My opinion why Trump is so attracted to Putin.

[no_hypocrisy]

Simple: Trump traditionally has been a Jock Sniffer. IOW, he equates his (imagined) greatness vicariously with the perceived greatness of whomever he stands next to.

In the beginning (70s), Trump tried to position himself as a Player by hanging out with Roy Cohn, the NYC ultimate attorney-fixer. Trump went to clubs with velvet ropes and waiting lines, only to be waved in (Le Club, Studio 54).

80s - Trump is seen as a BSD (big swinging dick) by his associations with local politicians in NYC and New York State, e.g., Mayor Ed Koch, Gov. Hugh Carey. (Note: Ed Koch went sour first and warned us early on about the real DJT.) Trump "graduated" to attracting the attention of President Ronald Reagan. Later, President George H.W. Bush. Trump believed he could sway public opinion and took out a full-page ad in five NYC daily papers, demanding the 'Central Park Five" should be executed. (Their convictionis were later overturned.) With his casinos in Atlantic City, he made it a point to be photographed with his stars, e.g., Mike Tyson, Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones, etc.

90s and thereafter - Celebrities would "pay court" to Trump at Trump Tower. And he'd have his photo with them published, usually with his big grin and crooked-thumb's up.

So here we are with Putin. He has as many nuclear warheads as we do. This is the ultimate Jock Sniffing experience for Trump. The only other person in the world besides him who can destroy it in 30 minutes. It's not Putin per se. It's the position and the attitude. If say Gorbachov were still in power, Trump would be mocking him as weak and a pussycat because the killer instinct just isn't there.


So, in conclusion, it's the Jock Sniffer Syndrome -- plus, Trump owes Russian oligarchs a whole lotta money.

[Cracklin Charlie]

1. Haven't heard that phrase in a long time.

I think you may be onto something.



His gaudy apartment in the tower looks like some Russian palace.

He’s obviously smitten.

[dalton99a]

2. Kompromat aside, the adoration is real

and bizarre

Trump is a deeply insecure man - and a dangerously crazy asshole

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. That certainly could be part of it.

Trump was always a notorious social climber in NYC, and was intensely resentful of the fact that the Best People considered him to be an annoying, boorish arriviste. I think his personality is a black hole of need - he craves respect and recognition from important people because in his shriveled soul it means he's important, too. Putin's power is obviously very attractive to him. The possible inconsistency in this theory, though, is that hanging with other world leaders at NATO and at the EU should have been catnip to him - he was hitting the international prestige jackpot - but all he does is insult and disrespect those leaders. It could be because that those leaders aren't autocrats or despots (except for Erdogan of Turkey, whom he likes very much). Putin is more attractive to him, not just because he has nukes but because he has so much power within his own country, and Trump would love to have that same kind of power in his.

So maybe it's not just jock-sniffing, but despot jock-sniffing.

[Moostache]

4. People who have no self-esteem (or low self-esteem) judge their worth differently than normal

Trump is a deeply, deeply insecure man-baby. His neuroses will fill dozens of tomes after his (hopefully soon) demise.

His entire sense of worth is tied up in images. Who he is standing next to (celebrities, strongmen, dictators), who is photographed with (more of the same...especially celebrities and dictators nowadays), who he is showing off (wife, daughter - sick, sick stuff THERE for sure)...but all of it is superficial and with the depth of a puddle - which sums up the man in a nutshell...

Donald J. Trump is the single most pathetic figure in world history...not just present day mind you, I am talking all of recorded human history. His eventual crimes against humanity have not fully manifested yet, but they are there....waiting and soon to be brought to fruition. He is the unbridled human id writ large...uncontrolled, unfocused and beyond reason; and yet, there is a sick need for constant affirmation...reaching the supposed heights of wealth (even borrowed or stolen as it may be), he is utterly incapable of enjoying anything because of the sucking hole at the core of his being.

I wish he dies every morning when I wake up and every night before I fade into sleep, and one day I will be rewarded with that beautiful news bulletin that it "was found unresponsive, head down in a plate of Kentucky Fried Chicken"....but until that blessed day arrives, I content myself with the knowledge that my simple enjoyment of a sunset with my wife, or a game of catch with my sons or seeing my daughters rehearse a cheer is greater than the sum total of enjoyment it gains from monetary items and material goods and purchased intimacy.

DJT = Ebeneezer Scrooge born again hard...with envy for Putin and everyone else and a hole in his soul that cannot be filled, period. He sees Putin as someone who has power to enforce loyalty and mistakes it for love. Neither one of them is beloved, but Trump desperately wishes he was while Putin publicly could not appear to care less. Trump covets that which he desires the most - a sense of not caring and being aloof and above the riff-raff "people"...but in his heart and soul he knows what he is - a Queens-born grifter and con-man - and he cannot escape it. I hope his torment is great...and knowing his mind is torn apart by his own inadequacies makes each day he doesn't die a little less disappointing...