Opinion: How Putin badly misjudged the West, as explained by a Russia expert

Columnist

Today at 11:12 a.m. EDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Mikhail Klimentyev/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

With President Biden traveling to Europe to shore up the Western alliance against the invasion of Ukraine, it’s become overwhelmingly clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin badly underestimated the potential for a resolute and unified response from the United States and its allies, according to the NYT.

JUST SAYING

BY RAUL HERNANDEZ

Putin is an amplified version of Trump.

He is much more conning than Trump, however. Putin is also 20-30 IQ points more intelligent than Trump.

Right now, Putin is the world’s most prosperous thief, stealing as much as 100 billion rubles from the Russian treasury with the help of his cronies, former KGB operatives.

What do you do with billions of dollars after the yachts and mansions?

Putin went shopping for neighboring countries, and by most accounts, he is getting his keister kicked in Ukraine.

Trump is a reptile of another color who convinced people who were more stupid than himself that they needed a Daddy to tell them when to jump and how high.

Trump’s clown car made room along the way for racists (The Nazis and white supremacists endorsed him), political parasites and opportunists, bagmen, and broke brains who are looking for a savior.

Of course, there is the odd assortment of other slugs in Congress who worship Donald. Big Daddy is their political meal ticket.

Putin slithered out from under his KGB rock in Russia and gradually convinced old and well-meaning Russian dupes that he was their man.

Putin arrived when Russians were getting their first taste of capitalism. As a result, Russia prospered, and the neo-democracy appeared healthy.

As long as the oligarchs were making money and McDonald’s thrived in Russia and Soviet-style breadlines were a thing of the past, everyone was happy.

When the indictments arrive like 600-pound gorillas, and the feds come to lock him up, Trump, who is a little (expletive deleted), will end up crying, literally.

But it won’t be easy to dislodge Putin from Russia. There is too much at stake that the media or the pundits have not weighed. Putin knows two brutal facts: He will have to return all the billions of rubles he stole from the Russian people. There is a cage with his name on it in Siberia. Worse, much worse, a Russian fire squad might be in the cards.

Right now, Putin is a desperate and extremely dangerous rat who could launch World War III and incinerate the world.

America has survived an epidemic of crazy.

We dodged a bullet in 2020.

In November of that year, there were 74 million morons who believed Trump should have been reelected and allowed to serve four more years in office.

Right now, the Russians would have an embassy at the White House, and Trump would be playing golf with Putin. Trump would still have access to the nuclear launch codes.

Two lunatics with nukes. That makes me shiver.

More than a year ago, I asked a die-hard Trump supporter if he would give the keys to his Porsche to a chimp so the animal could go to the DMV and get a driver’s license?

I was waiting for him to say, “no, I’d give the monkey a ride there.'”

Thankfully, he got upset, muttered something, and walked away.

I avoid debates with Trump supporters, racists, Russian trolls, and barnyard animals these days.