Poor man's devil in devil's clothing: Donald Trump plays to the Russians and their money
Washington DC
READING President Donald Trump's Tuesday press conference alongside Vladimir Putin, it's difficult not to conclude that Trump, like a biblical demon-summoner, has conjured up a monstrous character that he can offer the Russians something they want. At times, it looked as if Trump and Putin were talking about two different countries. As Trump tried to sow confusion over what exactly he and Russia's Vladimir Putin had talked about in their secret meeting in Helsinki, the Russians appeared to be snapping to attention in an altogether different country — one that might be called America, but is basically Mr Trump's private sanctuary.Read our full coverage on Union Budget
Part of Trump's appeal to the Russians — and this is consistent with his entire worldview — is that he promises them protection against the Americans, if they agree to trade some of their assets for what they need from the United States. Since Trump was elected, the Kremlin has been focusing on two obvious items on its wish list: sanctions relief and reductions in Nato deployment on its borders, return.
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The Trump-Putin summit may have changed the calculus for the Russians, by increasing their sense of unease and uncertainty in the current US administration. While the question of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election is not at the heart of the Trump-Putin summit, what the Russians have got out of it is the shock value of seeing Mr Trump publicly side with Mr Putin — something many of his own advisers have advised him against doing.
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No one, after all, likes being publicly embarrassed, and, let's face it, Mr Putin is not to be messed with. The release of Mr Trump's audio statement to the press was a signal to Russia's allies, not least President Xi Jinping of China, that Mr Trump's Russia fixation is pretty much in line with that of the Chinese leader. As long as Mr Trump's Russia fixation helps to bring Mr Putin some of the goodies he wants, the Kremlin will take the bait. Mr Putin may not agree with all of Mr Trump's policies — for example, on immigration — but he surely knows that, by giving him the credit for the US-Russia summit, the Russians can get whatever they want from Washington.
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Mr Trump is not nearly as savvy a statesman as he thinks he is. He thinks he can manipulate the United States and sell it back to the Russians, as a "great deal" they can't refuse. His Tuesday post-summit performance was straight out of a book he wrote about business — "The Art of the Deal." The trick he seems to have learned from Mr Putin, who excels in charlatanism, is to flatter the Russians, saying whatever they want to hear in return for their business. It's classic, elementary unscrupulousness, but, of course, at times it also reads
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