U.S. President Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Members of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration drew a great deal of mockery when, during a Cabinet meeting in September 2025, they lavished him with fawning praise — which, MAGA critics argued, was cultish in a way that resembled communist North Korea. The officials took turns praising Trump, from Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to then-Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
Trump, critics argue, is notoriously thin-skinned and requires nonstop praise. But that need for adulation and "constant affirmation," according to Salon's Chauncey DeVega, can make the president vulnerable to "manipulation" from U.S. allies as well as U.S. foes.
"Flattery moves Donald Trump," DeVega explains in an article published on April 30. "But he is quick to anger when his ego and vanity are wounded. When combined with his short attention span and little interest in the hard work of governance, these qualities are imperiling America's democracy at home and its influence abroad — a 'superpower suicide' that is unfolding on the mantle of the president's vanity."
Foreign leaders who are able to "manipulate" Trump, according to DeVega, range from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And in some cases, DeVega notes, the "stakes are high" for the U.S.
"Since Trump met with Putin in Alaska in August," DeVega observes, "his administration has repeatedly signaled a willingness to accept a peace deal that requires Ukraine to withdraw to the administrative border of the Donetsk region in the southern Donbas, which would mean giving Russia the remaining 30 percent of the territory — roughly 3500 square miles," DeVega observes. "This would be a huge concession to Russia and Putin, effectively rewarding its war of aggression…. America's friends, including Ukraine, and enemies like Russia know that Trump is malleable and easily manipulated."
DeVega continues, "Tell him what he wants to hear, give him gifts and name things after him, and you will be much more likely to get what you want. For all his immense power, Trump still yearns for any affirmation that he is the Great Man of history, and he will do almost anything to achieve it. He wants praise, attention and a Nobel Peace Prize, even if it means betraying Ukraine to Russia."