Marion McKeone: Donald Trump hoist by his own Putin petard

The former US president’s connections with the Russian despot could end his political ambitions for 2024

Russian president Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the then US president Donald Trump at the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. Picture: Getty

It’s ironic that Donald Trump, who so assiduously courted Vladimir Putin and so staunchly defended him against his own intelligence agencies while he was president of the United States, may yet discover that his political fortunes, his legacy and his chance of winning back the White House in 2024 are inextricably tied to the Russian despot.

Republicans, whether of the craven variety who tied their own political futures to Trump’s volatile populism, those who silently ...