Putin owns Trump

And Xi Jinping is cashing in.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping, the leader of China, issued a joint rebuke to Washington on Thursday, a day before celebrations in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

The leaders held talks at the Kremlin, part of a state visit that Moscow organized for Mr. Xi before his attendance alongside other foreign leaders on Friday at a military parade in Red Square.

  NYT

Oh, shit. A military parade. Trump is going to want his birthday parade to be bigger and better than Russia's.

In a joint statement issued after their talks, Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi rejected what they described as Washington’s attempt to contain them. They vowed to “increase interaction and strengthen cooperation” to counter such U.S. efforts.

[...]

Each has sought to present their countries as alternative world powers looking to bring about what they call a more equal, multipolar world in the face of U.S. hegemony.

Almost there.

The Russian and Chinese leaders also jointly called Mr. Trump’s plans for a “Golden Dome” missile defense shield over the United States “deeply destabilizing,” arguing in their joint statement that such new U.S. defenses would weaponize space.

[...]

In Moscow, the summit took place as Mr. Putin began welcoming what the Kremlin expects to be more than 25 world leaders to the Red Square celebrations. The guests include a veritable “Who’s Who” of authoritarians, with the presidents of Venezuela, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea and Belarus expected to attend.

What? No invitation to Trump?

Mr. Putin described Moscow’s close ties with Beijing as a “stabilizing factor in the international arena,” despite what he called a difficult geopolitical situation. He also said nearly all trade between Russia and China had migrated to rubles and yuan, as opposed to dollars, protecting the nations “from the influence of third countries.”

[...]

During the visit, the Russian and Chinese space agencies signed a joint memo on the construction of a power plant on the moon, according to the Russian state news agency Tass. The nations will require a power source for a permanent lunar research base they are seeking to build and have said they want to construct an automated nuclear reactor.

More on Bolton's book

Vanity Fair has seen unredacted pages from the book and it’s clear why the White House tried to keep Trump’s words secret: they are deeply embarrassing and illustrate Trump’s naked politicization of America’s foreign policy.

According to an unredacted passage shown to Vanity Fair by a source, Trump’s ask [of Xi Jinping] is even more crudely shocking when you read Trump’s specific language. “Make sure I win,” Trump allegedly told Xi during a dinner at the G20 conference in Osaka, Japan last summer. “I will probably win anyway, so don’t hurt my farms.… Buy a lot of soybeans and wheat and make sure we win.”

[...]

Bolton writes that Trump told Xi on a phone call ahead of their G20 meeting: “I miss you,” and then said, “this is totally up to you, but the most popular thing I’ve ever been involved with is making a deal with China.… Making a deal with China would be a very popular thing for me.’”

Another passage shows Trump’s racist views on immigration. Bolton describes how Trump derailed a White House meeting about Iran strategy by bringing up a right wing conspiracy that Black South Africans were killing white South African farmers and stealing their land. According to Bolton, Trump blurted out that he wanted to grant the white South Africans “asylum and citizenship.”

  Vanity Fair

UPDATE:

"It would be easier" if he were a dictator

A very Republican sentiment, apparently. George W. said it out loud first.

President Donald Trump bemoaned a decision not to investigate Hillary Clinton after the 2016 presidential election, decrying a "rigged system" that still doesn't have the "right people" in place to fix it, during a freewheeling speech to Republican donors in Florida on Saturday.

In the closed-door remarks, a recording of which was obtained by CNN, Trump also praised China's President Xi Jinping for recently consolidating power and extending his potential tenure, musing he wouldn't mind making such a maneuver himself.

"He's now president for life. President for life. And he's great," Trump said. "And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll give that a shot some day."

  CNN

That should give every man, woman and child on earth a shudder.

The remarks, delivered inside the ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate during a lunch and fundraiser, were upbeat, lengthy, and peppered with jokes and laughter. But Trump's words reflected his deeply felt resentment that his actions during the 2016 campaign remain under scrutiny while those of his former rival, Hillary Clinton, do not.

[...]

On Saturday, among donors gathered in the grand ballroom named for himself at Mar-a-Lago, Trump pondered the happiness of his former rival, wondering aloud whether she was enjoying life after the campaign. "Is Hillary a happy person? Do you think she's happy?" he said. "When she goes home at night, does she say, 'What a great life?' I don't think so. You never know. I hope she's happy."

[...]

Elsewhere in his remarks, Trump went after former President George W. Bush for his decision to invade Iraq after faulty intelligence indicated the country had weapons of mass destruction.

"Here we are, like the dummies of the world, because we had bad politicians running our country for a long time," he said.

Trump called the Iraq invasion "the single worst decision ever made" and said it amounted to "throwing a big fat brick into a hornet's nest."

"That was Bush. Another real genius. That was Bush," Trump said sarcastically. "That turned out to be wonderful intelligence. Great intelligence agency there."

That'll make him even more popular with the intelligence community.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

He wants to be king

President Trump congratulated Xi Jinping in an interview for cementing his power as China's leader, noting that some people refer to him as royalty and the bond between them is unparalleled.

[...]

"Now some people might call him the king of China," Trump continued. "But he’s called president. But we have a very good relationship and that’s a positive thing."

  Time

Would that "some people" be you, Mr. President?  Because I don't know of anyone else who does.

China’s ruling Communist Party this week formally lifted Mr Xi to the same exalted status as the nation’s founding father, Mao Zedong, by writing his name and dogma into the party’s constitution. The move solidified Mr Xi as China’s most powerful ruler in decades, and could make it more difficult for rivals to challenge him.

[...]

“I happen to think he’s a very good person,” Mr Trump said [in his Lou Dobbs interview]. “Now with that being said, he represents China, I represent the USA, so you know, there’s going to always be conflict. But we have a very good relationship. People say we have the best relationship of any president-president, because he’s called president also.”  

People say that, do they? They are as simple as The Most Notable Loser if they talk like that. On the other hand, as usual, he's probably talking about the "people" in his head.

Mr Trump and Mr Xi are scheduled to meet in China next month during the US President’s first presidential trip to Asia.

Please keep him.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.