Fiona Hill

And you've got to kind of remember that these translators are all pretty highly skilled.

And in the case of the translator at Helsinki, who is now retired, she'd had more meetings with Putin and other U.S.

leaders of different countries.

levels, you know, across the government than anybody else.

I mean, she knew Putin inside out, the way he talks and everything.

And, you know, she kind of basically came out and did a full brief of what had been discussed inside.

Yeah, Dan Coats, who was the DNI, the director of national intelligence and former ambassador to Germany, all kinds of things.

I mean, that's the way that he put it the whole time.

He couldn't believe that Trump could be just so pliable, that it had to be something else, you know, because it's just, it seems inconceivable.

to quote the Princess Bride, inconceivable, you know, that he could possibly be in that easily manipulated frame.

But I think he's in that easily manipulated frame.

And Putin has been trained for his whole career in the KGB, you know, to basically manipulate people.

He was a recruiter, you know, somebody who ran assets.

And, you know, he's always looking for people's vulnerabilities.

And Trump is particularly susceptible to flattery.

And as we all know, if he gets insulted, he goes nuts.

So, Putin is always extraordinarily careful to make sure that in any way that he might mock or make fun of Trump doesn't literally translate either in his body language or his language to Trump himself.

And he frequently insults him, but just in these kind of clever, sneaky kind of ways.

Anyone who's in that frame understands, but it doesn't really kind of translate kind of across the cultural divide or in a way that Trump would see it.

And he's just always seemingly flattering him, nudging him, egging him on.