The romance is over


The heartbreak of a breakup is worse when you get the news secondhand. Putin has parted ways with Trump.

More than a month later than most world leaders, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden for his victory in the election, a delayed recognition that could set the tone for icy relations.

“In his message Vladimir Putin wished the president-elect every success and expressed confidence that Russia and the United States, which bear special responsibility for global security and stability, can, despite their differences, effectively contribute to solving many problems and meeting challenges that the world is facing today,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

I knew all along that the relationship would never work out — it was a friendship of convenience between two spoiled, selfish people who would only stick together while they thought they could get something from one another. Oh well, Donald still has a few potential dates for the prom on Saturday.

Putin was one of the last heads of state to acknowledge Biden’s win; Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and North Korea’s Kim Jung Un are other holdouts.

I can see where Bolsonaro and Kim have a lot in common with the loser-in-chief, but I was baffled by Obrador. Shouldn’t Mexico be happy to see a bigoted basher out of office? But here’s a brief explanation:

Few expected López Obrador, elected in July 2018, to openly embrace Trump and his hard-line border policies after all the dirt thrown. But that’s just what happened.

At heart, the two men are nationalists more concerned with domestic business than foreign affairs, experts say.

“I think we need to understand that AMLO has an uncommon worldview,” said Duncan Wood, director of the nonpartisan Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute in Washington, D.C. “He is much more focused on what happens internally than what happens in the United States. He wants the world to know he isn’t beholden to the United States.”

OK, I can respect that — it’s not so much an affection for Trump as it is a need to stand independent of the US, no matter who holds the office.

Comments

  1. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    you know Putin never considered tRump a friend. He made tRump think he was his friend, in order to keep him throwing monkey wrenches into us.It as far more tRump trying to curry Putin’s favor than Putin being friends

  2. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    re @1:
    Goddess Tpyo made a w fall off a was in there. I’ll let you find where to return it

  3. PaulBC says

    Few expected López Obrador, elected in July 2018, to openly embrace Trump and his hard-line border policies after all the dirt thrown. But that’s just what happened.

    What? He didn’t offer to pay for the wall.

  4. stroppy says

    I’m sure Putin will keep Trump consoled as his personal money launderer. Trump was never really more than his bimbo mistress, anyway.

  5. whheydt says

    Old saying… “Alas, poor Mexico. So far from God, so close to the United States.”

    (And, I suppose, apropos of recent goings on… “If I owned Hell and Texas, I’d live in Hell and rent out Texas.”)

  6. KG says

    Obrador might also be worried that Mexico is a very convenient target for some spectacular demonstration of Trump’s spite in the final days of his power.

  7. robro says

    There is no love lost between thieves. I don’t think Trump is Putin’s patsy so much as a willing conspirator in the big grift. Putin may be a shade smarter that Trump. As for Putin congratulating Biden, he’s just being strategic given Biden’s inevitable inauguration.

    “Moscow Mitch” McConnell has now declared Biden is president elect. Coincidence?

    Of course, Trump and Stephen Miller are still plotting a surprise in January. It won’t work, but that won’t stop them. They’re raking in the donations.

  8. Rich Woods says

    I’m still holding out hope that there’s some decent kompromat waiting to be revealed. Well, indecent kompromat, preferably.

  9. answersingenitals says

    Trump treats his business relations, political relations, and personal relations the same the way he treats his marriages: always looking for a better (for Trump) option. Putin, like Trump’s wives, learned that Trump sucks in bed, and not in a good way.

  10. jrkrideau says

    Putin has an interesting sense of humour and style. I suspect his delay is more a suggestion of his scorn for the US electoral circus than anything.

  11. unclefrogy says

    Putin got his moneys worth out of Agent Orange the mess he generated and the lack of any real opposition was well worth the price besides the profit made by managing the money laundering for all of the important oligarchs under him. If he did not think he was worth it he would have sunk him long ago.
    uncle frogy

  12. says

    That happened yesterday. Today I notice Mitch McConnell has openly acknowledged Biden’s election, and told his fellow Retrumplitarian stooges not to oppose it. Coincidence? I think not…