What Trump Sees in Putin: Am I being respected enough?
But those of us who have watched Trump for a while remember his Tiananmen Square comments and kind words for Saddam Hussein, Moammar Qaddafi, and the rest. You don’t really have to bribe the mogul to get him to say nice things about foreign strongmen with brutal methods. He just does it instinctively.
The core question at the heart of every Trump decision and interaction is, “Am I being respected enough?” Any slight, insult, or lack of respect sets off Trump’s sense of grievance and need for revenge. All slights, insults, and signs of disrespect are indications of weakness. They must be rooted out and snuffed out; they must be humiliated. Counter-punch anyone who dares criticize — even a Gold Star family. No act, comment, or gesture can be ignored. Even loyalists need to be periodically humiliated so that they’ll remember their place — think of Chris Christie.
Trump looks at Vladimir Putin’s Russia and sees a well-run place. Nobody messes with the boss over there. Everybody knows their place. It’s orderly. Everybody respects that leader’s strength. As longtime Trump employee Michael Cohen put it, “To those of us who are close to Mr. Trump, he is more than our boss. He is our patriarch.”