It seems that many people close to Vladimir Putin are barely holding back from asking him the question that many Russians are now afraid to even think about:
"What is the plan B, Mr President, now that President Trump is not ours after all?" Vladimir Putin does not seem to have a plan B.
The Russians' expectations of Trump's return to the White House were enormous. The Russian elites followed the general popular support first for the candidate and then for the winner of the US presidential election in the expectation that Trump would be another "their man," following the line of European leaders they had recruited.
The fateful moment for Vladimir Putin occurred sometime between before and during Trump's first presidency, when the Russians clearly developed the mistaken belief that they had leverage over Trump. This delusion continued afterwards.
The legend that the Russians have some kind of kompromat on President Trump is increasingly reminiscent of the "Bigfoot" legend, a creature that has never been proven to exist, although many still believe it does.
The Kremlin believed in its own deception
For years, the belief that Trump is "our man" and that things will get better when he becomes president again was a delusion that the Kremlin, which created and spread it, came to believe over time.
The Russians have developed the clearly false belief that candidate/President Trump "is ours" and lived with that false conclusion throughout the first Trump presidency and into the 2024 election.
The Kremlin must have realised that Moscow has no leverage over President Trump
The Kremlin began to get seriously nervous when it became apparent that its expectation of major unrest in the US due to the rejection of the presidential election results was nothing more than a self-delusion created by the government in Moscow itself.
The Kremlin knew something was wrong as it investigated its emissaries and agents who had links to political events and elections in the US.
At this point, the Kremlin must have realised that Moscow has no leverage over President Trump, which the Russians have fantasised about in recent years.
Trump is not asking for anything personal from the Russians
However, there was hope in Moscow that President Trump wants something personal from the Russians, which they will certainly offer him in exchange for what they want.
Instead of expecting a favourable agreement in the Kremlin's category, the Russians received the exact opposite.
Vladimir Putin is about to destroy Russia - Donald Trump
President Trump has shown that Vladimir Putin is not what the Russians like to think of Vladimir Putin:
- The Russians have almost a million dead and wounded in this war.
- Vladimir Putin is about to destroy Russia.
- The war must end immediately, and it is Russia that refuses to end it.
- America will impose further sanctions if Russia refuses.
Cold shower
Trump's latest statements came as a shock to Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin is hiding the truth about the war from the Russian public. The Russian elite knows this but did not expect that President Trump, whom the Russians love to follow and from whom they expect a lot, would be the one to tell them the truth.
The false image was dispelled in Trump's first days in office, leaving the Russians and their leader confused
They were even more taken aback by Trump's comments, as they had been assured for years of a strong relationship between the two.
That false image was dispelled in Trump's first days in office, leaving the Russians and their leader confused, staring at each other and looking for a plan B that does not exist.
