“Putin has gone absolutely crazy” Donald Trump said on 26th of May regarding Russia’s recent escalation in its war on Ukraine. The three-day bombardment was one of the deadliest since the beginning of the war, as Russian strikes killed 13 people, including children.
This statement was not on anyone’s Bingo card, considering how much praise Trump sends Vladimir Putin’s way. Is this the end of their geopolitical ‘bromance’?
The relationship between the two presidents has always been an interesting one. But when did it start? It is hard to tell if the two of them met before Trump’s first presidency, considering how many times the American president changed his story.
“I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 minutes, we were stablemates and we did very well that night.” he said in November 2015. However, turns out they were not even on the same continent, as Trump was interviewed in New York City, and Putin was interviewed in Moscow.
In July 2016, he said: “I never met Putin. I don’t know who Putin is”.
But as his first presidential campaign for the 2016 election began, he took many opportunities to commend Putin’s leadership, comparing him to Obama’s (and later Biden’s) in his words, “weak” administration.
When Putin congratulated him on his electoral victory in 2016, Trump seemed ecstatic. His soft spot for Putin was heavily criticised by many Americans, citizens and politicians alike, some even considering him a Russian asset, or wondering if the Russian autocrat might have access to the skeletons in Trump’s closet. It does not help that US intelligence agencies showed evidence of Russia meddling in the American 2016 election, in Trump’s favour.
Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
During their first in-person meeting at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, in July 2017, Putin strongly denied involvement in the election. Siding with Putin over his own advisors, Trump said: “My people came to me – Dan Coats came to me and some others. They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Another reason why he was accused of favouring Russia was his issues with NATO. As a businessman, Trump seems to view his role as president through a very money-oriented lens. During his first mandate, he spoke bitterly about the US funding of NATO, accusing European countries of being freeloaders, which is a topic he revisited in his second mandate. This allied him with Putin further.
When you hear Trump’s praises aimed at Putin, you can see that his admiration does not come just from Putin’s political decisions. In fact, he often commends his leadership skills, and wit, calling him smart on multiple ocassions. In his 2024 book “Save America” Trump describes Putin as “a strong man”, while also saying how well the two of them get along.
“President Obama wanted to get along with Russia, but the chemistry wasn’t there.” he reiterated, after posting a similar post on X. Trump speaks of Putin with high regard for his personality, aligning their values. He sees Putin as a strongman, an alpha leader, those being the exact values he wants to embody.
Putin, on the other hand, seems much more reserved. He had not shown interest in Donald Trump until he first became president. But he also praised the American president, stating that he always had a “pragmatic and trusting” relationship with him. After the assassination attempt aimed at Trump, he issued support: “He behaved, in my opinion, in a very correct way, courageously, like a real man,”. In a way, their interactions seem like the epitome of the red pill movement, two men, desperately trying to be considered as alphas, stroking each other’s egos.
However, in words of an expert on modern Russia, Mark Galeotti, it seems as if Putin does not have the same esteem for Trump. Putin likes that Trump’s policies are favourable for Russia, but he sometimes even talks about him condescendingly. An example of that is Putin calling Trump “bright”. However, the word he used “яркий” (yarkii) has other meanings, such as colorful and flamboyant, and with that in mind, it is hard not to read it as snarky.
Though, Putin has been very consistent with the way he speaks about Trump. The same cannot be said about the American president, who on occasion likes to throw a provocative quip at the Russian autocrat. “The problem with Putin is he’s got a very big ego. And if he ends now, in most forms, if he ends now, it’s going to look like a big loss for him, even if he takes a little extra territory.” he said in a Fox News interview, in March 2022 about Russia’s aggression on Ukraine.
Rafa Esteve, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Trump is simply a wildcard. He changes his mind and approach, and retracts his statements often. This makes him an unstable ally to both Putin and Europe.
Trump’s stance on Ukraine seems to shift every couple of months. Before he was elected, he stated that he could end the war in 24 hours. That was certainly not the case.
At the beginning of the year, he blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia, calling Zelensky’s presidency illegitimate. After bullying Zelensky in the Oval office in March, he even briefly paused US military aid to Ukraine.
In April, Trump hinted at some economic sanctions on Russia: “There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along.”
Now, back to the present moment, he’s calling Putin crazy, and blasting him for complicating negotiations with the recent drone strikes on Kyiv. On 28th of May, 2025, Trump gave “a two week deadline for Putin, regarding Ukraine” saying he’s “playing with fire” and that if he is not serious about ending the war, the US will have to respond “a little bit differently”.
As the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have not been fruitful, with no agreement in sight, Trump changed his story yet again.
As of the 6th of June, Trump’s approach to the war is to “let them fight for a while.” He added “You see it in hockey, you see it in sports. The referees let them go for a couple of seconds, let them go for a little while before you pull them apart.”
Having someone as unpredictable as Trump as the president of a global superpower, it is impossible to tell what his next move might be, and if an alliance can withstand the power of his mood swings.
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