PROVIDENCE, R.I. — With the future of U.S.-Russia relations a subject of intense speculation, former U.S. senator, Rhode Island governor and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee went on Russia-sponsored TV to decry "the belittling of President Trump.''

One answer led to another as Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat Chafee appeared on RT America, a network is officially backed by the Russian government.

The first question posed to him by the host: "What is a good start between the United States and Russia if they are trying to — quote — rebuild, restart or regain relations of normalcy?''

Chafee's answer:

"We are such an economic and military and cultural Goliath, the United States of America, so I do think it is incumbent upon us to be leader in seeking areas of common ground with what might be perceived as our adversaries — whether it's Russia, Venezuela or Iran, and so, I have many differences with President Trump but on this one, I applaud what he is trying to do. ... Find common ground and build on that."

Asked if Syria is the "linchpin to a lot between these two countries, Chafee said, "Absolutely. ... If we can resolve the conflict in Syria, that certainly addresses a lot of the refugees fleeing that poor, war-torn country and so every effort should be made with [Russian leader Vladimir Putin] and anybody else to settle that conflict in Syria."

Asked if he believes "there are forces on Capitol Hill that don't want these two countries to get together, and that Russia can never be trusted,'' Chafee reached back in history for his answer.

"Well, yeah,'' he said. "There is no doubt that, I think [President] Eisenhower was right in '61, the undue influence of the military industrial complex, whatever you want to call it, how we got into the Iraq war and all the problems in the Middle East were because of how we got into the Iraq war.

"How did that possibly happen? The media got behind it. Capitol Hill got behind it. Saddam Hussein was never a threat. Never a threat. And so now we kind of see that same thing happening with Russia, and the belittling President Trump in trying to normalize relations with [Putin] and with the Russians.

"Yes, there are issues with how they conduct some of their elections and some of the economic policies. But when you are such an economic, cultural, military Goliath such as the United States we can take some risk," Chafee said.