Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reuters/Amanda Macias/Business Insider
Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: Shows of Strength From Trump and Putin
The GOP front-runner hasn’t started fading, and the Russian president seems in command.
Thoughts on two strongmen:
Donald Trump has entered his second act. His polls, sometimes characterized as weakening, are in fact strong. As Bloomberg’s John Heilemann said on “Morning Joe,” if Jeb Bush had Mr. Trump’s numbers everyone would declare the race over.
This week Quinnipiac had Mr. Trump solidly leading his GOP rivals in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. A national poll from Reuters/Ipsos had Mr. Trump in the lead with 31%, followed by Ben Carson with 17%. Public Policy Polling had Mr. Trump holding steady nationwide since late August, coming in first at 27%. His support is ideologically broad—35% of tea-party voters and 29% of moderates, according to PPP. He did better among younger voters and among men (31%) than women (23%). Clever people once said of George H.W. Bush that he reminded women of their first husbands. I never thought so, but Mr. Trump would remind some women of a blustery first husband, or a loudmouth uncle holding forth at Thanksgiving while hogging the sweet potatoes.
WNU Editor: How do Russians see Donald Trump. For those in Russia who know who he is (and they are not many), they admire his wealth and business success. They also respect his bluntness and his self confidence. As to comparing him to Putin .... that is where the reaction is interesting .... many see Putin as the smarter of the two. As to what is my take .... both men are not the same .... and in the event that Donald Trump does become President .... there will be no change in U.S. - Russian relations until the crisis in countries like Ukraine and Syria have been resolved or minimized.
3 comments:
Trump may be a fairly decent businessman, but he is a rank amateur when it comes to international relations. In his interviews he brushes off these questions with a dismissive tone that exposes his major weakness: he sees foreign policy as a something he can brush off to other people.
He's a fraud, and it will be exposed soon. Someon, whether it be one of his competitors for the nomination or his challenger in the General, will flay him alive in a debate, and that will be that.
Or, worst case scenario, he will blunder into a major U.S. Defeat.
Trevor,
This is what the HS media has told us about Mr. Trump from day one. Oh well perhaps a broken clock can be right twice or a day or perhaps once a day in this case. Wishful thinking does not make it so.
Btw, he is much more than a decent business man. He is a multibillionaire. As such, he would be best classified as an extraordinary business man.
While he is an excellent negotiator, he could run into problems when trying to negotiate with Mr. Putin. It seems to me that Donald Trump has always negotiated from a position of strength. Russia and Mr. Putin hold a position of strength relative to the US and Mr. Trump. As such, in order to be successful, Mr. Trump and America will have to adjust their strategies and tactics to adjust for the fact that they will be negotiating from a position of weakness. If this is done properly, good outcomes for America are still possible.
As for the crisis in Ukraine, the US could/should immediately announce forcefully following up with actions that Ukraine will NEVER be a member of NATO as long as the US is, the US will vigorously oppose the entry of Ukraine into the EU, and the US will vigorously oppose any and all economic sanctions against Russia or any of its officials with all of its might and strength. In other words if the EU nations want to carry on with this as they likely will, they will be doing it without US support and will face major risks of hostility from the US over such moves.
As for Syria, the US and its "allies" adopted a foreign policy of Assad must go or something to this effect. While this may be desirable, it was NEVER going to happen. As I've stated here and elsewhere, when one bases goals on things that are unrealistic, good outcomes cannot reasonably be expected. The policy should be changed. Great places to start would be either to get out of Russia's way here or, if possible, try and enter the coalition as a junior partner to Russia. If we are able to assist here, perhaps we can go a long way to bettering our relations with Russia and "death to America" Iran.
These are concrete steps we an take towards defusing the conflicts between us and Russia over Ukraine and Syria. So far its hard to have optimism that America has the leadership capable of figuring these things out.
Trump and Putin do have some similarities (a deft hand with selective crudeness, a populist streak that is surprisingly effective considering who it's coming from) but surely the differences are greater. A FSB agent from the Soviet middle class and an American businessman who was born rich and got richer. Putin is a good deal more subtle and coldblooded; Trump wears his ego like a badge and acts like a choleric. Trump is also an actual democratic politician (demagogue); Putin is very much a deep state, system man. In Russian politics Trump would be closer to Navalny or Roizman.
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