The upshot here is that John preposterously thinks Putin fears Tangerine.
Nope. It is equally likely that Putin OWES Trump a prior bribe’s payoff, a marker he doesn’t want called. [Add to that that Putin is reasonably unsure as to whether Trump will ever take office again. So Putin may never have to “make good” on that marker.]
In any event, the most salient evidence that Hinderaker’s take is silly is that German cooperation was needed to seal this deal (Putin desperate to get his assassin back) — and Trump regularly shows himself to be an all out enemy — of Germany.
So all sides knew that there could be no reasonable outcome around a Tangerine back in power.
Per the WSJ:
…Germany’s Scholz would no longer be willing to help a president who rarely misses an opportunity to criticize Germany…
The final nail in the coffin, to Hinderaker’s “reality distortion bubble“ telling of the story, though is that Tangerine himself criticize the deal and criticized Mr. Biden for it, immediately after it was announced.
Yet this past weekend — as the deal aged in a bit — Trump at a rally praised of all people, Vladimir Putin for doing the deal — calling Putin, “a genius”. why would Tangerine do that?! [Specifically praising the return of a known assassin, to an enemy / dictator, strikes me as uniquely non-patriotic for a candidate for 1600 Penn.]
The very straightforward reading of that Tangerine remark, is that even Trump knows Germany would not have given Trump the operating room — to release an assassin from Germany — to Mr. Putin.
But it is absolutely true that Germany wants to aid both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
That’s all there is to this story, despite John’s burping to try and convince us that it is like Jimmy Carter and Iran.
What a putz.
Powerline Lies... 