"He is the leader of his country,” Trump said, adding the usual boilerplate about wanting to have good relations and help fighting Islamic State. Trump could rebuff criticism of Russia without impugning the United States or compromising his apparent desire for a rapprochement. “He's running his country, and at least he's a leader, you know, unlike what we have in this country,” Trump said, referring to then-President Obama. But ethically speaking, America has towered above Russia – including Russia under Putin. I don’t care if Trump thinks we’ve fallen short of ideals – of course we have, that’s why we call them ideals.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 06, 2017 19:52 UTC