I wasn’t fully convinced before that Putin has Trump in his pocket, but after that stunt, I am convinced that he is under Putin’s thumb. Trump and co. could have had marching orders from Putin to do exactly that. Also, this is something that Putin have done and would do, publicly humiliating someone on live TV.
Putin was elected in free and fair elections in 2000 and 2004, so Russia was enough of a democracy to just… elect someone else.
and america is following in their wonderful footsteps. democrats too spineless to challenge oligarchs in defense of workers and republicans too rapid to bother.