Donald Trump must have felt an ice-cold stab to his black shriveled heart when his frenemy Vladimir Putin playfully tossed an endorsement Kamala Harris’s way for the 2024 presidential elections.
Putin must too have felt a twinge of regret as he plunged the dagger into his longtime admirer’s back. With Harris surging in the polls and Trump’s campaign sputtering like a dying star, the Russian strongman had little choice but to abandon ship publicly, even though deep down, he yearns to set sail with Trump once more, praying their love boat won’t turn out to be the Titanic. The betrayal came just a day after the U.S. Department of Justice unleashed a blistering indictment against two Russian journalists, accusing them of meddling in the election through the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, RT.
Here was Trump’s golden moment, a chance to spin the pro-Russian stance narrative imposed on him and reclaim lost ground by grabbing onto the negative narrative surrounding Harris after Putin’s endorsement of her raised questions about her true allegiance. Instead, at a campaign stop, he blurted out his feelings, “I knew Putin I knew him well, and you know, he endorsed Kamala. I was very offended by that! I wonder why he endorsed Kamala! Was it done with a smile?”
This emotional slip was quickly seized upon by the Twitter account Republicans Against Trump as they highlighted Trump’s erratic stance: How he continuously oscillates between denial and admission of Putin’s support. In his jealousy, Trump reveals a vulnerability, almost insinuating that Putin’s endorsement should have been his. This is “not the flex” Trump thinks it is, as one keen X observer noted.
Putin has been the foundation upon which Trump’s house of cards has been built, with the former president gushing over the Russian strongman’s “genius” and “very savvy” moves, even as Putin’s tanks rolled into Ukraine like a plague of locusts in 2022. The torrid love affair between Putin and Trump is an open secret, with U.S. intelligence agencies long suggesting that Moscow’s heart belongs to The Donald, thanks to his disdain for sanctions and wishy-washy stance on Ukrainian aid. At the Economic Club of New York, Trump sang the same old tune, questioning the efficacy of sanctions against rival nations and claiming, “I want to use sanctions as little as possible.” His words laid bare his true loyalties, like a lovelorn schoolboy pining for his forbidden crush.
Will he ever have the guts to cut ties with Putin? Not a chance in hell. Trump knows that without Putin’s rubles and agents to influence the elections, his chances of winning in November are slim to none. And with legal challenges waiting in the wings, a loss could mean much more than a bruised ego. It could mean facing justice without the presidency as a shield.