The headline on the NBC News report probably raised some eyebrows: “Trump says he’s ‘very angry’ and ‘pissed off’ at Putin during an NBC News interview.” The report explained that Donald Trump, responding to Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s latest criticisms of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, complained that the comments were “not going in the right location.”
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump said in an early-morning phone call with NBC News on Sunday.
If the goal was to generate a great many headlines about Trump being “angry” with his ally in Moscow, the comments were a great success.
But some skepticism is in order.
For now, let’s not dwell on the fact that it’s hard to imagine the Trump feeling genuine outrage about Putin criticizing Zelenskyy given the frequency with which he has criticized Zelenskyy. Instead, let’s consider what the Republican president has done, rather than that he’s said.
For example, the American president first threatened to impose harsh new sanctions on Russia in late January, and then he did nothing. Trump made related threats earlier this month, and again, there was no follow-through. As the Republican repeats a similar line, it’s tough to imagine the Kremlin feeling especially anxious about the White House’s next move — especially amid reports that the U.S. administration isn’t overly eager to enforce existing sanctions on Russia.








