Donald Trump displayed a breathtaking lack of understanding about the Cold War during his recent summit with Vladimir Putin — and left his own advisors “basically helpless” as he waved away their attempts to interject.
That’s according to the president’s biographer, who spoke to the Daily Beast on Wednesday.
On the podcast "Inside Trump's Head," Michael Wolff said that Trump's version of Cold War history was so mangled that "it would appear that the U.S. and USSR are on the same side."
Friday’s chaotic meeting in Alaska began with Trump launching into what Wolff described as "a combination of flattery" mixed with "things that he's just pulled out of somewhere...observations, it's both inconsequential and incoherent."
When Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff attempted to redirect the conversation with an actual agenda, Trump simply "talked over them," leaving the meeting rudderless after 20 minutes with "nothing clear about what anyone is doing there except that Putin is totally impassive."
Putin eventually delivered what Wolff characterized as a "history lesson," explaining "why [Russia] should conquer Ukraine." Not to be outdone, Trump launched into his own historical dissertation on the Cold War that bore little resemblance to reality, Wolff said.
He said that Trump's version of the long-running international crisis with the Soviets "didn't seem much like a war at all."
Trump aides’ attempts to stop him proved futile. "They sit there occasionally trying to interject, but you can't really interject because Trump just talks all the time," Wolff said.
He added that this worked "to Putin's advantage" since Trump showed no interest in crucial details about territory or trade-offs.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed Wolff with the comment he usually gives the Beast, calling Wolff "a lying sack of s--t" with "Trump Derangement Syndrome."