While President Donald Trump has publicly expressed his annoyance toward having to meet with our allies in recent summits, the Tweeter in Chief feels very differently about one world leader in particular — Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Trump had just met with Putin a few days ago, but he’s already trying to arrange his next play date with his election meddling BFF, despite shunning many other world leaders. Trump received tons of backlash for his pro-Russia and anti-America behavior last week during his Putin summit, but that hasn’t convinced him to back off pursuing his most controversial bromance.
Unfortunately for Trump, Putin seems to care about his reputation and wants to avoid more bad press. It’s been reported that despite Trump’s eager invitation for a follow-up summit with Putin, Russia has declined.
When Reuters reached out to the Kremlin for comment, it was clear that Russia did not think it was appropriate given the current coverage. Kremlin diplomat Yuri Ushakov stated that Trump and Putin could meet again, but perhaps later this year (when all the bad coverage has died down). The diplomat said:
After the summit you know what kind of atmosphere there is around its outcome. I think it would be wise to let the dust settle and then we can discuss all these questions in a business-like way. But not now.”
Reuters has reported that Russia was “taken aback” by just how badly Trump was pummeled for his behavior at the summit, which was obvious from Ushakov’s comments about “citing a desire not to inflame what he described as an already overheated U.S. political situation.”
Trump is probably crushed to find out that his role model is embarrassed to be seen with him so soon after their disastrous summit. It’s quite concerning that Russia seems far more aware and concerned about the impact of the summit than America’s own president.
Featured image via screen capture
