{"id":243253,"date":"2025-02-20T18:18:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T18:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/20\/trump-elevates-kremlin-talking-points-a-familiar-pattern-from-his-first-term\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T18:18:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T18:18:14","slug":"trump-elevates-kremlin-talking-points-a-familiar-pattern-from-his-first-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/20\/trump-elevates-kremlin-talking-points-a-familiar-pattern-from-his-first-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Elevates Kremlin Talking Points, a Familiar Pattern From His First Term"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/20\/multimedia\/20trump-russia-01-hjpg\/20trump-russia-01-hjpg-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Trump Elevates Kremlin Talking Points, a Familiar Pattern From His First Term\" title=\"Trump Elevates Kremlin Talking Points, a Familiar Pattern From His First Term\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last spring, the Kremlin added a new rhetorical weapon to its regular barrages against President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are aware that the legitimacy of the current head of state has expired,\u201d President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said of the Ukrainian leader in May 2024, two months after <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/17\/world\/europe\/russia-putin-election.html\" title=\"\">orchestrating his own latest rubber-stamp re-election<\/a> at home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those stilted words kicked off a concerted campaign by Moscow to tarnish Mr. Zelensky as an impostor incapable of signing a peace deal unless presidential elections were held in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Zelensky had remained in power when his term expired because Ukraine prohibits elections under martial law. No matter. By Wednesday, President Trump had picked up Mr. Putin\u2019s message.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cA Dictator without Elections,\u201d Mr. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account, in a scathing attack on the Ukrainian leader. It came a day after Mr. Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dmitri A. Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian security council and a former president of Russia, said he agreed with Mr. Trump about the Ukrainian leader \u201c200 percent.\u201d He suggested that Moscow could not believe its luck with Washington\u2019s about-face, throwing into stark relief how completely Mr. Trump had adopted the Kremlin\u2019s messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf you\u2019d told me just three months ago that these were the words of the US president, I would have laughed out loud,\u201d Mr. Medvedev wrote on X.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was not the first time that Mr. Trump had picked up and repeated a questionable talking point of a strongman leader who had won his sympathies. During Mr. Trump\u2019s first term, such interlocutors sometimes guided the president handily toward taking up their positions, even if those stances contradicted Mr. Trump\u2019s own advisers and intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, for example, regularly <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/08\/us\/politics\/trump-erdogan-turkey-visit.html\" title=\"\">steered<\/a> Mr. Trump toward his positions in calls and interactions, ultimately getting the U.S. president to move American forces out of the way while Turkey <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/09\/world\/middleeast\/turkey-attacks-syria.html\" title=\"\">attacked<\/a> the Kurds in northern Syria. The Kurds had been Washington\u2019s main partners in the campaign against the Islamic State.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the murder of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Mr. Trump publicly <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/11\/20\/world\/middleeast\/trump-saudi-khashoggi.html\" title=\"\">repeated<\/a> Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s assertion that he had no knowledge of the crime, and said that the truth about what really happened might never be known. That was at odds with the C.I.A.\u2019s conclusion at the time that Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia\u2019s de facto ruler, ordered the killing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump also <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/03\/01\/us\/trump-otto-warmbier-north-korea.html\" title=\"\">caused an uproar<\/a> in 2019 when he said he took the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un \u201cat his word\u201d that he did not know about the harsh treatment of Otto Warmbier, an American in North Korean custody. Mr. Trump said North Korean prisons were \u201crough places.\u201d Mr. Warmbier was released to the United States in a vegetative state and died soon afterward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Perhaps none of Mr. Trump\u2019s relationships with other world leaders have received more scrutiny than the one with Mr. Putin, whom the U.S. president has long praised and admired.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2018, the Justice Department <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/archives\/opa\/pr\/grand-jury-indicts-12-russian-intelligence-officers-hacking-offenses-related-2016-election\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">named and charged<\/a> 12 officers from Russia\u2019s military intelligence agency with hacking emails from Democratic Party systems and releasing them online. The effort damaged the party\u2019s 2016 presidential candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Days later, after a two-hour private meeting with Mr. Putin in Helsinki, Mr. Trump repeated the Russian leader\u2019s assertion that Moscow had not interfered in Mr. Trump\u2019s favor in the election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI have President Putin. He just said it is not Russia,\u201d Mr. Trump said. \u201cI will say this: I do not see any reason why it would be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump expressed \u201cgreat confidence\u201d in his intelligence agencies, which concluded that Russia had interfered, but said, \u201cI will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His decision to take Mr. Putin\u2019s word over that of his own intelligence agencies outraged even Republicans, with the late Senator John McCain calling it a \u201cdisgraceful performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A three-year study by a bipartisan U.S. Senate committee <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/21\/us\/politics\/russian-interference-senate-intelligence-report.html\" title=\"\">concluded<\/a> that the Russian government \u201cengaged in an aggressive, multifaceted effort to influence, or attempt to influence, the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Constraints during his first term, including a special counsel investigation into Russian interference, a coterie of Russia hawks within his administration and overwhelming bipartisan contempt for the Kremlin in Congress, largely prevented Mr. Trump from acting on his impulse to develop close ties with Mr. Putin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his second term, with those restrictions gone, Mr. Trump has set about pursuing a rapid rapprochement with Moscow, to the shock of both European allies and Ukraine. At the same time, he has taken actions cheered by the Kremlin, including the dismantlement of the American government foreign aid agency, U.S.A.I.D., while also repeating some of the Kremlin&#8217;s main anti-Ukrainian talking points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump\u2019s pattern of repeating what Mr. Putin says and being steered toward policy decisions by foreign strongmen has caused grave worry in both Europe and Ukraine about what the American president might agree to during impending talks with Mr. Putin, who has long sought to destroy NATO and unity between the United States and its European allies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump adopted the Russian president\u2019s line of attack against Mr. Zelensky a week after the two leaders held a phone call, during which Mr. Putin may have raised the matter. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Zelensky\u2019s five-year presidential term would have expired in May of last year, was extended under martial law rules in place since Russia\u2019s invasion in 2022. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin told Russian state television in January that peace negotiations could be conducted with whomever, but that \u201cdue to his illegitimacy\u201d Mr. Zelensky \u201chas no right to sign anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Zelensky hit back at Mr. Putin\u2019s line of attack in June of last year, saying the Ukrainian people were the only ones who would determine the legitimacy of their president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur people are free. To be honest, we\u2019re fighting precisely for this,\u201d Mr. Zelensky said. \u201cThe legitimacy of comrade Putin is recognized only by comrade Putin himself. Only Putin elects Putin. Russians are the scenery, with only one performer on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During an appearance on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump\u2019s Florida estate, the president not only supported Mr. Putin\u2019s argument about Mr. Zelensky\u2019s legitimacy. He co-opted it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump said it was the United States, not Russia, pushing for elections in Ukraine, though Mr. Putin for months has been saying that Mr. Zelensky cannot sign a peace deal unless presidential elections take place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat\u2019s not a Russia thing,\u201d Mr. Trump said of elections in Ukraine. \u201cThat\u2019s something coming from me and coming from many other countries also.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was unclear what countries, apart from Russia, Mr. Trump had in mind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It is unclear exactly what the Kremlin intends to gain from its rhetoric, but questions about Mr. Zelensky\u2019s legitimacy and the timing of future elections could weaken Ukraine\u2019s negotiating position in potential peace talks or form a pretext for sidelining Mr. Zelensky \u2014 especially if Mr. Trump amplifies the message.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Stefan Meister, a Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, said the Kremlin is trying to delegitimize Mr. Zelensky with the hope of destabilizing Ukraine and ultimately setting in motion a process to install a new, more Moscow-friendly leader in Kyiv.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He called the false narrative about Mr. Zelensky an important tool in Russia\u2019s \u201ctoolbox for how they want to destroy Ukraine as a state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is ongoing and evergreen in the Russian disinformation campaign \u2014 that there were no elections in Ukraine and Zelensky is an illegitimate president,\u201d Mr. Meister said. \u201cAs we understand, Trump is taking over the elements of Russian disinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Beyond Ukraine\u2019s clear prohibition on elections during martial law, active warfare in the country would also make holding a fair election incredibly difficult, with thousands of men stationed at the front, fears about going to polls during fighting and worries about a distracting political sweepstakes at a moment of existential crisis for the Ukrainian state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Republican members of Congress who back Ukraine have hit out at the idea that elections should be held before or during any peace process and have highlighted the irony of such a demand by Mr. Putin, who years ago ended fair elections in Russia and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/10\/world\/europe\/putin-president-russia.html\" title=\"\">changed the rules<\/a> to stay in power past his term limits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rep. Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepDonBacon\/status\/1891831173984186670\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> on X that while Russia was demanding elections in Ukraine, \u201cwe should remind ourselves that Putin has murdered or exiled all his political rivals.\u201d Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, told Mr. Putin, also in a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepBrianFitz\/status\/1891847686145409383\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">post<\/a> on X, that he should try holding a free and fair election in his own country first.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/20\/world\/trump-putin-russia-ukraine.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last spring, the Kremlin added a new rhetorical weapon to its regular barrages against President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. \u201cWe are aware that the legitimacy of the current head of state has expired,\u201d President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said of the Ukrainian leader in May 2024, two months after orchestrating his own latest rubber-stamp [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/20\/multimedia\/20trump-russia-01-hjpg\/20trump-russia-01-hjpg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[163575,7140,39896,14714,14808,1607,209,38062,6185,52,163486,128440,34139,8774],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243255,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243253\/revisions\/243255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}