Vladimir Putin

“And I think Putin will become a stronger player on the global stage, particularly as it relates to his relationship with NATO. Over the next year and he's been a little bit quiet the last few years. He was kind of, I'd say, suppressed with sanctions and all th…”

“His behavior is very rational in response to what's gone on for 30 years. And his requests are that he is feeling threatened and he is trying to avoid military conflict as much as he can.”

“This is the beginning of the end of U.S. Cultural and economic influence globally, or dominance, rather, influence globally”

“I don't think he wants this problem long term. It's probably gonna be more like the situation we had in Georgia in 2008. He goes in for a year. He institutes perhaps some sort of puppet government or some government that's more favorable to him, and then he ge…”

“He's a coldly ruthless rational actor. That's sort of the opposite of a madman. I mean, his red lines have been clear. He's been stating them for years.”

“Right, these environmental groups in Europe have been useful idiots for Putin and the Kremlin.”

“Putin's approval rating in Russia is 83%. So his approval ratings have gone up. We thought not, you could say it's fake or whatever, but apparently this is a reasonably decent polling operation. This is a poll by Lovato Center, an independent pollster in Mosco…”

“I think Biden stated the policy, which is this man cannot remain in power. I think he blurted out the truth of his policy. This is a regime change policy. That's what they're going for. They're, they are backing him into a corner.”

“If you're wondering why Putin seized Crimea, it was in direct retaliation for the coup that we backed in Ukraine in 2014. This is the origin of the conflict.”

“So I think he would have shut the door so ferociously on Ukraine and NATO, and anybody that crossed that line, he would have tarred and feathered publicly. And I think the end result would have been that Putin could have found an off ramp well before he invade…”

“If left to your devices, and you're not engaging and not presenting a united front against Putin, he will invade country after country.”

“The Russian regime, whether you like it or not, is stable. It is not unstable.”

“I think it is now a foregone conclusion that Ukraine will be admitted to NATO, and frankly, it's got to be now, I think, one of the penalties and one of the prices that Putin pays for his aggression.”

“My prediction for biggest political winner in twenty-twenty-four is Vladimir Putin.”

“He asked 43 questions during the interview. About 15 of them were kind of softballs, and he had about six fastballs, but he lost control over the interview very early, obviously, if you watched it, and that's just kind of like losing power control.”

“Whether or not you believe everything that Putin said, my takeaway is that this was a rational actor. This was not a madman. This is somebody who we could have negotiated with.”

“And also Clinton, who is so steeped in history, And policy is not somebody that would say something like that in an uncalculated way only to pull back. That does not seem, and I know Bill Clinton, that is not who he is. So just in that context, he is a very th…”

“This would have never happened if I were president. It would have never, Putin would have never done it.”

“Putin just came out today and announced his endorsement of Kamala Harris.”

“With regard to Russia, I don't think Russia is a serious threat to the United States. And indeed, I think the United States should have good relations with Putin. It's a remarkably foolish policy to push him into the arms of the Chinese.”

“I think Trump is going to be a lot tougher on Putin than people think. And I think he's going to get a very, very a deal that's very, very bad for Russia and Ukraine.”

“I just think Xi is going to begin decoupling from Putin.”

“I think Putin is going to lose bigly.”

“I think Trump and Xi both want a deal. I think there's a deal to be done that leaves Putin out in the cold, as I referenced.”

“I don't think he would have invaded with Trump as president.”

“The intelligence community almost uniformly assessed that, ah, Putin did not have either the intent or the capability to hack the outcome of the US election.”

“This president punches down and kisses up. He has this fixation about Putin and Xi admiring him as an equal, and they think he's a joke. They think he is not their equal.”