During the height of the pandemic, President Trump sent COVID test kits to his good friend Vladimir Putin. So says a new book by Bob Woodward. Since Trump has been out of office, he has spoken to Putin at least seven times, Woodward says.
The Washington Post reports:
As the coronavirus tore through the world in 2020, and the United States and other countries confronted a shortage of tests designed to detect the illness, then-President Donald Trump secretly sent coveted tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his personal use.
Putin, petrified of the virus, accepted the supplies but took pains to prevent political fallout — not for him, but for his American counterpart. He cautioned Trump not to reveal that he had dispatched the scarce medical equipment to Moscow, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward.
Putin, according to the book, told Trump, “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me.”
Four years later, the personal relationship between the two men appears to have persisted, Woodward reports, as Trump campaigns to return to the White House and Putin orchestrates his bloody assault on Ukraine. In early 2024, the former president ordered an aide away from his office at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, so he could conduct a private phone call with the Russian leader, according to Woodward’s account.
The book does not describe what the two men purportedly discussed, and it quotes a Trump campaign official casting doubt on the supposed contact. But the unnamed Trump aide cited in the book indicated that the GOP standard-bearer may have spoken to Putin as many as seven times since Trump left the White House in 2021.
These interactions between Trump and the authoritarian leader of a country at war with an American ally form the basis of Woodward’s conclusion that Trump is worse than Richard M. Nixon, whose presidency was undone by the Watergate scandal exposed a half-century ago by Woodward and his Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein.
“Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024,” Woodward writes in the book, “War,” which is set to be released Oct. 15.
Woodward concludes that Trump is unfit for office while Biden exhibited “steady and purposeful leadership.”
The book also covers Biden’s decision making in relation to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Unsurprising.
The cherry on top is Putin intimidating Trump with his “people will be mad at you, not me.”
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No one gets mad at Putin. It’s dangerous.
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Trump would like people to believe he’s equally dangerous, another of his strongman fantasies.
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Don’t underestimate what a wealthy man with no scruples and a deep rolodex of unsavory connections is capable of
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I knew (of) Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump is no Vladimir Putin.
HT to Lloyd Bentsen.
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But he sure does want to be when he grows up.
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Germaine; no paywall:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/08/us/politics/trump-2024-election-democracy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Q04.S22D.R7jaRN-Dv8A_&smid=url-share
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Me thinks some Never Trump Republicans have embedded themselves in the Trump machine as double agents. They are playing Judas deliberately. Probably even playing golf with the golf cheater. Yes, he doesn’t just cheat on his wives and mistresses and porn stars. He cheats everyone equally as often as possible.
These double agents are telling the traitor what he wants to hear about how smart and great he is, while taking notes on what the traitor doesn’t want anyone else outside of his inner circle of fascist MAGA lunatics to know.
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I wonder if Trump sent his Bud some chlorine bleach and a hypodermic needle—or maybe some ivermectin.
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I can just imagine those 7 conversations with Putin since tRump left office. They were probably about the same thing, something like:
‘Remember, when COVID was raging, I didn’t tell the same lies to you that I told Americans (see link below). And when people here were dying and in need of personal protection equipment (PPE) and tests, I told them that states were on their own, but I sent the tests to you! (Make Russia Great Again!) So what are you going to do to get me elected this time?’
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/sep/27/10-donald-trumps-big-falsehoods-about-covid-19/
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cx: dieing not dying
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Dying is correct.
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Thanks, Diane! It suddenly didn’t look right to me but I just checked and you’re definitely right. I really appreciate your feedback!
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This might not be the best place to bring this up, but another Washington Post article today stuck in my craw (am I dating myself with that expression?).
The Post article was about the so-called “national debt”. I ended up sending the following to the Post:
THINK ABOUT THIS: Of all the 200 nations around the world, there are only two — just two — that have any such thing as a government “debt ceiling”. Those two countries are tiny Denmark and, of course, the United States.
In the U.S. the made-up “debt ceiling” was created to be used as a political weapon — a lever for a political party to hold the national economy hostage until the party gets what it wants.
More than 20% of the so-called “federal debt” can be instantly erased simply by an accounting change. That’s because as of the end of 2023, over 21% — more than $7 trillion of the debt — is money that the federal government owes itself.
THE GOVERNMENT OWES MONEY TO ITSELF!?!
Whaaa? How can the government “owe” money to itself?
Here’s the way it works: At the start of each budget year, each government agency estimates the amount of money it will need to operate for the coming year. Sometimes things happen that make the estimate too high or too low.
For example, say the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA, the agency that pays out money to citizens who are victims of some natural disaster) estimates that it will need $25 billion to operate in the coming year. Then, a couple of unpredicted hurricanes hit Florida and Louisiana that cause $20 billion in damages that FEMA pays out to victims. FEMA won’t have enough money to operate for the rest of the year, so it asks other federal agencies if they can spare any of their budgets. Say FEMA gets a total of $20 billion from a couple of other federal agencies who think they are going to have a surplus. That puts FEMA on the list of federal agencies that are in debt and that debt is added to the federal debt and approaches the “debt ceiling”. But, in fact, that “debt” is the government owing money to itself. That sounds ridiculous, but the accounting rules require that borrowing between government agencies to be reported as part of the federal debt.
Strange, but that’s the way it is in the world of politics. It’s like you being in debt to yourself because you took money from your left pocket and put it into your right pocket.
So, why doesn’t the government just do away with that accounting gimmick? Well, that gimmick is a handy political club for one political party to hammer the other party with. So, more than $7 trillion of the debt is just accounting fiction.
So, the largest single “person” to whom the government owes money is — ITSELF!!!
Who else does the government owe money to? Well, 40% of those to whom it owes money to is maybe YOU and anyone else who owns Treasury Bonds, like U.S. Savings Bonds, and other Treasury investment bonds. Americans like you, pension plans, who buy bonds for earning interest are the largest single group to whom the government owes money in the form of interest paid on your bonds and principal.
The United States never actually borrows money from foreign nations — in fact, America typically gives away money to foreign nations in the form of foreign aid.
The only debt owed to foreign nations is to those nations who have also invested in U.S. Treasury Bonds.
There are actually only two — just TWO — foreign governments who hold any significant amount of U.S. Treasury Bonds: Japan holds the most; China is next. Altogether, there are only four — just four — other foreign nations who own Treasury Bonds: The United Kingdom and tiny Luxembourg.
They are “owed” the same kind of interest and principal that is owed to you and other Treasury bond holders. BUT — those governments placed their money in U.S. Treasury Bonds because U.S. Treasury bonds are the MOST SECURE INVESTMENT IN THE WORLD, and those foreign governments aren’t going to cash out because that would crash the value of their investment to pennies on dollar.
So, in a very important way, the investment of those foreign nations in U.S. Treasury Bonds actually gives our government important leverage over those governments — If they want to ever get their money back, they had better make certain that the U.S. economy stays healthy.
BOTTOM LINE:
“Government debt ceiling” is a political gimmick that other nations view as a bad joke.
The U.S. “federal debt” can be reduced by more than 20% just by an accounting change because it’s money that the government owes itself.
More than 40% of the so-called “federal debt” is just interest and principal “owed” to you, your pension plan, and other U.S. citizens who own Savings Bonds and other Treasury Bonds.
Only two foreign governments — Japan #1 and China #2 — own any significant Treasury Bonds, and those countries aren’t going to cash out because that would crash their investment. In fact, this situation gives the United States major leverage over these nations.
All the wailing and drama about the “federal debt” and the “debt ceiling” is political theater that’s designed to influence voters who don’t have a clue about what those things actually are.
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Thank you, Quikwrit.
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” . . . another Washington Post article today stuck in my craw (am I dating myself with that expression?).”
. . . not if you are a farmer. CBK
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