There’s a reason Putin didn’t invade while Benedict Donald was prez.

 He was already getting what he wanted.Why piss off someone who’s on your side?

Consider where Trump and Biden stand on three key issue areas the Kremlin cares deeply about: NATO, political leadership in Ukraine and undermining democracy. Under Trump, there was little daylight between Russia and the United States on these issues. And both while in office and since leaving it, Trump worked tirelessly to cast doubt on the legitimacy of American elections, much like Putin.

The truth is that during his administration, Trump’s policy alignment with Putin advanced the aims of Russians, who could imagine that the United States was on their side. Their comfort with Trump was evident from the start; Americans may remember that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was warmly received in the White House and photographed in the Oval Office, while Russian parliament members toasted Trump’s electoral victory in 2016 after they openly campaigned for him.

Far from deterring Putin, Trump did the opposite. Thanks to Trump, Putin was able to take advantage of a period of apparent detente during which Trump actually pursued Putin’s own policies of weakening NATO and democracy and destabilizing the West — leaving Putin free to prepare his war against the free people of Ukraine and their democratically elected government.

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