Trump has tweeted a video excerpt from a 2010 interview then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave to Russian TV host Vladimir Pozner. The funny part is, while Trump is now under a hailstorm of criticism over his handling of the recent Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Clinton back in the day praised a "strong, prosperous Russia."
"We want very much to have a strong Russia, because a strong, confident, prosperous, stable Russia is, we think, in the interests of the world," Clinton says in the tweeted clip.
Will the Dems and Fake News ever learn? This is classic! pic.twitter.com/kSX3ROI4QG
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 19 июля 2018 г.
"It's both in this way, Vladimir. It is a force to sustain an equilibrium that permits countries and individuals to progress, to become more self-realizing," Clinton replied. "I mean, we want very much to have a strong Russia because a strong, competent, prosperous, stable Russia is, we think, in the interests of the world."
"But at the same time, there are countries and places where the status quo is just not acceptable," she went on. "Last summer, I went to the Democratic Republic of Congo. I went to Eastern Congo where 5.4 million people had been killed in the last 15 years, the greatest death toll since the Second World War. We don't want that status quo to be sustained."
The tweet has already drawn buzz on social media, with some pro-Trump celebrities such as actor James Woods sharing it, according to the Hill.
The clip is accompanied with a #HillaryLovesRussia hashtag, which is entirely dedicated to tying the former secretary of state to Russia, including everything from nice comments she made about Russia at different times to Putin's remarks about William Browder allegedly making a donation of $400 million earned in Russia to Clinton's presidential campaign.
Russians are smart. — Hillary Rodham Clinton..Is this why Democrats are losing their teeny, tiny minds? Do they know, Putin is going to expose their evil & help President Trump #LockThemUp?#HillaryLovesRussia#DemocratsLoveRussia pic.twitter.com/3jwMQ07JKW
— Cheryl Walters (@CherylW54985317) 19 июля 2018 г.
What makes things even spicier is that Clinton's comments were an extension of then-President Obama's policy of strengthening ties with Russia. Though Russia, led at the time by President Dmitry Medvedev, had engaged in the Seven-Day War in Georgia a year earlier, Obama called for a "reset" of relations with Russia in 2009, saying the world would benefit "from a strong and vibrant Russia."
The effort failed in a most embarrassing way, however, when Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a symbolic button which read "reset" in English, but "overcharge" in Russian.
This was a scene of collossal ineptitude. The word on the button "peregruzka" when translated correctly from Russian, means an "overcharge." Anyone with a decent Russian-English dictionary could have proofread this. Not Clinton's State Dept. It, too, was incompetent. pic.twitter.com/G0wdqee3dL
— Edmund Burke (@edmundpburke) 19 июля 2018 г.
Trump has been the target strong criticism since his Helsinki summit with Putin Monday, where he refused to acknowledge the alleged Russian interference in the US' 2016 presidential elections. Trump later attempted to walk back his comments, saying he agreed Russia and "other people" could have meddled in the elections.
"I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place," Trump said Tuesday. "Could be other people also. A lot of people out there."
