Trump and Putin

 

Noting that Putin seized land from Georgia when George W. Bush was president and seized the Crimean peninsula when Barack Obama was president — warned Putin against a land grab on his watch. 

“If you move against Ukraine while I’m president,” Trump is said to have told the Russian leader, “I will hit Moscow.” 

Putin reportedly scoffed, “No way,” leading Trump to say, “All those beautiful golden turrets will be blown up.” 

A similar story involves Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was during his visit to Mar-a-Lago in 2017 when Trump famously interrupted their chocolate cake dessert to declare he had just ordered the US military to fire 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base after the Syrian government used chemical weapons against rebels and civilians. 

During that same visit, Trump reportedly told Xi that any military move against Taiwan would be met with an attack on Beijing. Xi, like Putin, is said to have been stunned, though it is possible neither man believed Trump was serious. 

While it is also possible that both accounts are exaggerated, it is a fact that neither man made the moves Trump is said to have warned against.

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