Calling 74-year-old President Donald Trump an “extraordinary individual,” 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin gave 49-year-old left-leaning NBC News journalist Keir Simmons more than he could handle. Only four days before his Geneva summit with 78-year-old President Joe Biden, Putin spoke optimistically about resetting U.S.-Russian relations, while praising the former president. “Well even now, I believe that former U.S. President Mr. Trump is an extraordinary individual, talented individual, otherwise he would not have become U.S. president,” Putin told Simmons. Simmons wanted to elicit a negative response from Putin about Trump, contrasting Biden’s current leadership style, perceived by most in the liberal media as more steady. Simmons did practically everything to tee Trump up for Putin to take a shot but he had nothing negative to say about Trump.
Simmon’s network, including MSNBC, ran negative stories about Trump for his four years in office. To NBC, Trump was an unmitigated disaster, despite the 3.5% U.S. unemployment rate, including not getting the U.S. into another overseas war. “He is a colorful individuals. You may like him or not. And, but he didn’t come from the U.S. establishment. He had no part of big-time politics be for, and some like it, some don’t like it but that is a fact,” Putin said. Putin talked about Biden being a career politician in contrast to Trump, something the mainstream media detested. Trump didn’t hesitate to call the U.S. press for pandering “fake news,” accusing the president falsely over four years of being a Russian asset. Putin said Biden couldn’t be more different than Trump, “is radically different from because Biden is a career man. He has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics.”
When Trump was elected in 2016 it was precisely because he was a political outsider, a non-politician, capable to shaking up the bureaucracy, an attempt at rocking Washington’s predictable cage. Washington’s establishment didn’t like Trump rocking the boat, leaving the press and elected officials willing to do anything to get rid of him. “That’s a different kind of person, and it is my great hope that, yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse-based movements on behalf of the sitting U.S. president,” Putin told Simmons, the closest thing to anything critical of Trump. Trading predictability for impulse, Putin hoped he could restore some kind of order with U.S.-Russian relations. Putin was aware of the fact that Trump was accused for his four years in office of serving some clandestine interest of the Russian Federation, something never proven.
Putin’s been around enough to know that Biden was Vice President during the Obama administration, where U.S.-Russian relations sunk to post-Cold War low after former President Barack Obama ousted 35 Russian diplomats Dec. 31, 2016, only three weeks before Trump’s inauguration. Democrats and the press accused Trump for four years of colluding with Russia all based on a former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fake dossier assembled by former MI67 agent Christopher Steele. Democrats and the press prevented Trump from developing a close partnership with Putin, but, despite the resistance from the press and elected officials, Trump developed a good relationship with Putin. When Putin talks about Biden;s long career in politics, he hopes he doesn’t revert to Obama’s approach to U.S.-Russian relations where Moscow was accused of meddling in U.S. affairs.
When Biden and Putin meet June 16 in Geneva, Biden’s likely to dredge up alleged Russian meddling in U.S. affairs, when it comes to U.S. elections and democracy. Puint will deny any attempt by the Russian Federation to interfere with U.S. internal affairs. On the other hand, Putin could point out how the U.S. meddles in Russia’s internal affairs when it comes to 44-year-old Russian dissident Aliexi Navalny. Navalny, who was allegedly poisoned by the FSB [Russian security] with Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, was treated in Germany, then returned to Moscow Jan. 14 to face arrest. Navalny, who’s clandestine group seeks to overthrow the Russian government, is considered a dangerous revolutionary by the Kremlin. Biden has demanded publicly that Putin release Navalny from prison. If that’s not considered meddling in a sovereign state’s internal affairs then what is?
Biden started off on the wrong tact with Putin calling him a “soulless killer” March 16, practically wrecking U.S.-Russian relations. Putin hopes that Biden’s career politician status leads to more predictability. But, as Putin noted, it could lead to more accusations and antagonistic behavior. Biden’s got pressure from Democrats and Republicans to confront Putin over recent attacks by Russia-based hackers who infiltrated U.S.-government and Pentagon-used SolarWinds network management software, hacked the Colonial pipeline with ransomware, and, most recently, hacked Brazilian-based JBS meatpacking, the biggest beef, pork and poultry supplier in the U.S. If Biden gets on his high horse, he’ll all but destroy U.S.-Russian relations for the foreseeable future. U.S. national security needs a sold working relationship with the Russian Federation to manage pressing world issues.
