One reason may be that Trump and Putin are fundamentally incompatible personalities.
Trump sees everything as a deal, and for Putin, any deal is a revelation of weakness.
Trump is a creature of the Manhattan-real-estate world; Putin grew up amid the rubble of postwar Leningrad.
For years, Trump was eager to prove that he had a great relationship with Putin.
The moment Trump extends his hand, he marks himself as submissive and invites Putin to demand more.
Putin has made mistakes in this relationship too, such as assuming that Trump is incapable of being tough on Russia.
One of the chocolates Dmitriev brought to the U.S. featured a quote from Putin that perfectly captured the Russian president’s worldview. »