Is Trump Finally Flipping on Putin?

I don’t think I’m breaking any news here when I say President Trump has an unusually comfy relationship with Vladimir Putin. 

Now, to be clear, Putin is a dictator and war criminal who stifles internal dissent with assassinations and prison camps, routinely threatens to nuke the United States, and has spent the past three years bombing Ukrainian civilians and abducting their children. 

But he’s also (ostensibly) Donald Trump’s friend. 

That’s been so well established by this point I feel like it’s self-evident. 

Nevertheless, President Trump has, on numerous occasions, called Putin “smart,” “savvy,”  “a strong leader,” and “a genius.”

He recently used his appearance at the G7 Summit to lobby for Russia’s readmittance. 

He told America’s European allies that not only would he not protect them in the event of a Russian invasion, but he would in fact “encourage them to do whatever they want.”

And as soon as he got in office, he immediately cut off almost all of America’s military aid to Ukraine. 

Trump has argued that by abandoning Ukraine, the war would end more quickly. He also brought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into an Oval Office ambush just to berate him, while at the same time defending Vladimir Putin. 

“Let me tell you: Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” he told Zelensky. “He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam… And he had to go through that.”

In the past few weeks, though, it seems like maybe (hopefully?) Trump is waking up to the fact that Vladimir Putin isn’t really his personal friend. He’s America’s biggest adversary. 

After months of watching a defenseless Ukraine take it on the chin from a country that has refused to engage in any meaningful diplomatic discussions, Trump’s frustration is starting to boil over. 

“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin,” Trump told reporters last Friday. “He’s very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Trump then followed up on Sunday.

“I am very disappointed with President Putin,” Trump said during a visit to Joint Base Andrews. “I thought he was somebody that meant what he said. And he’ll talk so beautifully and then he'll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”

This isn’t the first sign of friction between the two, either. You could see the relationship beginning to strain just a few months after Trump resumed office. 

Again, Trump pledged to end the Ukraine war in just one day on the campaign trail and he seemed to think that he could accomplish that by pressuring Ukraine and pacifying Putin. 

But it didn’t go that way.

“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,” he lamented on Truth Social back in May.

Now, after a few more months of indiscriminate bombings with no progress made toward peace, Trump seems to have run out of patience. And not just rhetorically. 

He lifted a recent block on Ukraine aid and cleared the way for more Patriot missile systems to be delivered to the beleaguered country. 

And apparently, more aid is on the way.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%. So what we’re doing is the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and NATO is paying for those weapons,” Trump said.

This new package apparently also includes offensive weapons, which would be another significant shift for the Trump administration. 

"Trump is really pissed at Putin,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Axios on Sunday. “His announcement tomorrow is going to be very aggressive." 

In a way, this isn’t shocking. Many a Trump ally has morphed into an adversary seemingly overnight. 

Elon Musk, for instance, along with a coterie of former administration officials like John Bolton, John Kelly, Bill Barr, Mark Esper, and, maybe most famously, Mike Pence, among others. 

Indeed, it seems like no one really stays “friends” with Trump forever, and now it may be Putin’s turn.

Regardless, the shifting  attitude should restore some confidence in Ukraine, as well as Europe, that America hasn’t yet completely abandoned its mantle as the world’s chief defender of democracy. 

It also follows a NATO summit, in which all but one member agreed to raise their defense spending target from 2% of GDP to 5% — appeasing Trump’s long-standing (and justifiable) complaint that Europe doesn’t spend enough on defense.

And that’s the key takeaway for investors… 

This is yet another massive boon for defense contractors. 

First, it ensures that Ukraine will have a better chance of survival and will slow Russia’s attempt to conquer its former subject. That will mean more contracts to supply and backfill whatever American weapons get sent over now and in the future.

Secondly, it shows Europe is willing to play ball and foot the bill for those weapons so Trump doesn’t feel like he’s being had (something he despises).

And finally, it allows U.S. defense contractors to further build out their backlogs so they can continue to expand their industrial base and ramp up production.

As a result, we’re likely to see more gains for defense contractors, like the AI-powered tech warrior I just recommended to my Crow’s Nest subscribers.

You can find out more about that here, if you’re interested.

Fight on,

Jason Simpkins

Simpkins is the founder and editor of Secret Stock Files, an investment service that focuses on companies with assets — tangible resources and products that can hold and appreciate in value. He covers mining companies, energy companies, defense contractors, dividend payers, commodities, staples, legacies and more…

In 2023 he joined The Wealth Advisory team as a defense market analyst where he reviews and recommends new military and government opportunities that come across his radar, especially those that spin-off healthy, growing income streams. For more on Jason, check out his editor's page.

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