Russia’s state-run media mocks Trump over his weakness toward Putin

In recent days, Russia has launched large-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian targets, and according to officials in Kyiv, the latest offensive is the largest aerial assault on the country since the war began. The developments come almost exactly a month after Donald Trump published an item to his social media platform that read, “Vladimir, STOP!” — a directive that Russian President Vladimir Putin obviously ignored.

As a result, a growing number of U.S. senators, including some Republicans, are pressing the White House to impose new economic sanctions on Moscow. In theory, that wouldn’t just be the obvious move, it would also be in keeping with the American president’s months’ worth of threats. In practice, for reasons the administration hasn’t explained, it’s a step Trump has been highly reluctant to take.

With pressure mounting, the American president published a new item to his social media platform Tuesday morning that read, “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

Trump has yet to elaborate on what exactly this was supposed to mean, but at face value, it was a curious message to share with the world. The Republican apparently wants the public to know that he’s quietly taking steps to prevent Russia from facing “really bad” consequences, which necessarily leads to a great many follow-up questions, such as, “Why is the American president protecting Russia from ‘really bad things’?”

While we’re at it, it’s also worth asking, “What exactly is Trump doing to protect Russia from ‘really bad things’?” “How is Trump protecting Russia from ‘really bad things’?” “For how long has Trump been protecting Russia from ‘really bad things’?” and, perhaps most importantly, “Why has Trump kept secret the actions he’s apparently taken to protect Russia from ‘really bad things’?”

But while those questions linger, let’s not overlook how Russia responded to the American president’s online missive. Just eight minutes after Trump published his item, RT used its social media account to highlight the Republican’s message.

In case this isn’t obvious, RT isn’t just a media outlet in Russia: It’s the Russian state television network. In other words, there is little difference between RT publicly ridiculing the American president and the Putin regime doing the same thing.

It’s possible that Trump will be outraged by such mockery — there’s little that seems to bother him more than being laughed at — and that RT will spur the White House to take fresh action against Russia. But it’s probably a safer bet that Trump will instead continue to show weakness toward Putin.

On Capitol Hill, however, some of Trump’s allies appear to be growing weary of the status quo. Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said last week that “nobody likes to see somebody try to play the president.”

Nobody except Trump, that is, who doesn’t seem to mind.