Trump Meets Putin --- Face to Face

Some political commentary on Trump's meeting with Putin.

Trump was apparently honored to meet a strong leader whom he admired.  If he could ignore the Constitution and get away with it, Trump would like to become another strong leader, answerable to no one but himself.

When Trump shook hands with Putin, he apparently didn't notice that Putin's hands were dripping with blood.  Trump seemed to forget that he was shaking hands with a thief, a murderer, a thug, a ruthless dictator; so think John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

Why did Trump seem to genuinely like both the Chinese and Russian dictators and not the German president Merkel?

When Putin shook hands with Trump, he shook hands with not only a president but a presidency---with America and its history.  With the Vietnam War, with the Iraq War, with the ongoing Afghanistan War.  Trump's American hands were also dripping with blood, with Vietnam blood, with Iraq blood.  Putin was also shaking hands with a democratic thief, murderer, thug.

The two thugs apparently hit it off well.

Footnote:  The sun never sets on America's militaristic empire with bases all around the world.  Trump hasn't closed any of the dozens of military bases around the world; neither did Obama.

PS

The following additional thoughts were stimulated by interviews by Douglas Blackmon,  IPTV, July 8, 2017.  One of the two persons being interviewed was Eliot Cohen, author of The Big Stick.

One of the experts being interviewed said that the Russian cyberattack on American was very literally an act of terrorism.  Putin is trying to undermine all of Western liberal democracy; he regards Western democracy as his greatest foe.

I agree.  Putin is ten times more dangerous than Islamic terrorism, but Trump is befriending a Russian terrorist.  Why is Trump so cozy with the Russians?  About 10 years ago, one of Trump's sons said that the Russians were the primary financiers of the Trump businesses.

One expert said that Trump's tweet that he was partnering with Russia was "delusional and ridiculous."  Partner with a Russian terrorist but killing Islamic terrorists??