Trump ridiculed after he thought Putin, of all people, ‘meant what he said’

Away from the controversy surrounding his administration over its handling of the Epstein files, US president Donald Trump is now being called “weak” and “gullible” for believing his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin – a leader long associated with lies and propaganda – “meant what he said”.

Not that it needs to be stated, but some pretty big examples of Putin not exactly telling the truth or sticking to his word include describing an illegal invasion of a European country (Ukraine) as a “special military operation”, and Russia striking Ukraine’s energy grid just hours after telling Trump he’ll agree to stop such attacks.

It seems like Trump may have missed those…

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday, the US president said “we’re gonna see what will see tomorrow” when it came to sanctions on Russia, but added that he was “very disappointed with President Putin”.

“I thought he was somebody that meant what he said, and he’ll talk so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that,” he said.

And the comments have since seen Trump branded a “dumbass clown” on social media for taking “three plus years” to figure out that Putin may not always be telling the truth or the full story to the United States:

MeidasTouch shared the clip and added: “This is what weakness looks like”:

While The Tennessee Holler wrote that Trump’s comments translate to him saying “I am dangerously gullible and easily played”:

Trump also confirmed the US would be sending Ukraine more Patriot air defence missile and “more sophisticated” military equipment.

“We will send them Patriots which they desperately need because Putin … really surprised a lot of people. It’s a little bit of a problem there, I don’t like it,” he said.

Why not read…

• Video of Rosie O'Donnell mocking Trump resurfaces amid threats
• Vance attends Disneyland, owned by company he previously called 'woke'

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.