CNN's Jake Tapper tackles Trump's 'revisionist history' about Putin. Eric Trump adds to it on Fox News.
"The war in Ukraine is entirely the fault and responsibility of one man, Vladimir Putin, though of course decades of misjudgments in Western foreign policy set the stage for him," CNN's Jake Tapper said Monday night. "Recently, however, former President Donald Trump and his allies have been engaging in quite a bit of revisionist history about this matter," claiming, among other things, that Putin never would have invaded Ukraine if Trump were still president.
In fact, "even some of Trump's former advisers wonder if his approach may have empowered the Russian president on the world stage," Tapper said. (The Week's Joel Mathis and Damon Linker wonder about that, too.) Assisting Tapper in his look back at Trump's history with Putin were journalist Julia Ioffe and also Trump and his former aides. He reached back to the 2016 presidential campaign, with a special reminder of why Trump was impeached the first time.
"Trump and his supporters today note that unlike the administrations of Bush and Obama, Putin never invaded any country during the Trump years, which is true — though Russia did significantly ramp up its military presence in Syria," Tapper said. "But former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton said there could be a good reason for that," namely that Trump was planning to withdraw the U.S. from NATO in a second term.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
At about the same time as Tapper was revisiting Trump's relationship with Putin on CNN, Eric Trump was making the case to Fox News host Sean Hannity that Putin, as a former KGB agent, respected Trump and saw his strength.
Unlike Trump's great relationship with Putin, President Biden has no relationship with him, Eric Trump asserted. He also, inadvertently, alluded to his father's first impeachment and suggested, bizarrely, that Biden is just sending Ukraine "blankets," not massive amounts of weapons.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
‘What a corrective to such nonsense’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
TikTok secures deal to remain in USSpeed Read ByteDance will form a US version of the popular video-sharing platform
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
-
House GOP revolt forces vote on ACA subsidiesSpeed Read The new health care bill would lower some costs but not extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
-
Why does White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles have MAGA in a panic?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Trump’s all-powerful gatekeeper is at the center of a MAGA firestorm that could shift the trajectory of the administration
-
Hegseth rejects release of full boat strike footageSpeed Read There are calls to release video of the military killing two survivors of a Sept. 2 missile strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat
-
‘It’s another clarifying moment in our age of moral collapse’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump vows naval blockade of most Venezuelan oilSpeed Read The announcement further escalates pressure on President Nicolás Maduro
-
Kushner drops Trump hotel project in SerbiaSpeed Read Affinity Partners pulled out of a deal to finance a Trump-branded development in Belgrade