Why Donald Trump is blind to Russia’s ‘revenge’ attempts on America
Donald Trump has softened his stance on Ukraine, but does his love for autocrats still leave him vulnerable to the Russian threat, and is it also thwarting his war effort in Iran?
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What’s the story?
In February 2025, Donald Trump and JD Vance teamed up to tear down Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In July 2026, one of his most loyal MAGA cheerleaders flew to Ukraine for a cosy chat in the war-torn country.
Laura Loomer, podcaster and “indispensable Trump influencer” interviewed Zelenskyy, having previously spoken strongly against the country and ongoing US support for its resistance to Russia’s invasion.
“She was one of those people who thought that Ukraine was in need of no help, deserved no help,” says Jon Sopel.
“It was full of Nazi sympathisers, she said.”
She was invited by Zelenskyy and returned to “MAGAland”, telling Republicans that the country needs America’s support. Jon says the invite was a tactical move.
She was invited, by Zelenskyy, to meet in Ukraine, and has returned to “MAGAland”, telling Republicans that the country needs America’s support.
“Zelenskyy has been very smart to realise that after that appalling, catastrophic, ghastly meeting with JD Vance and Trump at the White House last year, he needed to start learning the language of Trump,” Jon adds.
“That is something he appears to be doing right now.”
President Zelenskyy @ZelenskyyUa agrees with me that Russia is paying off a lot of conservative influencers and podcasters to push Russian propaganda and anti-American, pro-communist sentiment. In fact, when I was in Ukraine, I met with various officials who gave me all types of… pic.twitter.com/HdiQzrdbhq
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) July 31, 2026
Trump and Zelenskyy met in Washington this week for talks the White House said were “positive and productive”.
Why this meeting was more about Trump and MAGA than Loomer
Laura Loomer represents the most extreme views of Trump’s MAGA movement, and her cosy chat with Zelenskyy, shows how it has now shifted from its previous support for Vladimir Putin and his war against Ukraine.
“A year ago, Donald Trump and his team looked at Zelenskyy and believed he didn't have any cards, and Ukraine would lose this thing without America,” says Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff for Trump in his first administration.
“Lo and behold, months go by and it seems like Zelenskyy does have the cards.
“Zelenskyy has mounted operations that have put Russia on its heels in different locations that have sent Russians going back from the front lines.” Now this administration is starting to feel like Zelenskyy is a winner.
Miles says the administration’s change is a prime example of Trump’s frame of mind around states of conflict.
“He does not like to associate with the losing side. He likes to be friends with the winning side, even if that means investing in both candidates,” Miles says.
“He's the type of guy that would donate to both candidates in a race just to say he was friends with the winner, and so I think you're seeing some of that trickle down to the Laura Loomer-types who are very close to Trump.
“If Zelenskyy wins this thing and comes out on top, they don't want to be seen as just having allied with Putin alone.”
Why this all circles back to Iran
Jon believes Trump’s feelings towards Vladimir Putin and Russia may also have soured due to its support of Iran, which the president has waged a stalemate war with throughout 2026. Russia has reportedly shared satellite images with Iran which show where American troops are stationed in the Middle East.
Miles says Russia’s “deepening” of its relationship with Iran has been obvious for more than a decade.
“They are clearly using that relationship to target Americans, to kill US troops, and to try to get the United States locked in this quagmire in Iran,” he says.
For the Russians, Miles adds, the goal is pure and simple – it’s about revenge.
“This is revenge for the United States supporting Ukraine, but Donald Trump's failure to recognise that really limits him in both conflicts, and it's something that critics have said is missing from his negotiations over Iran,” he says. “He's doing them in a vacuum, as if the Iranians don't have a superpower patron in the Russians, goading them to continue this conflict.”
He believes if Trump and his administration were able to recognise the role Russia was playing in the Iran War, there may not be two conflict stalemates, and the West may be able to use that information to its advantage.
It's something he should be familiar with, and if he was, perhaps there wouldn't be two stalemates here. Perhaps it wouldn't be a stalemate in Iran, and what has for a very long time looked like a stalemate in Ukraine. If we recognised the role Russia was playing. We might be able to use that to the West's advantage.
Jon says Trump still has a blind spot when it comes to Putin, having previously spoken highly of him, and even rolled out a red carpet when the Russian leader arrived in Anchorage for a “ludicrous summit” in August 2025.
“It was the greatest act of pally-ness that you could possibly imagine, and yet Donald Trump is being confronted with more and more evidence that Vladimir Putin is not being straight with him, and is not negotiating openly,” Jon says.
“It still seems that Donald Trump is somehow blinded by the attraction of Vladimir Putin.”
Why Trump has been so blind to Russia’s ambitions for revenge
Trump’s lack of understanding of Russia’s intentions were clear from his first time in the White House, with Miles experiencing first hand the risks he was willing to take with America’s security.
“I cannot tell you how many conversations I had with cabinet members inside the first Trump administration who were themselves trying to figure out why their boss Donald Trump had such an evident affinity for Vladimir Putin,” he says.
“They were as perplexed by it as anyone else, which to me is pretty alarming.
“Trump's top national security officials, cannot figure out why he keeps capitulating to a man who is avowedly one of America's greatest adversaries.”
When working for Trump under John Kelly, Miles says Trump wanted to form an “impenetrable cyber unit” with Putin to handle cybersecurity just months after a Russia attempt to hack the US elections.
“Of course, we told the president it was reckless and insane, and we should not team up with the Russians on cybersecurity,” Miles adds.
“It prompted John Kelly to look at me on that flight and say, 'What is going on here? Why is the president so beholden to Putin?’”
And despite conspiracy theories suggesting Trump was a “secret mole” for the Russians, the answer was much more formal.
“There was a sense that in his time in the business world, he had learned you can get deals done with autocrats,” Miles says.
“It's a lot harder to get deals done in democracies, and so Trump saw these relationships with foreign strongmen as more lucrative, as more beneficial, as more helpful to him and his interest in the long term than relationships with leaders in key democracies.”