As Trump moves back into power, we should get used to confusion and mixed messaging – between him and Vladimir Putin, it’s always going to be hard to tell which, if either, might actually be telling the truth on any given occasion.
In fact, Russia’s response to the return of Trump has been a similarly confusing mixture of shameless flattery and blatant trolling. Putin’s comments on “courageous” Trump were accompanied by Russia’s primetime television propaganda show welcoming Trump to the White House by airing nude photographs of his wife from a quarter-century ago while its presenters smirked.
That’s led to speculation over how the relationship might have moved on since Trump’s first term in office. But long-term Russia analysts consider this kind of power play “normal for Putin” – particularly when the target of the information campaign has shown himself as easy to manipulate as Trump.
Putin may want to make it look as though Trump has come begging, but will still make his man in the White House look good in the end. The bigger issue is what that means for the war on Ukraine – and how that affects the whole of Europe.
It’s true that the supposed phone call would have been out of character. In it, Trump is reported to have taken a firm line with Putin, warning him not to escalate in Ukraine and reminding him of the US’s substantial military presence in Europe. That’s the opposite of Trump’s public attitude to date, or with what he and his team have said about Ukraine or about that same military presence.
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