(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has remained under a constant spotlight, especially after Trump vowed to put an immediate end to the war between Russia and Ukraine after beginning his second White House term.
In recent weeks, however, Trump has expressed disappointment with Putin over his unwillingness to stop the shooting with Ukraine, as Trump has asked. While some pundits have questioned whether Trump is being played by his Russian counterpart, Bill O’Reilly says that respect cannot be considered a two-way street between the two world leaders.
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“I don’t think Putin respects any human being on this planet,” O’Reilly told NewsNation. “He’d kill you and me and Trump like that if it served his interest.”
Trump recently had a private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican during which he said if a deal could be reached between the two countries to end the war, “it’s a very good thing,” Trump told NewsNation this week.
O’Reilly believes that Trump’s confidence in his negotiating skills to help broker an agreement comes into play as it relates to his relationship with Putin. While O’Reilly said Trump’s campaign promise to end the Russia-Ukraine war within his first 24 hours in office was never one to be taken literally, Trump has made progress in getting through to Putin, which he said didn’t happen under former President Joe Biden.
At the same time, though, O’Reilly says that Trump understands that Putin must be onboard for meaningful forward movement to be made toward ending the war with Ukraine.
“Trump wants to believe that he can reason with Putin to stop this mass murder, which leads to nowhere in Ukraine,” O’Reilly said. “And Putin was leading him on to say, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ll be reasonable.’ But so far, (he) has not.”
