Donald Trump is clearly not very bright, and does not understand how other nations’s leaders have figured out how to humor and flatter him to get their way, and appeal to his vanity and narcissism.
It is not just Russia and Vladimir Putin.
It is China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey. Qatar. the United Arab Emirates, Israel, the Philippines, and India.
These nations, with the exception of Israel, and India, are all authoritarian dictatorship, who stroke Trump’s ego, and show him on the surface respect and adulation, when he visits, particularly evident in China and Saudi Arabia. And they make deals that benefit their nations, without Trump realizing the United States has been taken advantage of in a major way.
Trump is more interested in business and real estate dealings than protecting the national interest and security, which explains his erratic, often contradictory behavior, and constant change of mind.
But meanwhile, he has created frustration among our allies which are democracies, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.