He is making a good-will gesture
The Times on Trump’s embrace of Putin:
President-elect Donald J. Trump, who has pledged to reset relations with Russia, may have been tossed a lifeline by President Vladimir V. Putin on Friday. The Russian leader, skilled at keeping several steps ahead of his adversaries, announced that he would not retaliate in kind against the Obama administration for imposing new sanctions and expelling Russian diplomats from the United States.
That clears the way for Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin to declare that they are starting anew — just what both men have publicly called for.
Then they report on his fanboy tweet.
For effect, Mr. Trump “pinned” the post to the top of his Twitter feed, ensuring that it will remain the first message seen on his page. In a rapid demonstration of digital glasnost, within minutes, the Russian embassy in Washington retweeted it.
“Putin is going out of his way to not take Obama seriously,’’ said Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who spent decades in the C.I.A. tracking Russia while Mr. Putin was rising in the K.G.B. Instead, he said, “he is making a good-will gesture, presumably with the hope and expectation that Donald Trump will respond in kind.”
And Donald Trump is not “smart” enough to surprise Putin.
When Obama elects not to respond to provocative action by a foreign government, it’s evidence that Obama is weak.
When Putin announces he isn’t responding to provocative action by the U.S., it’s evidence that Putin is wise and enlightened.
Trumpland is a weird place.
Congress is not gonna respond in kind. They like the results of the interference (for a given value of “like”) but they still don’t like Russia any more than they did before the election.
This won’t end well…