Double Retired wrote:
Returning to the original post...
Putin would not likely have needed to disagree with Trump. It looked to me as if Trump could be steered in whichever direction Putin pleased. I expect Putin could've gotten Trump to endorse Russia's attacks against Ukraine.
But, if Putin clumsily alienated Trump then the world would've been in deep trouble. I think we would've had two nuclear powers angry at each other and their leaders indifferent to death and suffering by anyone...including their own citizens'.
In Trump's defence, he was very quick to condemn Russia after the Skirpal poisonings, and went much further than e.g. Bush did after the Litvinenko assassination in similar circumstances. But he did praise Putin immediately after the invasion of Ukraine, which undercuts that a lot.
All that being said... yeah, not sure why Trump is talking in hypothetical terms. He was President already, and he didn't do the things he said he would do.