Why does Donald Trump mean better with strong leaders like Putin than with Democratic allies like Trudeau?

Guess which of these two phrases the President of the United States, Donald Trump, referred to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau:

1) "Very dishonest and weak"

2) "He is a good competitor, and I think the word competitor is a compliment"

Answer: Trump dedicated the first sentence to Trudeau last month and the second to Putin on Monday after the to have met. It may come as a surprise to anyone who remembers that, according to the United States, Canada is a allied democracy and Russia a threatens its security whose government violates human rights and maintains Political prisoners

But the truth is that Trump seems to improve more and more with powerful leaders like Putin or North Korean Kim Jong-un, and by distancing himself from Washington's partners in America or Europe .

The phenomenon has been criticized by members of the Republican Trump party and is considered unprecedented for an American president, at least since the last century.

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"This is unprecedented since the Second World War and probably in American history from the beginning" , says Joan Hoff, expert at Montana State University on the history of the US presidency and diplomacy, BBC World

"Sympathy for Autocrats"

The contrast between the way Trump treats the traditional allies of the United States and the country leaders his government considers hostile became clear during his tour of Europe in recent days.

Trump questioned how British Prime Minister Theresa May manages the Brexit negotiation to leave the Union of the European Union, he suggested continuing the bloc, that He called it a US commercial competitor, and demanded more military spending from NATO partners.

But Trump's cutting-edge, combative tone with other leaders dissipated on Monday, when he appeared in Finland with Putin at the first bilateral summit of the two presidents.

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"The damage inflicted by the naivety, selfishness, false equivalence and sympathy of President Trump against autocrats is hard to calculate," said Republican Senator John McCain.

"No previous president abject refused before a tyrant ," he said in a statement

"Personality or Character"

This is not The first time Trump drew attention to approach leaders accused of authoritarianism and human rights violations, without referring to these problems in public.

For example, in November he met with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who, according to human rights groups, is promoting thousands of extrajudicial executions to fight drugs and Last month, after breaking the consensus at the G7 summit in Canada and accused Mr. Trudeau of being "dishonest and weak," he met North Korean Kim Jong-un to discuss the denuclearization Although the results of this historic meeting in Singapore are still uncertain, Trump has since alluded to the North Korean leader as "funny", "intelligent" and "talented".

Michael Shifter and David Toppelberg, Center for Hemispheric Analysis Inter-American Dialogue, believe that the exception to the rule is the strong leaders of Venezuela and Cuba, which Trump may have faced for reasons of domestic and ideological politics.

"He is difficult to reconcile the badent of the president – in fact, the frequent praise of the president. to strong men around the world with their claim to democracy and human rights in Venezuela and Cuba, "said the two experts in a column published in the newspaper T New York Times Monday

Of course, it is far from being a novelty that an American president meet leaders considered dictators or autocrats from different regions.

But experts as Hoff point out that the difference with Trump is that he seems to lack a clear strategy or purpose.

"He meets these leaders because maybe in terms of personality or of character can better relate to them than with Western leaders who are allies, "says this former head of the presidency's Study Center.

Others believe that Trump 's attitude towards strong leaders is related to his business training who directly managed his businesses .