Those were the words of then President George W. Bush following his first meeting with Vladimir Putin in 2001. And I thought to myself:

“Are you fucking kidding me??!!!”

What Bush saw as he looked into Putin’s eyes was not a soul; it was a huge, bottomless, gaping maw where a soul should have been.

But at least Bush later realized his mistake, and admitted it. I wonder whether Donald Trump will ever experience the same sort of epiphany.

As the war of words continues between Trump and Putin over a ceasefire in Ukraine, I can’t help thinking back to the good old days when Ronald Reagan sat across a table from Mikhail Gorbachev and charmed his adversary by reciting, in Gorbachev’s native language, an old Russian saying: Doveryai no proveryai — “Trust, but verify.”

What a far cry those diplomatic exchanges of yesteryear are from the sort of rhetoric being exchanged these days between Trump and Putin. While Russian forces continue to batter Ukraine, and Ukraine retaliates with drone attacks on Russian territory, Putin steadfastly maintains that a ceasefire can only be declared when certain of his requirements are met. And Trump’s response, once again, is a lot of hot air.

He called Putin “crazy” (but in all capital letters), and said he didn’t know what had happened to him . . . as though Putin’s behavior were something new and different. On Tuesday, Trump upped the volume a bit:

“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” [RFE/RL, May 27, 2025.]

In an indication of just how badly Putin is shaking in his boots, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded today:

“ . . . just like the United States, Russia has its own national interests, which are above all for us, and they are above all for our president.” [Id.]

And Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, added that Trump’s comments might be a sign that he is “not sufficiently informed about what is really happening in the context of the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation.” [Id.]

Yeah . . . Trump’s got them on the ropes, all right. And this is how he upped the pressure today:

“We’ll find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not and if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently but it will take about a week and a half to two weeks. They seem to want to do something, but until the document is signed I can’t tell you. Nobody can.

“I can say this: I’m very disappointed at what happened a couple of nights now, where people were killed, in the middle of what you would call a negotiation. When I see rockets being shot into cities, that’s no good. We aren’t going to allow it.” [Joe Stanley-Smith, Politico, May 28, 2025.]

Well, that’s telling ‘em, all right! I can only imagine what Putin must be going through right now . . .

Yup . . . that looks about right.

To begin with:

• We already know he’s been “tapping us along” . . . for years now;
• You’ve just given Putin another couple of weeks to continue bombarding Ukraine;
• Putin doesn’t give a rat’s ass about how “disappointed” you are;
• And how in hell are you not “going to allow it”? You haven’t been able to slow him down, much less stop him, up to now.

*. *. *

How I miss the days when real statesmen sat across a real table from one another and carried on real negotiations. All of Putin’s dancing and Trump’s pussy-footing around are fruitless . . . not to mention, absolutely exhausting.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/28/25