On Monday, Trump will attend his first summit with Russian leader Vladmir Putin, in Finland. It comes a few weeks after his extraordinary meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un in Singapore. ‘Is this the Trump doctrine now to get in a room and try and do deals with people that have been perceived as the enemy?’ I asked. ‘I’d like to see peace. A lot of people thought I’d be, most people said well on day one we’re going to be in war as Trump as President. Well here it is - we’re getting rid of wars. We’re actually getting out of wars.’ ‘He’s a ruthless dictator…’ ‘Sure he is, he’s ruthless, but so are others. I mean, I could name plenty of others that we deal with that you don’t say the same thing about. I mean plenty of the people that I deal with are pretty ruthless people.’ ‘Is Putin one of those?’ ‘I can’t tell you that, I assume he probably is. But I could name others also. Look, if we can get along with Russia that’s a good thing. I don’t know him (President Putin). I met him a couple of times, I met him at the G20. 'I think we could probably get along very well. Somebody said are you friends or enemies? I said well it’s too early to say but right now I say we’re competitors but for the United States, and frankly the UK and other places, to get along with Russia and China and all of these other places…. Piers that’s a good thing, that’s not a bad thing. That’s a really good thing.’ As for suggestions he wants to dismantle NATO or pull America out of it to please Putin, he was scornful. ‘Piers, I don’t even know why you’re asking the question. We have now a much more solid NATO than they’ve had for years. And last year, since I was elected, we picked up 34 billion dollars extra. Now, if you add that into all the other things I’ve done, President Putin has to respect what we’ve done.’ |