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- Putin Ambition Gets New Life Under Trump
Putin Ambition Gets New Life Under Trump
Opening Path to Wider influence in Europe
Matt Davis
February 25, 2025
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Now, let’s read the news…
It’s getting warmer in the mornings, barely perceptibly, but it’s happening. This morning I didn’t even need gloves on! And our lovely child allowed his ears to poke out of his hat on the subway to school, which I think is probably the best thing that’s going to happen to me all day.
Today’s lead story by Berlin-based reporter Paul Sonne focuses on how U.S. President Donald Trump has been aiding the global ambitions of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia since he took office. You might think you’ve seen it all before, but it’s a well-reported exposition of all the things Trump has done for Putin over recent weeks, and worth a read. First, it sums up the change in U.S. behavior:
“Gone are the statements from the East Room of the White House about the United States standing up to bullies, supporting democracy over autocracy and ensuring freedom will prevail.”
Then it covers the impact. This is about power. Mr. Putin thinks the most powerful countries in NATO should determine the “rules of the road”, said Angela Stent of Georgetown University. Thanks to Mr. Trump’s skepticism of NATO, there has been a “crisis among European allies, who are worried about what the U.S. president might concede.”
It’s a big deal.
“There is something very big going on at the moment,” said Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King’s College London. “This is not business as usual. This is a very different administration, and it’s very hard to see how trans-Atlantic relations will be the same at the end of this.”
The most interesting analysis in the article covers the ongoing risks to Russia of the war. Their economy has 10 percent inflation, high interest rates, low economic growth, and NATO has expanded to include Finland and Sweden, “the opposite of what Mr. Putin intended.”
As a reminder, NATO was established as a bolster against Russia for European nations. Ukraine wants to be a member, something Mr. Putin has resisted. He is not in the rock-solid position everyone might assume he is—even though he does tend to poison and kill all his domestic enemies:
“If you’re sitting in the Kremlin looking at this, yes, there is an opportunity, but don’t get your hopes too high,” said Thomas Graham, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who served as a top White House adviser on Russia during the George W. Bush administration. “A lot could change quickly, and at the end of the day, Trump is unreliable.”
Yes. Trump is “unreliable," to put it mildly. Incidentally, I do recommend reading this story from the U.K.-based Byline Times last week, quoting a former Russian spy chief claiming the KGB recruited Trump as an agent in 1987 under the codename ‘Krasnov’:
Agents aren’t always witting, although they sometimes are, and I find the reporting credible. In Mr. Trump’s case, he may not be acting solely as an agent of Russia. The obvious incentive for “PEACE” in Ukraine is cutting a deal for Ukraine’s natural resources. His people went to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia last weekend and the talk was all about cutting business deals. This is about money. I often say that I feel Mr. Trump is a lot like Baron Harkonen in Dune, sitting in his bath of oily fluid and muttering about “The Spice Must Flow.” His drive for power and influence is primitive and self-destructive, rather than strategic, which makes him dangerous. If one had recruited him as an agent, one would worry about him being a double or triple agent. If one had recruited him as a triple agent, one would naturally worry about him being a quadruple agent. In other words, he’s a menace.
The article also points out that Trump faces the difficulty, heading into peace talks, “that Mr. Putin is not a popular figure among the American public. Any deal seen as Kremlin appeasement could prove difficult to sell at home, though the vast majority of Americans favor a quick end to the conflict, which Mr. Trump promised on the campaign trial,” Mr. Sonne reports.
True. So, the more Americans talk about how dangerous Putin is, and how much Trump appears to be doing his bidding, the more risky this gets for Trump politically. It’s a good job we’re all so engaged in reading the newspaper, eh?
“Last year, more than eight in 10 Americans expressed a negative view of Russia, and 88 percent said they did not have confidence in Mr. Putin to do the right thing in international affairs, according to a Pew Research Center poll. Nearly two-thirds of respondents called Russia an enemy of the United States.”
Flex that power, America! The best quote is from Mr. Trump’s own secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who “has in the past called Mer. Putin ‘blood-thirsty,’ ‘a butcher’ and ‘a monster.’ It must make talking with the man somewhat awkward, although not in the context of global affairs, one thinks.
But pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation has been flowing. Fox news host Tucker Carlson went to Russia and interviewed Putin last year. Ukrainians took to Twitter three years ago to “popularize their cause around the globe”, the article says.
“But disinformation, often friendly to the Kremlin, has flourished on the platform since Elon Musk took over the company later that year and eventually rebranded the social media giant as X.”
There’s the world’s most reclusive billionaire again. It’s almost like he’s only out to cause chaos so that he can profit from it. Musk has said recently that he “can’t be a Russian asset because Putin can’t afford me.” And there is a twisted ring of authenticity about those words. Also:
Federal prosecutors last year said they had unearthed a covert Russian campaign to spread Kremlin-friendly messages by funneling money to right-wing American influencers through a Tennessee-based media company.
And of course, the U.S. is cutting its defense budget under its violent drunk defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. The article closes quoting Mr. Graham again from the Council on Foreign Relations, saying Russia would welcome that change.
“I would imagine if they are smart, they would adhere to Napoleon — when your enemy is destroying itself, don’t interfere,” Mr. Graham said. “I think that would be the approach at the moment.”
Thanks for reading the news. Don’t let Russia destroy America. Thank you.
Matt Davis lives in New York with his wife and kid.