Was Putin hoping Trump would win so he could attack Ukraine a year earlier?

[skip fox]

After all, Trump would not have galvanized the 30 NATO nations or the EU to condemn Russia. He may even have spouted Russia's line that Ukraine is really part of Russia.

What do you think?

I think this assumption is more valid than saying Biden's weakness emboldened Russia and indirectly caused the invasion.

[orwell]

1. Biden's weakness?

What are you talking about?

[skip fox]

9. I'm quoting Fox et al. to show their argument

which seems less like than my speculation.

[relayerbob]

2. He wouldn't have needed to attack them

As Trump would’ve helped to overthrow the government and install a puppet without the need for an invasion.

[Phoenix61]

3. I have little doubt you are correct.

I think he believed all the bs about “sleepy Joe” and “the US is more divided than anytime since the Civil War”.

[Harker]

4. Yes. He still has plenty of agents in high places, though.

No doubt he misses his White House waterboy - Trumpsky could have been a big help.

[EarlG]

5. It depends

I think Putin’s primary goal was actually to get the US out of NATO, which Trump would have tried to do if he was re-elected. With the US out of NATO Putin’s options would increase dramatically.

If Trump was unable to get the US out (due to opposition at home) Putin still would have moved on Ukraine eventually, knowing that Trump would sit on his hands and do nothing, while a weakened Europe scrambled for a response. This would further fracture NATO/Europe.

When Trump lost, having put all the plans into place, I think Putin convinced himself that the US was weak (especially after Jan 6) and that invading Ukraine was worth the gamble. That was his mistake.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. Trump was pushing for Zelensky to be ousted

He also would have withdrawn the US from NATO to open the door for Russia to invade more countries.

The lengths Trump went to to undermine Ukraine and Zelensky were extreme. They stood no chance if Trump had remained in power.

[Walleye]

8. Then he pardoned criminal Paul Manafort, Putin's guy

[Walleye]

7. The weakness Putin saw was in the Senate Republicans refusing to hold Trump accountable

Putin knows Biden, he never thought of Joe as weak

[skip fox]

11. Yes.

I wasn't saying Putin saw Biden as weak, of course, only that's the Fox News take. I think the arguments in this thread hold much more water.

[Walleye]

12. No. I understood what you meant. The media has neglected the fact that the GOP Senate was weak

In fact it seemed like Republicans in the Senate eagerly lined up to support Putin’s objectives the whole time Trump was president.In fact they supported Putin right up until he started bombing civilian neighborhoods. We should not let them get away with that

[skip fox]

15. Got you.

I was just trying to clear up any possible misunderstanding.

Today's palindromic bumpersticker:

"Hell to Putin. Putin to Hell!"

[Walleye]

16. 👍

[Tickle]

13. He had 4 years to attack

them like he did in 2014 when he invaded Crimean peninsula

[lagomorph777]

17. His employee Trump was busy damaging NATO and the US for four years.

You can't demolish Rome in a day.

Putin figured Trump would have everything ready a few months into his 2nd term. But the 2nd term didn't happen, and Putin decided to strike before NATO and the US could fully recover from Trump.

[lagomorph777]

14. Yes, exactly.

[L. Coyote]

18. The global pandemic altered everything.

You can't fight a war when a deadly pandemic is the greatest threat. No vaccines was the deterrent.

Link to tweet

[kentuck]

19. He was hoping he would withdraw US from NATO

...and the Organization would have disintegrated. It would have made his invasion much easier. It was pretty obvious Trump was helping Putin in Ukraine.