Former US president, Donald Trump, appeared at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, where he blasted the Joe Biden administration and its handling of the Ukraine crisis, AFP reported. 

Trump not only blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Biden’s “weakness” as US president but also took the opportunity to again praise President Vladimir Putin. As per AFP, Trump said, “As everyone understands, this horrific disaster would never have happened if our election was not rigged”, and continued, “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he’s smart. But the real problem is that our leaders are so dumb”. 

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The agency reported Trump suggesting that NATO was “looking the opposite of smart” for hitting Russia with sanctions rather than making the decision to “blow (Russia) to pieces — at least psychologically”. 

While Trump belted out a few more crowd favourite lines of how the 2020 election was rigged and how he wanted to make America great again, it must be noted that this is the third time the former president has openly praised the Russian leader. Earlier, Trump called him “savvy” and “genius”, while also claiming that Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine if Trump were president. 

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Here, Trump’s statements seem to be corroborated by a study that shows a vast majority of Americans hold the same belief, to the extent that Biden’s presidency was a determining factor for Putin to invade Ukraine at this point in time. 

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Despite the criticism of Biden’s sanctions from the former Republican president, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi praised Biden’s response of economic sanctions to Putin’s military troop movement. She said, “I think that we’re very blessed to have this president with his knowledge of foreign affairs, his understanding of the personalities that he has to deal with. And what the president said today is to ratchet it up and that’s what he’s doing and the package is very, very devastating to Russia”, as per Newsweek.