Donald Trump has a long history of praising and defending murderous dictators — including (and perhaps especially) Vladimir Putin. Part of Trump’s pattern is his repeated blame of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for prolonging a war that Putin started — In other words, defending his country against invaders. In recent days, Trump has made it abundantly clear whose side he is on in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
A recent Atlantic opinion piece argues that Trump has effectively turned the United States into an ally of Russia. That’s a remarkable accusation against a sitting U.S. president. But Trump’s decisions make that accusation easy to support. In September, Trump signed a bipartisan bill imposing sanctions on Russia and other countries that support its invasion of Ukraine. Two days before the sanctions took effect, Trump suspended them