As recounted by President Donald Trump on Fox News, “one of the most interesting things” Russian President Vladimir Putin told him was “‘your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting.’”
“He said, ‘You won that election by so much… and if you would have won, we wouldn’t have had a war, we’d have all of these millions of people alive now instead of dead,’” Trump said on Sean Hannity’s show on Friday night. “And he said, ‘and you lost it because of mail-in voting, it was a rigged election.’”
The Kremlin did not immediately confirm Trump’s account and he has been known to confabulate conversations that could not have possibly occurred.
But the supposed exchange with Putin is exactly what Trump would have most wanted to hear. And, as a former senior U.S. intelligence official noted on Monday, Putin remains a KGB agent at his icy core.
“As an intelligence officer, it becomes innate when you size somebody up to assess their vulnerabilities, their needs, their desires, and then figure out which ones to exploit,” the former official, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Daily Beast on Monday. “In Trump’s case, he’s an open book. His vulnerability is ego, his need is petting, and his desire is to look powerful. So, you know, Putin is figuring out how to j— him off. “
To say that Trump colluded with Russia suggests there was some secret understanding. Much more likely than collusion, there was manipulation of Trump by Putin, of a ruse by a veteran spy turned tyrant.
“Trump, oh, my God, this guy for an intelligence officer is a dream machine,” the former official told the Daily Beast. “All you have to do is press the buttons and it does exactly as advertised.”
His I-beat-Biden button duly pushed, Trump went on Truth Social early Monday to rage about a rigged election that wasn’t rigged. He could have better spent his time planning for a meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and six other European leaders who were coming to the White House with the hope of stopping the war that Putin started.
“I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post as Russian missiles and drones continued to kill innocent Ukrainians, in this latest instance including a toddler.
During his first term, Trump had seemed to be intimidated by Putin. The former official believes this was at least in part because oligarchs with ties to the Russian president had the power to tell banks on which Trump depended to cut him off.
“Whenever Putin was around, [Trump] seemed mousy and weak,” the former official said.
But since he returned to office, Trump and his family have raked in billions. Trump has become an appeaser transformed.
“He could push Putin around in ways he couldn’t before,” the former official said. “Once [Trump] realized this guy can’t financially destroy me because I’m liquid, [Trump] got a little chesty with him. He’s like, ‘What’s happening in Ukraine is disgusting. I’m giving Putin a deadline. I’m shortening it. I’m cutting the deadline in half. I’m going to make this happen, blah, blah, blah.’”
Trump threatened Putin with punishing sanctions if he did not agree to a ceasefire.
“And everybody wondered like, ‘When did Donald Trump get a set of balls?’” the former official recalled. “Donald Trump did not grow a set of balls. He grew $5 billion.”
But the newly emboldened Trump suddenly turned TACO when he met with Putin in Alaska on Friday. The former official figures that Putin had simply told himself to modulate the manipulation.
“Putin says, ‘You know, even though I can’t pull the rug under him financially like I could before, which was the fear factor, I could still use the ego factor, because with Donald Trump that never fails,’” the former official surmised, theorizing that Putin told himself, “All I have to do is stroke him three times and then talk to him about the big picture.’”
If Trump’s account of the Alaska meeting is accurate, the big picture as drawn by Putin is this: Without mail-in votes, Trump would have won the 2020 election and there never would have been a war in Ukraine and millions of lives would have been saved.
Trump came out of the meeting also saying that it was up to Zelensky to stop the killing. Never mind that it had in actuality been started by Putin and Putin alone.
Zelensky “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Zelensky looked grim when he arrived at the White House along with the half dozen other European leaders on Monday afternoon. He had set his pride aside by wearing a black suit instead of the military attire he customarily wears as a tribute to his soldiers. Vice President JD Vance had termed it disrespectful when Zelensky first visited The White House in February.
Vance had also criticized Zelensky for not being adequately grateful for American support. Zelensky made a point of thanking Trump seven times in under three minutes during an open press session on Monday, including for allowing him to point out details on a battlefield map.
“Thank you for the map by the way, it was great,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky also asked Trump to convey his thanks to First Lady Melania Trump for a letter she wrote to Putin about the thousands of Ukrainian children the Russians abducted from their families in territory they seized. Zelensky did not mention that the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant charging Putin with “the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) …from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” He simply said he hoped a peace agreement would present an “historic” opportunity to “to bring kids back to the families and be happy.”
“Bring people back, yeah,” Trump said.
When Zelensky was done, Trump seemed pleased, at least for the moment.
“Great remarks,” Trump said. “I appreciate it.”
But even before Zelensky and the other leaders departed The White House, Trump telephoned Putin. Trump and Putin are said to have spoken for 40 minutes.
“I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years.”
Yet, judging from what a hot mic picked up of Trump whispering to French President Emmanuel Macron in the East Room, the master manipulator was hard at work.
“I think he [Putin] wants to make a deal,” Trump said. “I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.”
Crazy indeed.
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