A president who was like Putin
Re “No detente likely with a mob boss,” Opinion, June 15
Jonah Goldberg describes Russian President Vladimir Putin as a cross between a mob boss, a James Bond movie villain and a Latin American strongman who clings to power by intimidating domestic opposition, keeping Russian society in a constant state of paranoia and crisis and treating relations with adversaries as a zerosum game.
It sounds like Putin and former President Trump were classmates at the same school of political science. No wonder they have embraced each other so warmly.
Noel Johnson
Glendale
Wait, what? Twice I had to read Goldberg’s piece scolding President Biden for meeting with Putin, just to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me.
Though he cites other presidents for meeting with past Russian leaders, Goldberg does not include Trump’s one-on-one meeting with Putin in Finland — the one where he took Putin’s word over the intelligence of his own government. Really?
Roy Friedland
Los Angeles
I’ve been eagerly reading Goldberg for years, principally as opposition research. Trump changed him, knocked the blinders off, and made him see more clearly.
This latest essay is the best thing I’ve read by him. He clearly sees the objective truth of the matter. He’s made the nicest and most truthful comment about Jimmy Carter that I’ve ever seen from a conservative. And he clearly sees the dual reality of Putin and Biden.
Paul Moser III
Palm Desert