President Trump accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of “playing with fire” on Tuesday, a day after the president claimed he was considering placing additional sanctions on Russia for its bombardment of civilian targets in Ukrainian cities.
But after four months of empty threats against Mr. Putin, it remained to be seen whether Mr. Trump’s latest harsh comments were an indicator of a new aggressive phase against Russia or another fakeout in the conflict.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened in Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Mr. Trump said in a statement on social media. “He’s playing with fire!”
President Trump really ought to calm down his rhetoric. Hopefully he is just playing the ideologues who pressure him to go hard against Russia. In real life, however, President Trump has no leverage over Russia. The US/EU/NATO axis of evil can do nothing to stop Russia from ruining Project Ukraine. If he does not want to derail his own peace initiative, then President Trump should be more willing to put the ideologues in their place by dealing with Russia on a fair and equal basis.
See also: Kremlin Calls Trump ‘Emotional’ After US President Says Putin Is ‘Crazy’