It got to the point that by Thursday afternoon, several longtime associates who had spoken to Trump since Tuesday told him that he might want to avoid lavishing too much praise on Putin, and perhaps refrain from complimenting the Russian president’s intellect so much, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. At least one adviser recently mentioned to Trump that it would be more advantageous to simply stick to calling Biden feckless and bumbling…

For months, Republican Party operatives, candidates, their staff, and lawmakers had anticipated a golden opportunity to merely drag Biden as “weak” and “Jimmy Carter 2.0” amid a Russian invasion that would coincide with an American election year. But the party’s standard-bearer’s rambling analysis made many of his confidants and major allies wish he’d “keep his mouth shut about” it and keep it to himself, a person close to Trump said.

However, Trump ride-or-die Rudy Giuliani, who helped trigger Trump’s first impeachment by spearheading the Ukraine pressure campaign on Trump’s behalf, seemed to be on the same page, telling told Newsmax Thursday he believed the Biden administration was in over its head and that Putin “played this almost like a symphony conductor.”

“He kind of stretched it out to make Biden look more and more foolish,” Giuliani said. “They have a president, we don’t.”