The US president voiced sentiments at odds with our illiberal government. His call for a rules-based order bathes them in the harshest light
Watching Joe Biden stroll through Kyiv alongside Volodymyr Zelenskiy, flexing the muscles of democratic solidarity under a blue Ukrainian sky, it should be difficult to imagine any US president preferring the company of Vladimir Putin. But it is easy. America had such a president only three years ago.
There is no doubt whose side Donald Trump would have taken had he been in the White House this time last year. He told a rally on Monday that Putin would “never, ever have gone into Ukraine” if he had been president. He reminded the audience that he “actually had a very good relationship” with Putin. Just ahead of the Kremlin invasion, Trump declared the massing of Russian troops a “genius” move by a “very savvy” leader.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
