Trump now speaks harshly against Russia, but as president he bowed to Putin

And once again, Donald Trump talks about his candidacy as if he had no presidency worth mentioning.

This time it is about the construction of Nord Stream 2, a controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. For years, members of both parties had spoken out against Nord Stream 2 because they feared that it would increase Europe's energy dependence on Russia. As President Trump imposed sanctions on the company building the pipeline in December 2019The State Department said the pipeline was “a tool Russia is using to support its ongoing aggression against Ukraine.”

President Biden waived these sanctions in 2021and Trump is using this decision to criticize his Vice President Kamala Harris.

It is true that Biden lifted sanctions in part to repair the US's strained relationship with Germany under Trump. But Biden also did so because the pipeline was 90% complete when he took office. Trump claims he blocked the pipeline, but the truth is that most of the pipeline was built during his time in the White House. Moreover, construction on the pipeline resumed in 2020 despite his 2019 sanctions. And Biden imposed a new round of sanctions in 2022.

The real question is not why Biden lifted sanctions in 2021, but why Trump waited until late 2019 to act.

The answers can be found in the Mueller report, which investigates interference in the 2016 election.

In December 2013, the Trump Organization signed a branding deal for residential properties in Moscow that would have earned Trump nearly $20 million.

In February 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea.

In March, the US and its allies responded with crippling economic sanctions. The result was a collapse of the Russian economy and Trump's 2013 agreement collapsed.

However, the Russian invasion was just another point of criticism of the foreign policy decisions of President Obama and thus also of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During the 2015 primaries, the attacks became part of the Republican debates.

In November of this year, during the fourth episode, when asked, “What is President Trump doing in response to Russian aggression?” Trump’s first response was, “Well, first of all, it’s not just Russia.”

Then he mentioned North Korea, Iran and China.

When Trump finally mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin's name, he first spoke about their time together in the green room of the “60 Minutes” program before expressing his support for Russia's growing influence in the Middle East.

In today's election campaign, Trump speaks harshly about Russia. But as a private citizen, he tried to do business in Moscow, even after Putin invaded Ukraine. And on the debate stage in 2015, Trump did not condemn Putin's actions in Ukraine. Perhaps that was because Trump had signed a new real estate deal for a tower in Moscow the week before.

In fact, he signed the letter of intent on the day of the third Republican debate. He spoke on stage for less than six minutes that night, and his lack of courage on Russia did not end there.

As president, Trump stood next to Putin in Helsinki in July 2018 and refused to confront him about his interference in the 2016 election. On the contrary, Trump sided with Putin and questioned US intelligence. Later that year three Ukrainian warships and 23 sailors captured. Most importantly, it was the first time that Putin's government fired weapons into Ukraine. The incident sent shockwaves around the world, with world leaders quickly condemning Putin's act of aggression on social media.

However, Trump was not among them.

More than a day passed before the leader of the free world told reporters that he was not happy with Putin's aggression and that “hopefully things will be sorted out.”

Obama underestimated Putin in 2012. During his debate against Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate said Russia was the country's greatest geopolitical enemy. Obama mocked him, saying, “The 1980s are calling now and demanding their foreign policy back, because the Cold War has been over for 20 years.”

That may have been true for America.

But for Putin, the war was never over, and Romney knew that.

Concerns about Russian influence over Europe's energy supplies were already evident in 2006, when Ukraine brought a pro-Western president to power. Putin quadrupled Ukraine's tariffs for natural gas. When Ukraine refused, Putin cut off the country's gas supply in the middle of winter. At that time, pipelines through Ukraine carried around 80 percent of Russia's gas to Europe. When Putin cut off gas supplies on the morning of Orthodox Christmas 2009 – again in anger at Ukraine – more than ten European countries suffered.

We must not allow Trump to rewrite this critical period in history, because the consequences would be devastating.

Yes, Russia annexed Crimea under Obama. Yes, Russia invaded Ukraine under Biden. But the first Russian bullet in this war was fired when Trump was in office, and he said, “Hopefully this will be fixed.” The national security risks of this kind of wishful thinking cannot be overstated.

If Ukraine falls, Putin will control about a third of the world's wheat production and over 60 percent of the sunflower oil used in countless food products. The Middle East and Africa are heavily dependent on Ukraine for grain supplies. Do we really think that Putin, who has often cut off gas supplies to punish democracies in the past, would hesitate to use food security as a weapon?

The idea that candidate Trump would come down hard on Putin at this moment is ridiculous. Trump had his chances and we saw how weak he was.

@LZGranderson