General talks about Putin's 'hypnotic' influence on Trump

Vladimir Putin exerted an almost "hypnotic" influence on former US President Donald Trump, playing on his "ego and insecurities," writes Herbert McMaster, Trump's former national security adviser and retired US Army lieutenant general, in his book. The Guardian cites quotes from his memoirs.

McMaster describes his experience working with the former American president in his book, “At War with Ourselves: My Time in the Trump White House.” The general served as an adviser for 457 days, from February 2017 to April 2018. During that time, he admits, he was unable to understand why Putin had such a strong influence on Trump.

He writes that Trump did not listen to his advisers’ negative assessments of Putin. Trump ultimately fired McMaster precisely because they disagreed about the Russian president. McMaster himself, like other foreign policy experts, urged Washington to take a tougher stance toward the Kremlin.

The general described Trump’s reaction to news of the poisoning of defector spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the United Kingdom in 2018. While other Western leaders pondered a strong response to Moscow, Trump sat in the White House reading a complimentary article headlined “Putin Praises Trump, Slams U.S. Policy.” As McMaster recalls, Trump wrote a thank-you note in marker on a newspaper clipping and asked White House staff to deliver it to Putin. Later, when it emerged that Russian authorities might have been involved in the poisoning, McMaster asked the Oval Office communications staff to cancel the mailing.

McMaster believes that Putin used flattery to try to use Trump for his own interests and drive a wedge between the American president and his advisers. According to McMaster, Putin described Trump as a “very outstanding person” and “without a doubt a talent.” The American leader was vulnerable to this approach. Trump was too confident that only he could improve relations with Putin against the majority opinion, the general writes.

“Putin, a ruthless former KGB agent, played on Trump’s ego and insecurities with flattery,” reads one passage in McMaster’s book.

McMaster recalls another episode when he clashed with Trump over Putin. It happened at the Hamburg summit in July 2017. Trump and Putin spent hours in private conversations. The general warned Trump that Putin was manipulating him and trying to persuade him to lift sanctions on Russia and withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan. McMaster recalls asking Trump “not to be a jerk.” The American leader, in turn, began to get very irritated by his adviser’s attitude toward Putin.

Trump has said many times that he has built a good relationship with Putin during his presidency. In July, Politico reported that Trump was in talks with Putin about ending the war in Ukraine. Two national security experts with ties to Trump confirmed the information. Trump apparently agreed that Russia would keep the Ukrainian territories it had seized.

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