Like other authoritarians, he equates his own well-being with that of the nation and opposition with treason. He is sure that Americans mirror both his cynicism and his lust for power and that in a world where everyone lies, he is under no obligation to tell the truth.--Madeleine Albright
This is Albright's description of Putin, but it could have been of Trump.
I'm still waiting to find out what Trump's Russian connection was. I've assumed it was something venal, as for instance his hopes for a Trump Tower in Moscow. But maybe it could just be that he really thinks Putin is the smartest guy in the world, that Putin understands how the world works in a way all these other establishment dumbasses don't. Or if they do understand it, they lack the boldness to play the game the way Putin does. Trump just plain admires the man and trusts whatever he says and does more than whatever anybody else says or does.
It's pretty clear that Putin, like Trump, is deeply delusional. Such delusional game players cause so much needless suffering in the service of their their spiritual vacuity. That the rest of us let them get away with it is on us more than it's on them. They're crazy, but we let crazy do its thing. We admire it. It's how the whole system works. It rewards cunning psychopathy whether it's in boardrooms, TV studios, or the corridors of Congress.
And we admire all the stupid, foolish ways that celebrities look for love in all the wrong places, no matter the path of destruction they leave behind them. At least they're not boring. It's fascinating spectacle. And they give the less bold hope in a strange way because it parodies the real thing. Someone like Putin gives a second-rate player like Trump hope. He sees Putin's game as genius, and it's a game Trump still has hopes to play here. Will we let him--or the next psychopath in line after him--play and win?