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It's true that if you are willing to do mental gymnastics and squint a little you can translate Trump's dumb-ass words into something intelligent. But a truer polyphonic reading acknowledges the surface stupidity even if words can have deeper meaning.
I would put it this way: Putin is a smart guy who knows what Western liberalism is & why he opposes. He's able to make alliance with dumb-ass like Trump who hates a subspecies of Western liberalism (Democrats) & doesn't understand larger conflict.
Trump's confusion on "Western liberalism" is also an example of one of his prime traits: he's incapable of abstract thought. That's often a strength as a politician since it means he talks in concrete terms people can understand (wall, oil, jobs).
