TRUMP: What he says of Putin

Barbara Ostipkwo’s otherwise insightful letter on Feb. 27 was unfortunately marred by the remark, “The former president is simply cheering on the bully.”

Sadly, she appears to be one of many who were duped by so many in the liberal press determined to besmirch Trump and distort his words at every turn, specifically buying the line that Trump “praised” the Russian president.

Let’s take a look at what the former president really said:

“Of course he (Putin) is smart…They (the Biden administration) have allowed him to get away with this assault on humanity. Putin is playing Biden like a drum!”

Trump also stated, “The Russian attack on Ukraine is appalling, an outrage, and an atrocity that should never have been allowed to occur. We are praying for the proud people of Ukraine. God Bless them all.”

Can you really call this praising Putin? The former president continued, noting “I stand as the only president of the 21st Century on whose watch Russia did not invade another country.”

“Stand up to the bully!” Ostipkwo writes; Trump would agree with this wholeheartedly. Perhaps if so many of our countrymen had not fallen for the distortions and misstatements of Trump’s record, he would have been re-elected. He would be standing up to the bully, and the world would not be faced with the tragedy confronting the Ukrainian people and the world today.

ROSS SMITH

Coeur d’Alene