Trump Likens Himself to Richard Nixon

 

President Donald Trump likened himself to former President Richard Nixon in a social media post on Thursday.

Trump posted an image from his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, when the two leaders met in Alaska to discuss a potential end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The photo is in black and white, and shows Trump pointing a finger at his Russian counterpart, as if menacingly. A second photo shows Nixon making a similar gesture toward Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1959, when as vice president, Nixon debated Khrushchev about capitalism and communism.

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But as CNN pointed out, the image of Trump and Putin wasn’t quite the tense moment that Trump appears to suggest it is.

On Thursday’s OutFront, Erin Burnett aired video of their exchange, indicating, in her words, that the discussion “looked pretty friendly.”

Nixon, of course, is the only president in U.S. history to resign the office after his role in covering up the Watergate scandal became public.

Trump’s post came after Russian drones struck a factory in Ukraine owned by an American company. Russian officials said the factory was fair game in their country’s strikes on “the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied the plant made weapons, stating that produced electronics and “nothing military.”

Three days after meeting with Putin in Alaska, Trump hosted Zelensky and other European leaders at the White House. During the summit, he took a break to phone Putin regarding the proceedings.

“One source said Trump discussed the trilateral summit idea in his meeting with Zelensky and the European leaders. ‘He said he wants to talk about it with Putin and that he wants to do it soon, but didn’t mention a date or location,’” Axios reported at the time.

Watch above via CNN.

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Mike is a Mediaite senior editor who covers the news in primetime. Follow him on Bluesky.