Bulwark Takes - The Comprehensive Guide to Trump’s Putin Fetish

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Donald Trump’s obsession with Vladimir Putin is deeper—and creepier—than you think. From openly praising Putin’s strength, excusing Russian aggression, to shockingly siding with Russia over American intelligence, Trump’s bizarre fixation raises alarming questions. Will Saletan breaks down the full, disturbing timeline of Trump’s infatuation with Putin and how it continues to endanger Ukraine, America, and global stability.

Running a business is hard work. Building your website shouldn't be. With Wix, you can express your ideas, give direction, then leave the heavy lifting to AI, from site creation to branded content and images. Have fun with the details, customize what you want the way you want, and manage your whole business

from a centralized dashboard with expert AI tools. Build, scale, and enjoy the incredible results. You can do it all yourself on Wix. McCrispy strips are now at McDonald's. I hope you're ready for the most dippable chicken in McDonald's history. Dip it in all the sauces. Dip it in that hot sauce in your bag. Dip it in your McFlurry. Your dip is your business. McCrispy strips at McDonald's. Hey everybody, it's Will Salatan from The Bulwark. Can you feel it? It's springtime. Love is in the air. It's the time of year when we think of sweethearts like Romeo and Juliet,

Antony and Cleopatra, and of course, Donald and Vladimir. Now, some of you may be thinking, really, does Donald Trump truly love Vladimir Putin? And I'll admit, the only two people who really understand a romantic relationship are the two people who are in it. But what I want to show you today, and please, let's not gossip about this, is what these two lovebirds have been doing in public. And specifically, I want to show you the highly suggestive way Trump has been talking about the man of his dreams. First, a quick reminder about how this courtship began. Ten years ago, when Trump was running for president, Putin gave a news conference in which he said Trump was, in English terms, bright and talented. And when Trump heard that, he practically blushed. Here's Trump the next day on Morning Joe.

Do you like Vladimir Putin's comments about you? Sure. When people call you brilliant, it's always good, especially when the person heads up Russia. In fact, Trump was so smitten that he would not listen when Joe Scarborough tried to warn him about Putin. Well, I mean, also as a person that kills journalists, political, I mean, political opponents and invades countries, obviously that would be a concern, would it not? He's running this country and at least he's a leader, you know, unlike what we have in this country. Wow. So Trump really had a thing for a strong man, even one who murders people and invades other countries, which, by the way, the country Putin had just invaded a year before that interview was Ukraine. But Scarborough tried to warn Trump one more time. Don't date him, girl.

But again, he kills journalists that don't agree with him. Well, I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe. So, you know. So that was the beginning of the relationship. Trump made it clear that he liked Putin, really liked Putin. And no matter who Putin killed, Trump thought Putin was hotter, sorry, better than the leaders of the United States. And then, as you probably remember, Putin authorized a cyber hacking operation to help Trump win the 2016 election. And that led to the whole Russia investigation. And look, there's a lot of debate about what that investigation found. But the one finding that was super clear, according to Dan Coats,

Trump's director of national intelligence, and every U.S. intelligence agency, was that Russia did the hacking. So, in 2018, when Trump and Putin got together behind closed doors at a summit in Finland, Trump asked Putin whether it was true that Russia did the hacking. And when Trump came out of that room, here's what he told the press. My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others. They said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be. I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and

powerful in his denial today. And that was it. Trump wouldn't listen to his own intelligence experts. He believed Putin because Putin was strong and powerful. In fact, Trump said the American investigation of Putin was a terrible thing because it was keeping Trump away from the man he wanted to be with. The probe is a disaster for our country. I think it's kept us apart. It's kept us separated. So that was seven years ago. Now Trump is back in the White House.

And two months ago, he hosted a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. And Zelensky, whose country was under attack again from another Russian invasion, tried to warn Trump again about Putin. But Trump still wouldn't listen. Here's what Trump said when a reporter asked him why he believed that Putin, who at that moment was literally waging war, actually wanted peace. I've known him for a long time. I've dealt with him for a long time. He had to suffer through the Russia hoax. You know, Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax. It was all Biden. It was nothing to do

with him. So he had to suffer through that. And he was able to do that. I think that he wants to make a deal and he'd like to see it end. That was an eye-opening confession. Here's Trump sitting next to Zelensky, whose country is under bombardment from Russia. And despite that, Trump chose to talk about what he saw as Putin's suffering. Trump was telling the world that the investigation of Putin's interference in our election had only deepened the sympathy Trump felt for Putin. And as that meeting with Zelensky went on, Trump got more and more agitated. By the end, he was practically shouting his love

for the man in Moscow. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, and he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn't end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden's bathroom. You can hear the passion in Trump's voice. You can see it on his face. This is not geopolitics. This is an emotional connection. It's the kind of connection that can blind a lover to the danger posed by the man he loves. Watch what happened in that meeting when Zelensky reminded Trump that Putin had repeatedly violated previous ceasefire agreements. 25 times he broke his own signature. 25 times he broke a ceasefire.

But he never broke to me. No, no, you were the me. He never broke to me. No, no, you were the president. He never broke to me. That's the way a besotted lover thinks. She won't listen when you tell her that the guy she's after has betrayed other women. She thinks she's special. He's never betrayed me, she says. And watch what happened when Zelensky reminded Trump

that two of the presidents Putin betrayed, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, were Americans. It doesn't matter for you what this means. That was with a guy named Biden who was not a smart person. That was with Obama. It was your president. Excuse me. That was with Obama. Zelensky thought that Trump would care that other American presidents had been betrayed. What Zelensky didn't understand was that Trump

felt nothing for Biden or Obama. Trump didn't care that those guys were American because Trump doesn't love America. Trump loves himself. And the fact that Putin betrayed Biden and Obama, the men Trump views as his real enemies, only strengthens Trump's conviction that he and Putin have something special. This bond that Trump feels with Putin is deadly serious. After that meeting with Zelensky, Trump didn't punish Russia for bombing Ukraine. Trump cut off American aid to Ukraine to pressure Zelensky to surrender Ukrainian territory to Putin. And a week later, when a reporter pointed out that Putin was still bombing Ukraine? Here's what Trump said.

Do you, Mr. President, think that Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of the U.S. pause right now on intelligence and military aid to Ukraine? I actually think he's doing what anybody else would do. I think he wants to get it stopped and settled, and I think he's hitting them harder than he's been hitting them. And I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now. He wants to get it ended. He's doing what anybody else would do. That is an American president defending a Russian dictator who is bombing an American ally.

Trump was mentally putting himself in Putin's position and saying, hey, I'd be doing the same thing. You can see how strongly Trump identifies with Putin. And in case there was any doubt, Trump spoke again about his feelings for Putin. Despite the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, I've always had a good relationship with Putin. And, you know, he wants to end the war. He wants to end it. And I think he's going to be more generous than he has to be. And that's pretty good.

You can hear Trump making excuses for Putin the way some people make excuses for a man who beats up women. Hey, it could have been worse. Let's give Putin credit for not killing even more people and stealing even more land. And three weeks ago when Russia killed more than 30 Ukrainian civilians in another missile attack, Trump blamed Ukraine and America. Mr. President, you repeatedly mentioned last night that Russia's attack on Ukraine was a mistake. What is the exact mistake? And have you given Putin a deadline to actually move toward a ceasefire? The mistake was letting the war happen. If Biden were competent and if Zelensky were competent,

and I don't know that he is. We had a rough session with this guy over here. He just kept asking for more and more. That war should have never been allowed to happen. In fact, Trump accused Ukraine, Putin's victim, of starting the war. Have you spoken to President Zelensky, sir, about his offer to purchase more Patriot missile batteries? Oh, I don't know., about his offer to purchase more Patriot missile batteries? Oh, I don't know. He's always looking to purchase missiles.

You know, he's against. Listen, when you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war. You don't start a war against somebody that's 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles. Again, that's classic victim blaming. Trump is so determined to love Putin that he's willing to blame Ukraine for Putin's violence. And he's willing to whitewash Putin's long history of brutality. Here's what Trump said a couple of weeks ago about Putin's previous invasion of Crimea, another Ukrainian territory. When you say Crimea, that was handed over during a president named Barack Hussein Obama.

That had nothing to do with me, Crimea. That was 11 years ago with Obama. And they made a decision. There wasn't a bullet fired. There was no fighting. There was no anything. They just handed it over. Now they say, well, can you get it back? I think that's going to be a very difficult thing to do. That was given by Barack Obama when he was president, not by Donald Trump. Can you believe that? Trump says Obama gave Crimea to Putin. He says there was no violence.

They just handed it over. Obama gave Crimea to Putin. He says there was no violence. They just handed it over. As a reminder, Putin literally sent tanks into Crimea. Russian forces surrounded Ukraine's military bases, broke into government buildings, and threw everybody out. But Trump says the victim consented, which, come to think of it, is also the way he talks about women. Remember this? And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want. Grab them by the pussy. I can do anything. That was a classic bro moment.

A couple of guys bonding over their shared contempt for women. And that bond between the men is what was really going on in that conversation. It's not the women Trump admires. It's the man who steps up and grabs those women. That's what Trump sees in Putin, a man who takes what he wants. And Trump loves that. Watch this clip of Trump on Friday talking to Kristen Welker about his special chemistry with Putin. Do you know that the European Union leaders have asked me to call Putin so many times because he doesn't return their phone call? Because he wasn't dealing with anybody in Europe. He wasn't calling back. Do you know that I asked him, I said, did Biden ever call you in three years? Did Biden ever call? He said he never called. You know, Biden didn't call him

one time. Poor Vladimir. Biden never called him. Biden didn't appreciate him. But I do, says Trump. I'm the only one Vladimir will talk to. I'm the only one he trusts. Look, it's obvious there's something going on between these two guys. And it's not just money or favors. The president of the United States clearly has a thing for the president of Russia. And nothing, not human rights, not democracy, not hundreds of thousands of dead Ukrainians, can stand between them. See you next time. site shouldn't be. With Wix, you can express your ideas, give direction, then leave the heavy lifting to AI, from site creation to branded content and images. Have fun with the details, customize what you want the way you want, and manage your whole business from a centralized dashboard with expert AI tools. Build, scale, and enjoy the incredible results.

You can do it all yourself on Wix.