Fooled by Putin again? Trump’s rhetoric suggests he could be

For weeks, President Donald Trump and his aides have assured he was never actually fooled by Vladimir Putin.

When Trump – after years of saying warm things about the Russian president — finally did recently turn on the longtime US adversary, it had to be because Putin had somehow changed.

And now despite all those attempts to rewrite history, Trump walks into his most high-profile Putin meeting at risk of again looking like a dupe.

Granting Putin an audience on US soil was already a risk, if history was any guide, and the stakes have only risen since the announcement of the Alaska summit just a week ago – thanks to Trump himself.

Ahead of Friday’s meeting, Trump and the White House were initially careful to manage expectations. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt likened it to a mere “listening exercise.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed. Trump said this was just the first meeting – suggesting a second meeting (possibly including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnky) would have to be earned.

But by Thursday, that quickly gave way to Trump’s penchant for promising the world.

He twice assured he felt a deal was impending.

But Putin clearly didn’t want peace at that juncture, as the last six months have shown. And those types of comments became a problem when Trump suddenly decided to start criticizing the Russian president, apparently in frustration over his reluctance to help deliver Trump’s much-promised peace deal.