'Good thing' for US to get along with foreign leaders: Trump on Putin
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“I know Putin very well. I got along with him very well. He respected me and it’s just one of those things,” the former US president said, accusing the current US administration of failing to develop ties with international leaders.
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Trump shakes hands with Putin before their closed-door meeting, on July 16, 2018. (AFP)
It is "a good thing" for US presidents to develop relations with foreign leaders despite their differing policies, Donald Trump said on Monday in a live-streamed interview with Elon Musk on X, citing his political relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and claiming the leader "respected him."
“I know Putin very well. I got along with him very well. He respected me and it’s just one of those things,” the former president said, accusing the current US administration of failing to develop ties with international leaders.
“I hope to get along well with him again," Trump said on his rapport with the Russian leader, adding, "You know, getting along well with them is a good thing, not a bad thing,” referring to China's President Xi Jinping and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.
The Republican presidential candidate's statements follow Musk's suggestion that "evil dictators" and "real tough characters" need to be intimidated by the US government to achieve world safety.
Trump's beliefs on Russia-Ukraine war
Trump has declared on several occasions that the Russia-Ukraine war would not have broken out if he was in office, ultimately blaming President Joe Biden for the outbreak of the conflict.
The Republican candidate claimed that he had issued unspecified warnings to Putin concerning conflict with Ukraine during his term.
“I said: ‘Don’t do it, you can’t do it. Vladimir, you do it, it’s gonna be a bad day. You can’t do it’. And I told him things that I’d do. And he said: ‘No way’. And I said: ‘Way’.”
Trump also reflected on the rising tensions at the end of 2021 and early 2022, when Russia mobilized its troops near Ukraine after NATO dismissed Moscow's request to ease the tensions. The former president said he perceived this military accumulation as the Russian leader's way of trying to reach a negotiation.
“Putin is a good negotiator. I thought he was doing that to negotiate. But then Biden started saying such stupid things," Trump said, referring to Biden's pledge to grant Ukraine NATO membership despite Russia's objections, which has been debated since 2008 when former President George W. Bush made a similar vow to Kiev.
Trump would be 'a genuine danger to American security'
Earlier on Monday, US President Joe Biden said it was his “obligation to the country” to withdraw his candidacy from the presidential race, adding that it would be “a genuine danger to American security” if his Republican counterpart Trump emerged victorious in the upcoming November elections.
“Although I have the great honor to be president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do the most important thing you can do, and that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.
The US leader shared he did not take the decision to withdraw lightly, and that it was composed of a series of circumstances that prevented him from seeking re-election, especially the lack of confidence from senior House and Senate Democrats who feared the president's unpopularity would hurt the party's potential victory in the November polls.
