🕶 The Theater of Strongmen📡
Power doesn’t meet to serve you, it meets to carve you out.
Trump’s sit-down with Vladimir Putin wasn’t about peace. It wasn’t about treaties, or policy, or even strategy.
It was about performance.
🤡 On the surface,
Trump frames these meetings as proof he’s the only one who can “make deals” with America’s adversaries. It’s the same pitch he’s made since the 2016 RNC: “I alone can fix it.”
The handshake is the product. The photo-op is the deal.
But dig beneath, and the purpose comes into focus.
📺 Legitimacy for Putin
Every time Trump gives Putin a stage, he’s laundering Moscow’s isolation. Russia, battered by sanctions and branded a pariah, suddenly gets validation and a seat at the table with Washington.
🧩 Projection for Trump
To his base, it looks like respect. Two “strong leaders” meeting as equals. For Trump, proximity to power is power. It’s the same play as posing on gold chairs or slapping his name on towers. Being seen with Putin is the win.
⚡ Leverage Against NATO & Ukraine
Trump has always wavered on NATO and dragged his feet on Ukraine. A friendly hand to Putin is a quiet threat to allies: get in line, or I’ll pivot east. He weaponizes the meeting itself as bargaining chip.
🎭 Domestic Politics
At home, he spins it as courage. He's talking to the enemy without fear. In reality, it’s theater. No hard questions, no concessions, no binding agreements. Just optics. The appearance of statesmanship without the substance.
The point isn’t what was said behind closed doors. It is the photo released to the press. It’s about branding, not governance. For Putin, it’s legitimacy. For Trump, he sees power. For Americans, it’s nothing, except another reminder that our foreign policy has been reduced to a reality show set piece.
History will record the wars, the treaties, the alliances, but in the age of Trump, we should also record the performance. Because if we don’t name it for what it is,propaganda theater, we risk mistaking stagecraft for statecraft.
📜 Receipts
Trump–Putin Exchange Log:
Helsinki, 2018
Trump: “President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Context: Standing beside Putin, he sided with Moscow over U.S. intelligence agencies on election interference.
G7 Summit, 2019
Trump lobbied to invite Russia back into the G7, calling the group “better with Russia inside.”
Context: Russia was expelled after annexing Crimea. Trump framed Putin’s return as pragmatic, not punitive.
Phone Calls, 2020
Ukraine War, 2022–2023 (post-presidency)
Trump repeatedly called Putin “smart” for his invasion strategy.
He suggested he could “end the war in 24 hours”while framing diplomacy as personal bravado, not policy.
Pattern:
Trump gives Putin legitimacy on the world stage.
He undercuts U.S. allies while flattering Moscow.
Every “deal” is more performance than substance: a handshake, a soundbite, a headline.