Donald Trump is not only coddling Vladimir Putin. He is becoming Vladimir Putin

Read the original at The Sydney Morning Herald ↗
Cite

Hartcher, P. (2026, October 19). Donald Trump is not only coddling Vladimir Putin. He is becoming Vladimir Putin. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/donald-trump-is-not-only-coddling-vladimir-putin-he-is-becoming-vladimir-putin-20261020-p616rh.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-10-19 · by Peter Hartcher

Quick Summary

The article argues that former President Donald Trump exhibits admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin by justifying his actions and rolling back sanctions against Russia, despite Putin's brutal tactics and invasion of Ukraine. When questioned about Putin's murderous acts in 2017, Trump responded with moral equivalence and respect towards the Russian leader. More recently, Trump has praised Putin’s aggression as "genius" and reversed existing U.S. sanctions on Russia, allowing Putin to profit from oil sales despite ongoing conflict. The piece also mentions that some of Trump's envoys are pushing for European governments to hand over frozen Russian assets worth $300 billion to Trump, who plans to use them as leverage with Putin for peace negotiations.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-19, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Donald Trump is increasingly aligning himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions and rhetoric, according to a recent article by the Sydney Morning Herald. In 2017, when questioned about Putin’s involvement in murders of politicians and journalists, Trump responded dismissively, stating that "our country’s so innocent." More recently, after Russia invaded Ukraine, Trump praised the move as “genius” and congratulated Putin for sending what he called "the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen."

In a more recent development, Trump's envoys are reportedly pressuring European governments to transfer $300 billion in Russian assets frozen due to sanctions back to Washington. This move is aimed at reducing diesel prices in America but has not had any noticeable impact on fuel costs. The Financial Times reported that the US Congress voted to increase sanctions on Russian oil, yet Trump reversed existing sanctions instead of imposing new ones, further illustrating his support for Putin's regime despite its atrocities and invasions.

Written for “Donald Trump And Vladimir Putin Comparison” on 2026-10-19, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans strongly left (beta estimate) Confidence high
Leaning: leans strongly left for article 91476 (high confidence, 3 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-19

Story

📰 Donald Trump And Vladimir Putin Comparison
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 7% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Why Is Trump Criticising Zelensky And Complimenting Putin? different event · 85%
BBC News
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 12 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles discuss different aspects of President Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin and their attitudes towards Russia and Ukraine, but they do not describe the same specific incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
71
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
7%
5 of 71 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-19 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Peter Hartcher
5 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Trump claimed this would cut the price of diesel in America.
2026-10-19 · assertive framing · Donald Trump is not only coddling Vladimir Putin. He is becoming Vladimir Putin
🔮 Trump’s words from February will ring through the years.
2026-10-12 · assertive framing · When Trump gets a thrashing at the midterms, four words will come back to haunt him
🔮 “One of their tenets is that we should start worshipping AI now, otherwise the AI will get upset that we didn’t recognise its divinity early enough,” says the chief scientist at UNSW.ai, the AI Institute of NSW University.
2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Plenty of people believe that AI can be God. Just not the Pope
🔮 When Russia sent its first cruise missiles slamming into Kyiv and its mighty convoy roared toward the Ukrainian capital, the Western world expected that it would fall under Moscow’s control within three days.
2026-09-21 · assertive framing · Why this new Ukraine pact is a war-game changer for Australia
🔮 When Donald Trump announced his so-called Liberation Day tariffs on just about every country on earth, while excepting Russia, of course, I asked an eminent economist how bad the damage would be.
2026-09-14 · assertive framing · Euro-vision: Could Australia join the European Union? One key minister is open to it
Also by Peter Hartcher
When Trump gets a thrashing at the midterms, four words will come back to haunt him
2026-10-12 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Plenty of people believe that AI can be God. Just not the Pope
2026-10-05 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Why this new Ukraine pact is a war-game changer for Australia
2026-09-21 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Euro-vision: Could Australia join the European Union? One key minister is open to it
2026-09-14 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

America American Russian Ukraine the US Congress

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 21× Putin PERSON · 19× Russian NORP · 9× Ukraine GPE · 6× America GPE · 2× American NORP · 2× Vladimir Putin PERSON · 2× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Russia GPE · 1× the US Congress ORG · 1×

Narrative

Now London’s Financial Times reports that Trump envoys are pressing European governments to hand over to Washington the Russian cash they froze in their banking systems in response to the Ukraine invasion – some $US300 billion worth.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-19
🔮 Trump claimed this would cut the price of diesel in America.
2026-10-19 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Donald Trump is not only coddling Vladimir Putin. He is becoming Vladimir Putin · assertive framing

Claims (71 extracted, 5 hedged)

Donald Trump is not only coddling Vladimir Putin. asserted
Trump → coddle → Putin
He is becoming Vladimir Putin. asserted
He → become → ?
He’s always sought to justify even the worst of Putin’s atrocities. asserted
He → seek → atrocities
Questioned in 2017 about Putin’s murders of politicians and journalists, it was put to him bluntly that the Russian leader is “a killer”. asserted
leader → question → him
We’ve got a lot of killers. asserted
We → get → killers
What do you think? asserted
you → think → What
Our country’s so innocent?” asserted
country → ’ → ?
Worse, outright admiration: “I do respect him,” said Trump. asserted
Trump → respect → him
The kind of respect one mafia don has for another. asserted
don → have → another
The moment Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Trump hailed it as “genius”. asserted
Trump → launch → genius
He congratulated the Russian president for sending “the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen”. asserted
I → congratulate → force
And the American leader is notable for the favours he showers on Putin. asserted
he → shower → Putin
Ten days ago, after the US Congress had voted to increase sanctions on Russian oil, Trump didn’t just refuse to impose them. asserted
Trump → vote → them
He went further and reversed pre-existing US sanctions that had been imposed four years earlier. asserted
that → go → sanctions
Trump claimed this would cut the price of diesel in America. asserted
this → claim → America
It has made no useful difference. asserted
It → make → difference
All he’s done is bring Putin back into the legal marketplace for oil. asserted
he → do → oil
So he can sell at a higher price to fund his war on Ukraine. asserted
he → sell → Ukraine
Putin repays Trump’s sycophancy with contempt. asserted
Putin → repay → contempt
When Trump declared an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine last week “effective immediately”, Ukraine suspended its attacks on Russian energy assets for three days. asserted
Ukraine → declare → days
Putin said nothing and just continued his non-stop bombing of Ukraine’s energy assets. asserted
Putin → say → assets
Now London’s Financial Times reports that Trump envoys are pressing European governments to hand over to Washington the Russian cash they froze in their banking systems in response to the Ukraine invasion – some $US300 billion worth. asserted
they → report → invasion
The idea is for Trump to use it as an inducement to Putin to negotiate peace, apparently. asserted
Trump → use → peace
Germany, not trusting Trump, has ruled out any such idea. asserted
Germany → trust → idea
Trump’s timing seems quixotic. asserted
timing → seem → ?
His blatant pandering to Putin is hurting Republicans running in the US midterm elections due in two weeks. asserted
pandering → hurt → weeks
As US news outlet Axios points out: “With control of Congress hanging in the balance, Trump is embracing a dictator viewed unfavourably by 81 per cent of his own 2024 voters, according to a January YouGov poll.” uncertain
Trump → hang → poll
Peter Tesch, a former Australian ambassador to Moscow, remarks: “He’s enthralled. asserted
He → remark → Moscow
Putin turns Trump the bully into this cowed, servile individual. asserted
Putin → turn → individual
You see it time and time again.” asserted
You → see → it
Analysts have puzzled over the hold that the ex-KGB officer enjoys over the American businessman. asserted
officer → puzzle → businessman
Theories include Russian kompromat on Trump, Russian payments to Trump and so on. asserted
Theories → include → Trump
None has been proven. asserted
None → prove → ?
Even if they were, none seems sufficient to justify Trump’s openly abject submission. asserted
none → seem → submission
Trump has hung in the White House a picture of himself with Putin. asserted
Trump → hang → Putin
It’s placed above a photo of himself with a granddaughter. asserted
It → place → granddaughter
Trump is doing more than favouring Putin. asserted
Trump → do → Putin
He is acting in Putin’s interests even when it harms his own. asserted
it → act → own
He seems to identify so closely with the Russian dictator that it appears he is turning into Putin. asserted
he → seem → Putin
One: Putin took power initially by democratic means and was very popular for some time. asserted
Putin → take → time
…and 31 more, not listed.
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