remember in the first debate the moderator and Jeb bush tried to goad Trump into calling Putin a thug and trump told the audience that he was not going there because calling Putin a thug could possibly make it hard in the future for him when having to deal with Russia. I think that Putin saw that as a signal that if trump got into power that they could come to some understanding on issues of mutual concern.
The gay issue is a big reason our establishment hates Putin. Russia is Christian and pro-family, not pro-pervert