Before the Republican party lost its mind over trump, it was staunchly against Russian aggression. That stance ended at the Republican National Convention of 2016. Trump allies watered down the platform plank on Ukraine. This emboldened Putin.
2016 RNC Delegate: Trump Directed Change To Party Platform On Ukraine Support : NPR
Sergey Kislyak, the Russian Ambassador hovered over the 2016 Republican National Convention, like a buzzard awaiting the Former Guy to kill Ukraine. He would meet with a number of key Trump associates, like Jeff Sessions. They would at first deny the contacts, then try to minimize them.
Sources: Mueller Team Probing Russia Contacts at Republican Convention (voanews.com)
When he fired FBI Director James Comey, trump would brag to the Russians that he had done it to stop the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election on his behalf. He would amplify Russian propaganda claiming Ukraine had interfered.
An American President has the power to greatly enhance the image and status of a foreign leader simply by meeting with him or her. Throughout his presidency, trump empowered leaders like Putin and Kim Jong Un with public meetings. meanwhile he refused to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the White House.
in the attempt to gain campaign dirt from pro-Russian Ukrainians.
In 2019 trump attempted to withhold crucial military aid from Ukraine in order to get them to manufacture campaign dirt on a political opponent. He was impeached for this act only to be saved by Republican Senators who fear his mean tweets. He sent his hapless attorney, Rudy Giuliani to meet with corrupt, pro-Russian Ukrainians to get dirt as well.
Trump’s Extortion of Ukraine: A Complete Government Shakedown – Center for American Progress
was widely panned as a sellout of Western values and security.
On the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, trump was still calling Putin a “genius” and singing his praises.
Throughout his presidency, Donald trump acted in ways that weakened and destabilized our economic and security ties with our allies. Nowhere was this more evident in the way he interacted with our NATO allies. This put him in lockstep with Putin whose goal was to enhance Russian power by weakening the Free World. Petty trade wars with allies and wholesale undermining of NATO’s ability to check Russian aggression was the result. “America First” was a return to the isolationism of the 1930’s that left us unprepared for WWII.
while his 3rd wife was pregnant. He used his attorney,
Michael Cohen, to pay her hush money. C
ohen went to prison for that.
Several reasons for trump’s creepy affection for Vladamir Putin have been suggested. It may be possible that Putin has compromising information (Kompromat) on trump. Trump has a history of philandering with everything from porn stars and cheating on his current wife with his next wife. If such info exists, it would have to be pretty salacious to have any impact on someone with trump’s morals.
with the Russians while running for President.
We now know, in spite of his repeated denials, that trump was actively working on a proposed trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 campaign. We also know that he was more than happy to ask the Russians for stolen campaign dirt on an opponent. That the Ruskies released this dirt through Wikileaks instead of the trump Campaign gave him some room to deny that he was getting illegal help from a foreign adversary. Even after all of America’s intelligence Agencies affirmed that Russia meddled in our election, trump proudly accepted Putin’s assertion that they did not.
Outlaws, Outrages and Outright Lies 