How Smart Is Putin?

On 2/22/2022, former President Donald Trump said the following about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine:

I went in yesterday, and there was a television screen, and I said, “This is genius.” Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.

I said, “How smart is that?” He’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to keep peace, all right.

Of course, Donald Trump praising Putin is not, by itself, news, Donald Trump had been praising Putin since at least 2013. The reason why this example is notable is because Donald Trump is doing so after Putin invaded another nation because he declared two parts of said nation independent. Donald Trump saw this and thought that we should do the same to Mexico — what two parts of Mexico he wants to declare independent I’m not sure.

However, leaving out the part where Trump said he wanted Russian peacekeepers at the US-Mexico border, I wouldn’t mind these comments so much if they were actually true. Yes, Putin is an imperialist autocrat and an authoritarian, but being those things doesn’t also exclude him from being a genius…