For all of Trump’s schoolboy crush on Putin, aides could not help noticing that it did not appear reciprocated. Where other autocrats like Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Kim Jong-un figured out how to stroke Trump’s ego during their meetings, Putin never bothered to try. He gave the impression to American aides watching their interactions that he couldn’t care less about winning Trump over. It was all a one-way street. Trump, they thought, seemed so inexplicably anxious for the Russian leader’s approval, yet never got it.
