Trump is boasting that he knows Putin as well as almost anybody. Maybe he’s thinking of the happy times they had in Trump’s hotel room in Moscow. Getting physical might be a way for people who are ignorant of one another’s language and culture to get to know one another.

Trump has been cheering for Putin and denouncing Biden. So has Trump’s monkey, R. Giuliani. Mike Pompeio is mouthing the Trump line as well, as are many other Trumpublicans. Is this only a bit of routine ass kissing, or could it suggest that alliance with Putin is something to which the Trumpists aspire? The Republican right wing has more in common with an amoral authoritarian like Putin than with those Americans who are still offended by deceit, despotism, and brutal sleaze.