The president has publicly excused an adversary for helping a different adversary target U.S. troops and assets during the war.
Trump knows he’s been accused of being Putin’s puppet for years. He has an incentive to show he hasn’t been compromised by the Kremlin.
But as Moscow helps Iran target Americans, Trump is giving Russia a pass anyway, reinforcing his critics’ worst fears. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-16T17:16:39.187Z
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-gives-putins-russia-a-pass-on-assisting-iran-during-the-u-s-war
It’s been about nine days since multiple news organizations, including MS NOW, reported that Russia provided Iran with information that could help it strike American targets. One U.S. official told MS NOW point-blank, “
Russia is providing intelligence help to Iran.”....
The question is less about whether Russia has assisted Iran and
more about what Donald Trump intends to do about it.
The initial reaction from the American president and his team was to express total indifference, despite the severity of the allegations. This was soon followed by news out of the White House that the Republican administration agreed effectively to reward Vladimir Putin’s regime by temporarily easing oil sanctions on the country — twice.....
But in case this weren’t quite ridiculous enough, Trump has continued to find new ways to make the problem worse. In his latest interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, for example, the president conceded that he believes Russia “might be” assisting Iran, but said Putin’s regime deserves a pass because the United States has assisted Ukraine.
KILMEADE: You think Putin is helping Iran?
TRUMP: I think he might be helping them a little bit, yeah, & he probably thinks we're helping Ukraine, right?
K: You are, right?
T: Yeah, we're helping them also, & so he says that, & China would say the same thing. It's like, hey, they do it & we do it
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-13T15:16:10.560Z
.....Just so we’re clear,
the incumbent American president, during a war, is both echoing Putin’s talking points for him and excusing an adversary for helping a different adversary target American troops and assets.
If there’s a precedent for anything like this, I’m not aware of it.
Trump is no doubt aware of concerns that he has been compromised by Moscow, and he’s not exactly going out of his way to temper those fears.
As for the White House’s decision to offer Russia sanctions relief while it helps Iran target Americans, the move hasn’t just drawn criticisms from Capitol Hill, including from Democrats and some Republicans, but
it also has generated pushback from some of the same countries in the region that Trump has “demanded” help from.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Putin “can barely conceal a smirk” as the war in Iran continues. There’s little question as to why.
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