JOHN BOLTON: TRUMP IS A PUTIN-LOVING MORON WHO THOUGHT FINLAND WAS PART OF RUSSIA... “We did impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs and several others because of their sales of S-400 antiaircraft systems to other countries. But in almost every case, the sanctions were imposed with Trump complaining about it saying we were being too hard. The fact is that he barely knew where Ukraine was. He once asked John Kelly, his second chief of staff, if Finland were a part of Russia. It is just not accurate to say that Trump’s behavior somehow deterred the Russians.”

“As the deadly Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate, it's important to remember how we got here. Russia's interference in the 2016 election played a part in giving us Donald Trump's presidency, which ultimately weakened the U.S.’s position on a global scale. Considering Trump's actions in office, his recent claim that "there would be no NATO if I didn't act strongly and swiftly" is ridiculous, to say the least... The election of Trump played into Putin's overall strategy. He knew that a Trump presidency would be crucial to moving his own despotic agenda forward if Trump was successful in weakening NATO — the alliance that has for so long deterred Russian aggression... With Trump's election came few consequences for Russia's interference, and instead, Trump sought to cultivate a cozy relationship with Putin and other Kremlin officials...

…From when Trump entered office in 2017 to 2019, he had at least 16 private conversations with Putin. While these meetings alone are controversial, it's how he tried to shield the public from knowing what was discussed that's even more concerning. According to a 2019 Washington Post report, Trump went as far as to seize notes from his own interpreter after a 2017 meeting with Putin... Trump prioritized forming and strengthening a U.S. relationship with Putin while abusing our foreign allies.
--Ashley Pratte Oates, communications strategist and board member, Republican Women for Progress

“If Trump literally not knowing that Finland is its own country doesn’t drive home the point that he would have let Putin take Ukraine no questions asked, please note that just this past weekend, he was praising Putin’s savvy and calling the U.S. a “stupid country.” And when he was in office: Trump publicly sided with Putin over his own intelligence agencies re: 2016 election meddling; Trump wanted Ukraine investigated for alleged election meddling, a line straight out of the Kremlin’s playbook; Trump talked to Putin—who no doubt struggled to catch his breath from laughing—about forming a “cybersecurity unit” with Russia to combat “election hacking” (!); Trump pressed for Russia to be let back in an expanded G7, despite being kicked out for annexing Crimea; Trump excused killings by Putin, saying the U.S. is just as bad; Trump leaked classified information from another country to Russia; Trump allowed Russia to expand its influence in Syria; Trump bizarrely defended the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, saying Russia was “right to be there,” a statement the Wall Street Journal editorial board responded to by writing: “We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President.”
--Vanity Fair