Former President Donald Trump told the Washington Examiner that he is “surprised” Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine and further cracked down on freedom inside Russia. Said Trump: “I’m surprised — I’m surprised. I thought he was negotiating when he sent his troops to the border. I thought he was negotiating. I thought it was a tough way to negotiate but a smart way to negotiate.” He added: “I figured he was going to make a good deal like everybody else does with the United States and the other people they tend to deal with — you know, like every trade deal. We’ve never made a good trade deal until I came along. And then he went in — and I think he’s changed. I think he’s changed. It’s a very sad thing for the world. He’s very much changed.”
Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a rally in Pennsylvania. Said Trump: “I’ve got to know a lot of the foreign leaders, and let me tell you, unlike our leader, they’re at the top of their game.” He added about Xi: “He rules with an iron fist, 1.5 billion people, yeah I’d say he’s smart. Wouldn’t you say he’s smart?” He described Putin as “fierce” and “smart.”
We can only assume that Trump is in the pocket of Russia if he did not recognize the threat posed by Putin to the civilized world. Zelensky says it’s ‘not even possible’ that Trump did not recognize Putin threat https://thehill.com/policy/internat...le-that-trump-did-not-recognize-putin-threat/ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was surprised by former President Trump’s continued praise of Russian President Putin even after Moscow invaded Ukraine, given how much information Trump was privy to about the fellow world leader. “I believe he had enough time, plenty of time, to understand who Putin is,” Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview aired Sunday. “I think he was sitting at such a high position where it’s not even possible not to recognize that [Putin] is the opponent in terms of values to your own people. He [Trump] has all the might of this country — intelligence, data — to create [a] psychological profile.” Zelensky said he was “surprised” at Trump’s behavior “even after the beginning, with a full-fledged invasion.” “Probably he needed this to promote his domestic policy to show that he’s ready to find understanding with the President of Russia,” Zelensky speculated. “Ukraine in his eyes is too far away. But this war has no distances it could not cover, so I believe he needs to look at the situation without, as we say, pink glasses on,” Zelensky said, per CNN’s translation. Trump lauded Putin’s military moves leading up to the invasion in February as “genius” and “savvy,” comments that drew ire even from some in his own party. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) refuted Trump’s “genius” comments, and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said his “adulation” of the Russian president “aids our enemies.” After the invasion, Trump said he was “surprised” that Putin had gone through with the attack. “I thought he was negotiating when he sent his troops to the border. I thought he was negotiating,” Trump told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “I thought it was a tough way to negotiate but a smart way to negotiate.”
After his best people threw him under the train , he humbled himself and sought comfort with the valet. Trump asked valet who delivered his Diet Cokes for advice on how to stay in power: new book
Trump’s Not Even Pretending to Hide His Support for QAnon Any More “President Trump himself is making it UNDENIABLE that he is 100% aligning with the Q operation,” one QAnon follower said. https://www.vice.com/en/article/epzbya/trump-support-qanon Former President Donald Trump has now shared his most explicit endorsement of the QAnon conspiracy movement to date. Trump shared a picture of himself wearing a Q lapel pin, overlaid with the QAnon phrases “The Storm is Coming” and “WWG1WGA,” on his Truth Social account on Monday evening. The post had been originally shared on Truth Social by an account called “Patriots in Control,” before Trump re-shared it. “How much more obvious can it get?” one QAnon follower asked in the QAnon-focus Great Awakening forum. In QAnon world, the “storm” is the moment when Trump will reveal his secret pan to dismantle the deep state and the group of elites QAnon followers believe are operating a global child sex trafficking ring. The “storm” will also, they think, trigger Trump’s return to power and the public executions of those who have acted against him, from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to current President Joe Biden. The post comes just weeks after the former president went on a QAnon-filled posting spree on Truth Social at the end of August. “It's almost like Trump is trying to tell us something,” one popular QAnon influencer wrote, referencing Trump’s increasing embrace of the QAnon conspiracy. Trump’s influence is undeniable: As he continues to hint at another run for president in 2024, Trump is using his huge sway within the Republican party to endorse a slate of candidates for November’s midterms who openly support the lie that the 2020 election was rigged. The QAnon movement has been in flux since Trump’s 2020 election defeat coupled with the lack of any communication from Q over the last 18 months. But Monday’s post by Trump has once again invigorated his most loyal base of supporters. Telegram channels and message board threads lit up on Monday night with supporters who believed that once again, this was a sign that “it’s happening” and that “there's certainly no doubt now that Trump is openly endorsing Q.” “Just in case it wasn’t abundantly CLEAR at this point, President Trump himself is making it UNDENIABLE that he is 100% aligning with the Q operation,” John Sabal, the organizer of QAnon-focused conferences, wrote on his Telegram channel which has over 60,000 subscribers. Some of the members of a QAnon-focused message board claimed that Trump posting this photo just days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II—an incident that QAnon supporters had a lot of thoughts about—was an indication that this time the “storm” really is coming. But for some QAnon supporters who have believed for a long time, it’s all getting too much: “I hope we are almost there…. I am so tired… and broke,” one wrote on Telegram. On the QAnon message board, another simply wrote: “ I'm exhausted.”
Donald Trump lashed out against Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Friday, saying he “couldn’t have won without me,” Axios reports. Said Trump: “Young Kin (now that’s an interesting take. Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?) in Virginia couldn’t have won without me.”
“John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, offered his harshest criticism yet of the former president, CNN reports. Said Kelly: “What can I add that has not already been said? A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.” He added: “A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women. A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.” He concluded: “There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”