The longevity and severity of President Donald Trump’s recent turn against Vladimir Putin remain to be seen. In recent days, Trump has criticized the Russian president in unprecedented terms and signaled a plan to send vital weapons to Ukraine. However, he has also granted Putin a 50-day grace period before imposing significant economic sanctions.
This policy pivot is accompanied by a significant revision of his past relationship with the Russian leader. Repeatedly this week, Trump has suggested he was never deceived by Putin, unlike his predecessors. “He’s fooled a lot of people,” Trump said Monday at the White House. “He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn’t fool me.” In a new interview with the BBC, when asked if he trusted Putin, he reportedly paused before responding, “I trust almost nobody, to be honest with you.”
This new narrative contrasts sharply with Trump’s public statements from just months ago. As recently as February, the president unequivocally vouched for Putin’s commitment to peace. “I believe he wants peace,” Trump said. “I mean, I know him very well… I trust him on this subject.” Two weeks later, he dismissed concerns that Putin would violate a potential peace deal, stating, “I think he’ll keep his word.” He reiterated this belief in an April interview with Time magazine, saying, “I think Putin will” make peace.
The administration’s trust in Putin was a flashpoint during a February Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. After Vice President JD Vance emphasized a preference for diplomacy, Zelensky openly questioned whether Putin could be trusted, citing a history of broken ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreements. The exchange grew tense, and when Trump was pressed on the consequences of a broken ceasefire, he dismissed the hypothetical. “What if they break it?” Trump responded. “They broke it with Biden because… they didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect Obama. They respect me.”
Four and a half months later, Trump’s tune has changed. He now laments that Putin’s pleasant words during their calls are not matched by his actions on the ground. “I go home, I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today, and we had a wonderful conversation,’” Trump said Monday. “She said, ‘Oh really? Another city was just hit.’”
This pattern of publicly endorsing an adversary only to reverse course later is not new. In early 2020, Trump repeatedly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping’s handling and transparency regarding the Covid-19 outbreak, despite a history of Chinese cover-ups, before later blaming Beijing for the pandemic.
Similarly, Trump has a long history of defending Putin, most notably regarding Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. During a 2018 press conference in Helsinki, he sided with the Russian president over his own intelligence community, saying, “President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” Though he later claimed to have misspoken, he has continued to cast doubt on the bipartisan findings of Russian interference.
While another leader might reflect on having misplaced faith in such figures, Trump claims it was his predecessors who were duped. Yet, in his current complaints, he tacitly acknowledges his own miscalculation. By highlighting the discrepancy between Putin’s words and Russia’s actions, Trump implicitly concedes that his previous public trust was based on rhetoric rather than results.
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