. . . Or, more likely, his speech writer came back from lunch and finished his notes for the boss’ address to the Valdai Discussion Club at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Wherever the words came from, Putin finally managed to congratulate Donald Trump on winning the U.S. presidential election, and indicated that he would be open to talks with the president-elect:

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America,” he offered, adding that he was impressed with the way in which Trump had handled himself immediately following the assassination attempt at a campaign rally in July, describing him as “a brave man.” [RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, November 7, 2024.]

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had stated that he was “not aware” of any plans by Putin to congratulate Trump, as relations with Washington were at “an historic low.” But when asked by journalists today whether a possible communication between Putin and Trump before the inauguration on January 20th was “off the table,” that agile, quick-on-his-feet press secretary did a supersonic 180 and replied — apparently in reference to earlier statements made by Trump:

“Why? It is not ruled out. [Trump] said that he would call Putin before the inauguration. Those are his words.” [Id.]

Peskov was also asked whether there had been any official contact between Russian authorities and Trump’s campaign following the election, to which he offered a brief, somewhat snarky-sounding response:

“No. Why should we contact them?” [Id.]

Wow, Dima! You’ve really been working on your obfuscation skills, haven’t you?

*. *. *

And so, as another day draws to a close, we are once more left without any idea as to where the on-again-off-again bromance between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin stands at present. But what the hell . . . we’ve got four more years to figure it out.

Lucky us.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/7/24