Donald Trump is becoming disillusioned

Long before Donald Trump ever ran for office, he had a thing for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Way back in 2007, he told CNN's Larry King: “Look at Putin — what he's doing with Russia — I mean, you know, what's going on over there. I mean this guy has done — whether you like him or don't like him — he's doing a great job in rebuilding the image of Russia and also rebuilding Russia period.” And he's always been pretty clear on specifically what that meant. In his 2011 book called "Time To Get Tough: Making America #1 Again," he wrote:

Putin has big plans for Russia. He wants to edge out its neighbors so that Russia can dominate oil supplies to all of Europe. Putin has also announced his grand vision: the creation of a ‘Eurasian Union’ made up of former Soviet nations that can dominate the region. I respect Putin and the Russians but cannot believe our leader allows them to get away with so much – I am sure that Vladimir Putin is even more surprised than I am. Hats off to the Russians.”

It's possible, of course, that Trump's ghostwriter put that in, but assuming he ran it past Trump, it appears that at least back then, Trump understood Putin's larger ambitions and didn't seem to have a problem with them. In recent years, he's been much more cagey about Putin's long term plan, blaming "the West" and NATO and even blaming Ukraine for failing to give Putin everything he wanted without a fight.

I think in the beginning Trump's adoration for Putin was really just about his strongman image, which Trump loves, and also a very obvious pecuniary interest in currying favor with the man who might grease the skids for him to build a Trump Tower in Moscow just in case the whole presidential thing didn't work out. (Little did Trump know that he could have just gone ahead and built the thing even if he was president — the boys are doing that all over the world now and nobody raises an eyebrow.)

But I think all that changed after it became clear that Russia had helped him win the 2016 election with the hacking of the Clinton campaign's emails. His ego is so huge that he took that to mean Putin really respected him and wanted him to be president, so they could work together to make great deals for their countries. Obviously that was a childish delusion, but Trump has clung to it through thick and thin, even fantasizing that they had a special bond. In that humiliating scene with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, he actually said:

“Let me tell you: Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and ‘Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia.’ You ever hear of that deal?”

Yes, I'm sure it was very traumatic for Putin. No doubt they both cried into each other's arms when they were alone in those one-on-one meetings, although it's probable that Putin was crying with laughter.

Trump apparently believed that Vladimir Putin was his true friend, and I think he also truly believed that he could just pick up the phone once he was elected and his buddy would congratulate him and tell him that he couldn't wait to do a deal to end the war. As a gesture of good faith, he'd probably initiate a ceasefire there and then on day one.

Unfortunately for all concerned, Trump was wrong about that, as any sentient being could have told him. He was right that Putin was thrilled that he was back in the White House but only because he knew that Trump would divide the allies, favor him over Ukraine and essentially help him achieve his goal. After all, Trump had said he was a "genius" and very "savvy" for invading in the first place. He's also extremely naive and ignorant, even after having already been president once. This was a big win for him.

Trump has spent most of his time in these first months pretending that he never said that he'd end the war in 24 hours and instead tried to muscle Zelenskyy into surrendering to Putin, insisting he "doesn't have the cards." (Apparently it hasn't occurred to him, even now, that it's not 1975 and Russia might not be the big powerful military giant he seems to think it is, since it hasn't managed to win in three long years.) He wanted to sweep in and just give Putin all the land he's managed to grab, and maybe a smidge more if he really wants it, Ukraine agrees to be a vassal state to Russia, Trump wins the Nobel Peace Prize and Bob's your uncle.

Yeah, that's not going well. Ukraine won't surrender and Putin is basically telling Trump to pound sand. Trump keeps trying to broker a ceasefire, Zelenskyy says yes, but Putin refuses, all the while relentlessly bombarding Ukraine. He indicates he'll show up at peace talks if Trump comes too and then refuses to show and Trump has to back out too, or look even more like an idiot. He's playing Trump like a Stradivarius and this past week Trump seemed to realize for the first time that Vladimir isn't the loyal best pal he thought he was.

After a two-hour phone call, all Trump had to show for it was a promise that Russia would produce some kind of peace memo (which hasn't happened) and no agreement for a ceasefire. When Trump got on the horn with European leaders right after he plaintively sighed, "I don't think Vladimir wants peace." What was his first clue?

Now he's taken to threatening to take America's ball and go home (there goes that peace prize), telling reporters that he "doesn't know what the hell happened to Putin," and ranting like a lunatic on Truth Social:

A Russian spokesperson said that Trump is suffering from "emotional overload."

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Russian state media responded with this:

He backed off a bit in the last day or so telling the press that he's given Putin another two weeks (which we know is Trump-speak for "I don't even have a concept of a plan to deal with this.") He built his relationship with Russia on the illusion that Putin liked him, he really liked him. And now he's found out that it was all just a big, beautiful dream.

After all these years, it's clear, even to him, that Putin knew a long time ago what the Wall Street traders have just figured out — TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out.