On Friday, April 11, Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin in Russia. They talked for four hours. Witkoff is President Trump’s envoy. Witkoff has expressed great warmth toward Putin (as I discussed in a post last month, here). On the 11th, Witkoff put his hand on his heart as Putin approached him, to shake his hand.

Watch it here.

Let me ask you: From everything that has come from the Trump administration, from the president on down, what could possibly make Putin think that there would be any consequences from the United States? Any consequences for any atrocity? What could possibly arouse our administration against him?

On Sunday, April 13 — Palm Sunday — Putin’s forces committed a massacre in Sumy, Ukraine. They killed at least 36 people and wounded 119. The Russians struck just as people were going to church.

Naturally, condemnations of Putin poured in, from the various democracies — but not from Trump. Not from the president of the United States.

Finally, when questioned, Trump said, “I think it was terrible, and I was told they made a mistake.”

A mistake. He was told.

Later, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said, “Excuse me, but this is a murder. This strike went to the center, it did not go to the front line. We cannot find excuses when you hit the city center with missiles.”

I agree.

What does Donald Trump do when Vladimir Putin commits a massacre in broad daylight? He wheels on Zelensky and Joe Biden, naturally — with nary a cross word for Putin.

“President Zelenskyy and Crooked Joe Biden did an absolutely horrible job in allowing this travesty to begin,” he wrote.

Over and over, Trump blames Zelensky and the Ukrainians for starting the war. (Russia, of course, invaded Ukraine in 2014, partially, and then launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.)

After the massacre in Sumy, Zelensky expressed the desire to purchase $15 billion in missile-defense systems from the United States. He did not ask that the U.S. give Ukraine these weapons. He asked to purchase them. The Ukrainians are desperate to defend themselves against mass murder.

Our president’s response: “He’s always looking to purchase missiles, you know? Listen, when you start a war, you gotta know that you can win the war, right? You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”

They must be purring in the Kremlin.

Trump perpetually dumps on Zelensky, offering nothing but praise for Putin, or excuses of him. “If you’re smart, you don’t get involved in wars,” said Trump, knocking Zelensky, again. “I’m not a big fan.”

I am. And I think Putin is a murderous, expansionist tyrant, cursing the earth.

Long ago, there was a rap song: “Things That Make You Go ‘Hmmm.’” I wonder whether Republicans, in the quiet of the night, ever go “hmmm.” Do they ever wonder why Trump is so sweet on Putin and so hostile to Ukraine?

John Bolton, one of Trump’s former national security advisers, said,

It’s very clear that Donald Trump’s sympathies are with the Russians. The idea that Ukraine started the war is total nonsense. Putin continues to ignore Trump and treat him like an easy mark.

• Here is some typical — now-typical — news:

On April 16, the UN General Assembly backed a draft resolution that referenced Russian aggression against Ukraine. However, the United States, along with Russia and Belarus, voted against it . . .

Yes, and Nicaragua, too. What a coalition! (To read the article I have quoted, go here.)

• For the New York Times, Jonathan Mahler has written a piece headed “How the G.O.P. Fell in Love With Putin’s Russia.” Its subheading: “What explains the Trump administration’s radical reversal toward Moscow?”

• The Washington Post has a long, amazing article on Ed Martin — amazing but not surprising, if such a thing is possible. Headline: “Trump’s D.C. U.S. attorney pick appeared on Russian state media over 150 times.”

• Don Bacon is a different kind of Republican. A congressman from Nebraska, he understands exactly who Putin is and what the Ukraine war means. A sample: