“ his poor relationship with the Ukraine, and his good relationship with Putin himself I think Putin thought his chances of success would be better under a second Trump administration.”
I watched a video of a Trump Zelensky meeting in the Oval Office. Trump was aware of the corruption in Ukraine but he spoke positively of Zelensky and his promise to clean things up. I don’t see how he could have approved of an invasion. You have to understand a lot of Trump’s praises for other leaders (including Kim Jong Un !) is simply a pre-negotiation tactic. Don’t mistake it for friendship and admiration. Trump uses a combination of praise, friendship and threats at the same time to get what he wants. There was a report sometime back that Trump had privately threatened Putin with “hitting Moscow” if he did something stupid.
Good post, all true.