Putin's take from his meeting with Trump

I think Putin, or Pootin, as the Americans like to say, is probably feeling pretty good after his unexpectedly long meeting with Trump in Hamburg last week. He's much smaller than Trump, he has far less hair, but after a long career in the KGB and his undoubted control of the Kremlin - whoever hears of Dmitry Medvedev these days (the Russian prime minister, remember?) - Putin is, if nothing else, a cunning leader. There's an old old British television comedy show in which the boss of the main comic character has a phrase he comes up with all the time: "I didn't get where I am today by not being..." cunning/clever/hard-boiled/or whatever it is on that particular day. Putin knows his stuff. I reckon he has got Trump very well sorted out in his mind and will feel even more confident about dealing with him in the future. Why? Because Trump has so few friends in the Washington establishment, so few, if any, close counterparts in Europe, that having a "friend" in Moscow will provide the American president with a little warmth and sympathy from a man with a similar style. "Donald," Putin might well have said in Hamburg,"any time you want to talk, just give me a ring. I'll always be there for you." Ok, Putin would not have said that in so many words, but there's nothing like a friendly smile and a pat on the arm to make a fellow under siege back home feel less isolated. So Hamburg was a splendid success for Putin. Whatever Trump says, it was Putin who came off best. He looked Trump in the eye and denied any knowledge of any official Russian interference in the US presidential election. Trump's a straightforward sort of guy who wants more than anything to believe Putin is telling the truth. Despite all the apparent evidence uncovered by the US intelligence community that there WAS Russian interference, Trump would prefer to believe Putin than the CIA, FBI, NSA, DIA, DNI and the whole shooting match of intelligence services, because it will make his life so much easier if all that Russian collusion stuff is total nonsense. He wants to believe it's fake news, therefore it IS fake news. Yes, Putin must be very satisfied with the way things went in Hamburg.