Donald Trump weighs in on Putin a day after Putin praises him

“Obviously, that would be a concern, would it not?”

Romney’s aide Stuart Stevens said: “Donald Trump is like that stray dog anybody can pet and it will follow you home”.

Mohammad Javad Zarif told The Associated Press on Thursday that his country has seen “no lists we can agree upon” of Syrian opposition groups that should be included in peace negotiations set to begin by January 1, or of Syrian groups that should be considered terrorist organizations instead.

But Trump, the 2016 Republican presidential front-runner, is bucking his party yet again – choosing to bear hug the Russian strongman rather than vilify him.

I think it’s fair to say that this is not very reassuring about Trump’s instincts or approach to political power.

Trump: There’s a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on. A lot of stupidity. But you didn’t ask me the question. After learning of the Russian president’s compliments on Thursday, Trump quickly returned the favour.

“I’m confused”, Scarborough responded before giving Trump one last chance to distance himself from Putin, whose incursions into Ukraine have resulted in United States and worldwide sanctions.

“Oh, sure, absolutely”, Trump replied.

In addition to his shady past in the KGB, Putin has ruled his country with an iron fist, with multiple Republican foes of Trump deriding Putin as a “gangster” and a “bully”.

“So we don’t have good leadership to put it mildly, I’m being very nice, because it’s your first show”, he stated. He’s a powerful leader … There’s also rampant corruption – and, as U.S. News and World Report noted in July, the most recent poll conducted in the country is subject to a lot of reasons to suspect that his popularity numbers are inflated. They respect him as a leader.

Dream team… USA presidential hopeful Donald Trump, pictured with TV host Jimmy Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I was able to get a sense of his soul”.

Brian Walsh, Republican strategist at Rokk Solutions said Trump’s comments are “a new level of outrageous”. “And I don’t know who does the polls. But I think they’re done by American companies”.

During his annual news conference with reporters in Moscow, Putin described Trump in glowing terms, saying he is “an outstanding and talented personality”. Russian Federation and Iran, however, are key backers of Assad and will likely resist any outcome that lessens their influence in Syria.