Late last week, at a White House event related to energy policy, Donald Trump was asked about his upcoming military parade, which apparently got the president thinking about World War II.
The Republican spent a curious amount of time talking about the fact that Russia was a U.S. partner during the worldwide conflict, while allied forces fought Germany and Japan. In apparent reference to Vladimir Putin, Trump said, “It’s sort of interesting, isn’t it? He fought with us in World War II, and everybody hates him. And Germany and Japan, they’re fine. You know, someday somebody will explain that … but Putin is a little confused by that.” He concluded, “It’s a strange world.”
As the American president really ought to understand, it’s not that complicated. Russia fought with allied forces 80 years ago, but in the decades that followed, Germany and Japan became advanced liberal democracies, while Russia became a dangerous and destabilizing pariah — up to and including launching unprovoked invasions of its neighbors.
Trump made it sound as if Putin and the Kremlin were victims of unfair treatment, which he characterized as bewildering. Four days later, the Republican made matters worse. The New York Times reported:
President Trump could have opened by talking about trade. He could have discussed the wars in the Middle East or the long-running, brutal war in Ukraine. But there was something else that appeared to be top of mind for Mr. Trump during Monday’s meeting in Canada of the leaders of the Group of 7 industrialized nations: President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
Even by Trump standards, the circumstances were weird. On Monday morning, as a G-7 summit got underway in Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the American president to the gathering, wished the U.S. Army a happy 250th birthday, and thanked the United States for its leadership role in the G-7. The Republican spent a few moments thanking his host before turning his attention — unprompted — to a country that wasn’t invited to the international gathering.
Trump with Mark Carney: "The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn't want to have Russia in, and I would say that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-16T15:40:08.969Z
“The G-7 used to be the G-8,” Trump said. “Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in, and I would say that that was a mistake because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were President four years ago, but it didn’t work out that way.”
The American president kept going, lamenting Putin’s isolation, and blaming G-7 members for hurting Russia’s feelings, which Trump said contributed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.“I mean, he was thrown out by Trudeau, who convinced one or two people, along with Obama,” the Republican argued. “He was thrown out and he’s not a happy person about it. I can tell you that. Basically, he basically doesn’t even speak to the people that throw him out and I agree with him.”
At this point, we could talk about the fact that it was Russia’s invasion of Crimea that led to its expulsion from the G-7 in the first place. We could talk about the fact that Justin Trudeau wasn’t the Canadian prime minister at the time. We could talk about the fact that the G-7 is a coalition of liberal democracies, which makes Russia a poor fit.
We could even talk about the fact that this has become a bizarre, years-long preoccupation for Trump, starting exactly seven years ago this week, for reasons he’s never explained.
But while these angles are certainly important in their own right, there’s another element to this that’s worth dwelling on. Trump knows he’s faced criticism for nearly a decade over his ties to Russia. He knows he’s been publicly accused of being “Putin’s puppet.” He knows every time he needlessly advocates on Putin’s behalf, and every time he reads from a Kremlin-like script, he’s reinforcing impressions that he’s beholden to Moscow. And yet, Trump keeps doing it anyway, seemingly indifferent to appearances. Common sense might suggest that he’d at least want to keep up appearances, and maybe ease up on the public advocacy of his Russian counterpart. But for reasons the White House hasn’t explained, Trump can’t seem to help himself.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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