David Brooks Explains Why Putin Is The World's Most Influential Leader

With Donald Trump in the White House there is an absence of leadership in Western democracy.  Vladimir Putin is an intelligent and powerful leader of Russia;  his 80% approval rating in Russia is based upon his economic performance since assuming power.  Putin inherited a terrible economy that had been destroyed by a failed effort to transform the communist state into a market economy.  Life has gotten better for most Russians since Putin came to power.  He has also been a successful advocate of authoritarian leadership in many parts of the world.  Donald Trump's rise to power in the US, and his performance in the presidency, has demonstrated the flaws in democracy.  We elected an ignorant and psychologically challenged president who has exploited divisions in our nation to secure his position.  The US, under Donald Trump, has defaulted on the position that it earned by its leadership in the aftermath of WW ll.  It must have been very hard for David Brooks to make the case that he made for Putin.  Donald Trump, with a lot of help from the Republican Party, has made his decision easy.