Russian President Vladimir Putin is a dictator who has used the Russian government to enrich himself and his friends. His words and promises are lies. He has waged two low-intensity wars of aggression against other nations in the last decade. He has caused massive numbers of needless civilian deaths and is implicated in political assassinations both in Russia and in the West.

It is also by now well established that Russia was behind a massive propaganda effort and an illegal hacking operation to weaken Hillary Clinton, once presumptively the next American president, during the 2016 election. To this must be added the fact that Putin skillfully played and made fools of the last two American presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who downplayed the threat he posed, trusting him and, in Obama’s case, promising him “flexibility” on policy when no trust was warranted.