Serious question: if trump is such a lying liar, why on earth doesn't he PRETEND, at least, to

[Leghorn21]

hate and despise Putin? He could easily tell Putin through back-channel cohorts (or a direct phone call, what the hay) that he's just putting on a show, and then commence to revile and denounce him publicly, right?

Instead, he time and again says nice things and defends him, thus drawing attention to his bizarre fanboy admiration of Putin - so, why not lie about this and take some quizzical heat off himself?!

I demand answers from the fine minds inhabiting the DU Universe!

[Kber]

1. He's not very bright

[guillaumeb]

2. If Putin has compromising information on Trump,

Trump must be fearful that Putin will release the information.

I believe that Trump has such faith in his ability to con people that he still feels he can spin this situation to his benefit.

[Leghorn21]

4. Wellll...it just seems to me that Putin could still do whatever he's doing if he and trump AGREED to

put on a "we're mortal enemies" show, thus taking a lot of heat OFF of trumpy's strange and very public bro-love of him -

[guillaumeb]

8. But Trump has a high opinion of his own ability to con people.

My view is that he is confident that he can spin his way out of this.

Either way, one hopes that Trump is crushed by what is revealed.

[Leghorn21]

10. Yes, "crushed" sounds delicious! eom

[Motley13]

3. It is more important to butter Putin up, you don't offend

the guy that loans you $ & helps you steal an election & has the goods on you, the pee tape

[MineralMan]

5. Trump and Putin Have an Agreement.

Trump doesn't diss Putin and Putin won't release all the horribly embarrassing stuff he has on Trump. It's simple, really.

[Leghorn21]

6. Oh, okay - so Putin's enormous EGO would not be able to bear even a FAKE public bad-

mouthing from DFT, apparently? Hunh....sure seems as if it would make life easier for both of them to spat publicly WHILE clandestinely negotiating all manner of deals, arrangements and coup d'etats and such!!

[MineralMan]

7. I do not know what motivates Putin.

Neither does Trump. Putin is sort of an unknown in all of this. However, he is capable of ordering people to be killed, and has done so. He's a scary sort of guy, really.

[Leghorn21]

12. Yes, few are more menacing than Putin, a known murderer - it just seems to me they could have

a pretend series of dramatic dust ups, while Putin, on the down low, surreptitiously moves his people into key WH positions, and then, BAM - the coup d'etat is a fait accompli!

[Bucky]

9. that is a great question.

Like others in this thread, I don't think he has the intelligence to pull it off. But more importantly he needs to have a public face the corresponds with pro-russian policies as they come up. After all, their main goal is to end the sanctions against Russia.

Another possibility, is that Russia didn't exactly have a wide range of options for pro-Russia politicians to support. It's not like there was a clamour on the side of the Republicans to start cuddling up to a foreign dictator.

[Leghorn21]

13. Ah, okay - sanctions - trump could reasonably go from "fighting" Putin to suddenly trashing the

sanctions...point taken!

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

11. He lies a lot, but he is still not good at it. n/t