Which 21st century President has been the most pro-Putin?

[maclennanc2]

Obviously Bush and it's not even close. He basically treated Putin as a "war on terror" ally and endorsed the genocide in Chechnya. Bush supporters in the 2000s loved Putin, loved Russia and compared them favorably to the terrorist-lovin' surrender monkeys in Western Europe. They also loved China, considering it a great example of capitalist globalization and endorsing the repression of Uyghurs as part of the "war on terror".

Every subsequent president has been increasingly more anti-Russia than the last.

[KaiserDave]

Trump, followed by Bush, Obama, and then a massive, massive gap, to Biden.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Obama policy wise given he did the Russian reset after Russia invaded Georgia and Trump rhetorically. Went with Obama as policy > rhetoric

Bush may be in absolute terms but Russia hadn’t invaded Georgia and without hindsight Chechnya was the greater evil in the Chechen wars

[President Johnson]

Obviously Trump. Any sanctions imposed during his term were enacted by congress with veto-proof majorities.

Technically, Bill Clinton was the first president of the 21st century, although just 20 days of his presidency lasted into this century.

[TheReckoning]

Trump, followed by Bush, Obama, and then a massive, massive gap, to Biden.

What pro-Russia policies did Trump advocate for in office?

[KaiserDave]

Trump, followed by Bush, Obama, and then a massive, massive gap, to Biden.

What pro-Russia policies did Trump advocate for in office?

The question was on which 21st century President has been the most pro-Putin, the answer is unequivocally Trump. Look no further then his effort to cynically freeze aide to Ukraine in order to gain damaging information on a political rival, or easing certain sanctions, not to mention the legitimacy he lent to Putin. Or really just ask the Russians this, they would likely say Trump!

[maclennanc2]

Trump, followed by Bush, Obama, and then a massive, massive gap, to Biden.

What pro-Russia policies did Trump advocate for in office?

The question was on which 21st century President has been the most pro-Putin, the answer is unequivocally Trump. Look no further then his effort to cynically freeze aide to Ukraine in order to gain damaging information on a political rival, or easing certain sanctions, not to mention the legitimacy he lent to Putin. Or really just ask the Russians this, they would likely say Trump!

Regardless of what was in his heart, Trump was much less pro-Putin in practice than Obama was from 2009-2014, let alone Bush. Again, each subsequent president has been, policy-wise, more anti-Russian than the last.

As for what the Russians think, I'm not sure. From what I recall, Russians were very pro-Trump in 2016 but were severely disappointed with him as president, and by 2020 most did not care if Trump or Biden won because both were seen as enemies of Russia.

[Beet]

Let's see, Bush ignored the Chechen genocide, ignored the murder of Russian journalists, invited Putin to his ranch in Texas, said he "looked into his soul" and found him to be trustworthy, head faked the Georgians with the idea that the U.S. supported them but did nothing when Russia invaded and humiliated them in 2008.

Obama ignored Russia's assassination of dissidents living in Western countries, ignored them shooting down an airliner, ignored them invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea (token sanctions, refused lethal aid to Ukraine, even refused to call it an invasion) ignored their intervention in Syria, ignored them hacking his Secretary of State's presidential campaign and his own political party, and infamously defended them against Romney.

Trump, well, was f*** Trump. Openly sided with Putin over Democrats, to the point where you had people with t-shirts that said "Better Russia than a Democrat" attending his rallies, had the RNC platform modified to remove opposition to Russia on Crimea, and repeatedly deflected Russia's hacking the DNC by saying it was some fat guy in New Jersey, solely for political advantage. Even today his wing of the GOP presents barely veiled support for the Russian invasion.

It is my serious belief, that after these three fellows, who collectively ruled over America for 20 years, almost exactly coinciding with Mr. Putin's first 20 years in power, the latter became overconfident and launched his February 2022 invasion, thinking he would meet little resistance, and that, had he received more pushback earlier in his career, he would not have launched the invasion to begin with. Pretty much the only thing we were hawkish on when it came to Russia during this period, was withdrawing from treaties. Between Bush and Trump, we lost the ABM treaty, the IRBM treaty, and the Open Skies treaty, effectively undoing the legacy of the 1980s. Great job guys.

[KaiserDave]

Trump, followed by Bush, Obama, and then a massive, massive gap, to Biden.

What pro-Russia policies did Trump advocate for in office?

The question was on which 21st century President has been the most pro-Putin, the answer is unequivocally Trump. Look no further then his effort to cynically freeze aide to Ukraine in order to gain damaging information on a political rival, or easing certain sanctions, not to mention the legitimacy he lent to Putin. Or really just ask the Russians this, they would likely say Trump!

Regardless of what was in his heart, Trump was much less pro-Putin in practice than Obama was from 2009-2014, let alone Bush. Again, each subsequent president has been, policy-wise, more anti-Russian than the last.

As for what the Russians think, I'm not sure. From what I recall, Russians were very pro-Trump in 2016 but were severely disappointed with him as president, and by 2020 most did not care if Trump or Biden won because both were seen as enemies of Russia.

In an absolute sense, you could say each subsequent President has been more anti-Russia, but it might be best to approach this proportionally relative to circumstances. By either metric Biden is overwhelmingly the most anti-Putin.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Trump, no contest. Trump was Putin's lapdog while he was in office.