefore don't think the kompromat theory holds much water today.

More likely, the Russians calculate that this is an opportunity to sow division in the US - they'd hope for a civil war as the best case. Supporting Trump, as a divisive president, was a start, but they wouldn't want too many people happy with Trump either, so they want to make the haters hate him even more than is rational, and the sycophants continue to love him more.

Of course, the risk for them is that they make Trump want to support Ukraine to a greater extent than the US currently is, instead of the opposite. They probably calculate he is incompetent and nothing much will change for them either way. Trump is certainly installing yes-men who will be loyal to him but likely not the most competent leaders; this is an effective way to disrupt a government, but it is likely that a declining narcissist who has structured things to remove all dissent will not be at all effective in achieving outcomes that require complex strategy and coordinated execution. So I think they probably consider this risk to be acceptable.

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[-] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago

I don't think it's "compromat". They just bankrolled his entire real estate empire since at least the 80's. That creates a certain debt to be repaid.

[-] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago

It's likely a bit of both. Trump has no issue not paying his debts and several entities that have done business with him have gone under because of that.

Russia has to have something on him for him to consider not blowing them off. It's likely it could be as simple as him considering them a formidable enemy. They could cause problems for him and his family, potentially the foreign assets of his company, etc. They're not a small bank or drywall company to be messed with.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 114 points 1 day ago

Does Trump think Putin is his friend or does Trump need to pretend for his own ego's sake that the man he's taking orders from or else also likes him?

[-] angrystego@lemmy.world 62 points 1 day ago

This is an old one, but I always enjoy telling it in new contexts:

Trump walks outside the White House aimlessly. He slowly picks up a stone, inspects it closely, then puts it back and continues his slow walk.

Vance is worried and calls the Kremlin for help.

"We'll look into it, Mr. Vance... hang on... Oh. We're terribly sorry, the fault is ours. By mistake we've sent him the instructions meant for Lunokhod.

[-] PorradaVFR@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

I…. don't get it…?

[-] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Lunokhod is a soviet lunar rover.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 day ago

Ok that's pretty fuckin funny 😂

[-] jballs@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Lunokhod was an old Russian lunar rover would have been receiving instructions for picking up rocks on the moon. The joke is that Trump (or whoever the original subject of the joke was back in the day) was so controlled by Russia that they were beaming him instructions directly.

[-] PorradaVFR@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Ok that's solid! Wish I'd known the setup before.

[-] cygnus@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 day ago

This is an old one

When I got to the punchline I realized you weren't kidding.

[-] angrystego@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

Yep, it's that old, but very recyclable.

[-] negativenull@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago

Putin just showed naked pictures of his wife on Russian TV. That is not something a "friend" does.

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[-] kerrigan778@lemmy.world 8 points 20 hours ago

That is exactly what the word friend means to them.

[-] ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.place 67 points 1 day ago

Wer're just one week after the elections and the amount of shit we're already seeing surpasses my expectatives. The next 4 years are gonna be fun, really fun.

[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 41 points 1 day ago

So much comes down to "is trump malicious or just an idiot?" His last term was largely idiocy, and if that repeats itself then I think things will be ok. My concern is that his rhetoric has turned more toxic, so I think he may have done so as well.

[-] _bcron_@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I think a lot of perceived malice is secondary to his selfishness and utter disregard for anyone or anything outside his extremely small inner circle (and even then, he has no qualms shoving them out).

He's the kind of guy that would forge his own grandma's checks to have money for the casino. Not that his intent to hurt his grandma, how she feels is a thought that doesn't enter his head. He just needs money and there's money and that's the extent of his capacity to empathize. If he gets caught he'll lie or rationalize. He's not the bad guy for doing it, they're the bad people who caught him and made such a big deal out of it.

Basic sociopath. He did so many unquestionably immoral and illegal things but didn't even think to keep his fingerprints off of everything. He doesn't even think about how others would perceive him and thus doesn't even make a half-assed attempt to cover his tracks.

Not to say he's not intentionally malicious, but usually that's aimed at victims after they speak out, because in his mind, they're the bad guys. He can't comprehend how others think, or even that people could think or behave differently than him, so he just assumes a whole lot of other people do the same exact stuff and feels like he's being singled out. There's a module in his brain that never got wired

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[-] oyo@lemm.ee 14 points 1 day ago

Yet he still managed to overturn Roe, stack the scotus and thousands of judgeships for a generation, and sabotage countless government agencies which has been a nightmare for our rights, environment, and the rule of law. We're still feeling the repercussions and this time is shaping up to be an order of magnitude worse.

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[-] ptz@dubvee.org 17 points 1 day ago

That's why I'm trying to block out all this and enjoy this last month and a half as best I can.

[-] lolrightythen@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

Good luck. Genuinely

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[-] Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Those leopards are gonna be so full from all the faces

[-] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago

Didn’t Russia cuck him by showing off his “wife”s nudes on state sponsored news?

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[-] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

Russian Carols this new precedential cycle....."oh he's my bitch! Oh he's my bitch! I'm gonna fuck'm real good! 🎵 🎶

(Read in the tune of the "oh Christmas tree" song)

[-] 4grams@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

trump assumes that because he sucks up, that putin is his peer. putin knows how easy trump is to manupulate, this first act after him winning shows that he knows exactly how to play him. my hope is that trump is too stupid to realize it because else there will be a dick waving contest among the two most nuclear armed countries in history..

[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago

The orange fool only has a tools relationship with pootin. Never been more than that

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this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024

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