What did Donald Trump do today?

He came this close to getting it on Russia.

This morning in Scotland, Trump once again faced questions from an international press corps free to ask direct questions. One was about Trump's repeated failure to bring the Putin regime to any kind of negotiations or even a temporary cease fire in its war on Ukraine. Neither Ukraine nor Russia want the war to end on the current terms, and Putin has made clear through mocking statements in Russian state media that he believes he can conquer Ukraine outright by keeping the United States on the sidelines—a position Trump has embraced.

In his response, Trump—who has been tentatively rattling his saber but has taken no direct or indirect actions to challenge Putin—almost seemed to glimpse the reality of his situation.

REPORTER: Do you think [Putin] has been lying to you about his intentions?

TRUMP: I don't want to use the word lying, all I know is we'd have a good talk, and it seemed on let's say three occasions, it seemed that we were gonna have a, a ceasefire and maybe peace and you'd divide it up and you'd do whatever you have to do that—obviously, to get to the end. And all of the sudden missiles are flying into Kyiv, and other places. And I'd say, "What's that all about?" I spoke to him three, four hours ago, and it looked like we were on our way, and then I'd say "forget it," and "I'm not gonna talk—" you know, this has happened on too many occasions and—I don't like it. I don't like it.

Trump explained away his reluctance to impose meaningful sanctions on Russia by claiming he didn't want to hurt the Russian people—even though any real sanctions would be targeted at the Russian oligarchy and their assets, not ordinary Russian citizens. "I don't want to do that to Russia," he said. "I love the Russian people, they're great people."  

Sympathy for the Russian people is understandable: they have spent most of the twenty-first century under a corrupt authoritarian with a captive legislature, who parcels out state power to billionaire cronies (at least until they displease him), attacks the press politically and physically, treats opposition to his agenda as tantamount to  treason, ignores laws he finds inconvenient, flaunts his immunity for his own lawbreaking and who uses the coercive power of the state to intimidate the opposition.

By contrast, Trump had this to say on the Fourth of July about the clear majority of American citizens who opposed his budget bill: "They wouldn’t vote [for my budget bill] only because they hate Trump, but I hate them too, you know that? I really do hate them, I cannot stand them."

Why does this matter?

• Dictators don't brag about pulling other leaders' puppet strings unless they have those strings to pull on.  

• Anyone who gives a dictator the benefit of the doubt, over and over again, is far too stupid and gullible to be fit for office.

• Past a certain point, it doesn't matter if a president is compromised, mentally incapable of understanding his situation, or simply overmatched.