Tonight, Donald Trump praised Vladimir Putin pretty broadly, and said that Putin is a better leader than President Obama, as you will see in the video below.

Trump on Putin: “He has been more of a leader than our own president has been.”#NBCNewsForum — Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) September 8, 2016

As he has in prior incidences of Putin-love, Trump praised him for being “strong” and having “control” of his country. Which of course shows what he, and most of his base, admire in other leaders and wish for and expect from Trump. They crave the iron fist, and Trump fantasizes about being that tiny fist.

Watch:



Trump’s admiration for dictatorial strongman leadership is not new or hidden. He’s shown this card several times. His followers are even more open about it, bragging daily on Twitter about the purge he will lead, about his coming crackdown on the evil media, about websites that will be shut down and punished for their objection to his rule.

Of course he praises Putin. To Trump, “leadership” means authoritarian rule. He’s still picturing himself as the man in the boardroom of a reality show telling people they are fired. It will be a sad day for his fans when they find out he’s not firing the ones they want fired.

By the way, small side note, I love how Lauer says that “according to our intelligence community” Putin is the “main suspect” in the DNC hack and Trump objects that “nobody knows that for a fact.”

Yeah that’s what “according to” and “suspect” mean. How much water are you going to carry for Putin, Donald?