From The Hill on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 (here):
Former President Trump on Tuesday called Russia’s recognition of two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine a “genius” move ahead of its military invasion.
In an interview on “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,” Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in eastern Ukraine on Monday was “smart” and “pretty savvy.”
“I went in yesterday, and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius,'” he said. “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”
“I said, ‘How smart is that?’ He’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper,” added Trump, who regularly praised and sought close ties with Putin during his time in office. “That’s the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to keep peace, all right.”
Should we take this at face value? Or is he being sarcastic? Probably some of both. He did say in the interview, “It never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable,” and added, “You know what the response was from Biden? He didn’t have a response.”
Which, of course, is utter nonsense. Biden united NATO; Trump shunned it. Biden is speaking forcefully against Russian aggression; Trump never did. Biden is sending military assistance to Ukraine; Trump tried to use that military assistance to blackmail Ukraine’s government. And Trump very likely is beholden to Russian oligarchs in a way that neither Biden nor any other American president ever was.