The Trump-Putin Co-Dependency

Recognizing Trump for what he really is and how to handle him. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied US President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a televised address on the conflict in the Middle East from the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, DC on April 1, 2026. (Photo by Alex Brandon / POOL / AFP) Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google US President Donald Trump, casually shrugging off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest provocation – sharing with Iran targeting coordinates of US troops in the area – continues a pattern that baffles political allies and foes alike. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) recently took to the Senate floor: “It doesn’t make sense that the president of the United States – who insists on being dominant in essentially every relationship – is so submissive to one person…Vladimir Putin.” Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) admitted he was not sure why his friend Trump chronically avoids punishing Putin – including with the “bone-crushing” sanctions his popular but languishing Senate bill calls for. Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) memorably compared Trump to a “wet noodle” next to Putin at the Alaska summit in August of last year. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), in November, mocked Trump’s attempts to mediate the war as a “so-called peace plan.” Capturing this general bewilderment, Polish legend Lech Wałęsa – never at a loss for words – declared recently that “Trump is either a traitor or a genius.” The most usual theories involve some kind of compromising material on Trump, or murky financial ties between the two leaders, or mutual admiration owing to their common authoritarian and macho personas, or pandering to the wing of the MAGA base sympathetic to Russia, or genuine fear of nuclear escalation in Ukraine. But those who follow this topic closely find holes in each theory. Other Topics of Interest Russian Forces Execute Four Ukrainian POWs Near Kharkiv Amid Easter Ceasefire The 14th Army Corps reported the summary execution of captured servicemen in the Derhachi community, a move Kyiv calls a systemic violation of the Geneva Conventions. Fiona Hill, who served as the national security advisor for Russia during Trump’s first term, recalled how Trump repeatedly sought validation from Putin. Her take was that the KGB trained Putin on manipulation techniques. However, there’s yet another reason hiding in plain sight all along. Several mental-health professionals have publicly pointed out that Trump displays the classic symptoms of a narcissistic personality . In 2021, I published an extensive study on Putin’s psychology, noting the many commonalities with the classic symptoms suffered by men with internalized homophobia – a profile treated and studied for decades by both my psychoanalyst parents. Several psychologists and psychoanalysts have long noted a special relation between precisely these two psychological profiles. The theory goes that narcissists require constant “narcissistic supply” – mostly (but not only) through perpetual validation and adulation. Several former aides indeed describe an atmosphere of incessant “cringy” adulation toward Trump by his staff. Men who suffer from internalized homophobia, meanwhile, possess a keen perception of others’ triggers, hopes, vices, and vulnerabilities. The renowned Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung wrote that many of these men have “an almost feminine insight and tact” to read others. Indeed, Putin has this uncanny ability, probably not from KGB training, but from his innate psychological profile. Despite all his constant provocations and flaunting of attempts at a ceasefire, Putin has skillfully used flattery and has (so far) managed to avoid triggering a “narcissistic injury” with Trump, whereas other friends and foes of the US president have not been so skilled, leading to strained relationships and increased tensions in international diplomacy. Case in point: Retired general Keith Kellogg, who served for a few months as Trump’s advisor on the Ukraine conflict before finding himself sidelined by Steve Witkoff and others, inadvertently erred by portraying Volodymyr Zelensky to Trump as “today’s Lincoln” and “a modern-day Churchill.” If Trump is indeed a narcissist, this likely explains Trump’s equally baffling and often hostile relationship with his beleaguered Ukrainian counterpart. Worse, Trump increasingly shows symptoms of an aging narcissist, whereby the regular narcissist’s “soul-draining” traits become even more evident, stubborn, and unpredictable. In this later stage in life, it’s not uncommon for the narcissist, for example, to sever family ties over a narcissistic injury, even refusing to meet their grandchildren. In the same way, any narcissist needs handling by their relatives and other potential and actual victims, according to therapists specializing in this profile: With their own manipulative mix of patience, adulation, pressure, and even threats. Some European leaders are finally “getting it” with Trump. After attempting to defend themselves from Trump’s wrath, facing more rejection, then trying reasoning but getting nowhere, then adulation (“daddy”), and still failing to change his threats over Greenland and other sore points, they eventually started threatening retaliatory tariffs against US goods and companies. The jury is still out. In the meantime, Trump and Putin continue what psychotherapists specializing in such cases would recognize as a codependent relationship. Putin constantly provokes, which is common in men suffering from internalized homophobia. Trump, however, largely denies Putin the punishment he unconsciously craves, thereby inviting even more provocations: More bombings of Ukrainian civilians (oftentimes just after a call with Trump) and US industries in Ukraine, more hybrid attacks against NATO allies, and even the airing of nude photos of first lady Melania on Russian television . Attacking the wife of their object of codependence is also common in men with internalized homophobia. I vividly recall one such man that my mother, a professor of abnormal psychology, counseled for years – and whose similarity to Putin was striking. What is to be done? The first step is to understand what drives this relation and act accordingly. Somehow, engineering a “narcissistic injury” that Trump associates with Putin could incite the mercurial president to finally move suddenly and harshly against the hitherto source of his “narcissistic supply.” The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.  Fredo Arias-King is the founder of the Washington-based academic quarterly Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, now in its 34th year.