Just in case anybody s wondering just how dangerous Trump s love of Putin is, here s a little reminder: When Putin was running for election in 2011, he hosted a big, lavish banquet where he spoke to a variety of leaders on a variety of topics. When he addressed the Americans there, he said that the only reason the U.S. was interested in a relationship with Moscow was because Russia could destroy the U.S.  in a half hour or less. That s according to two authors of The Russia-China Axis, who concluded from Putin s thinly-veiled threat: It would be difficult to find a statement more revealing about Putin s true position regarding the United States. This is a man that Donald Trump repeatedly praises as a strong leader, and over whom he fawns because Putin likes him. Putin and Trump are two of a kind in terms of demagoguery, but it s never been a secret that Putin isn t a fan of the U.S. It seems the only way he ll become a fan of us is if Trump is elected.Why?He likely believes he can pull Trump s puppet strings. Trump might think that Putin is just a good negotiator, but he fails miserably at understanding the naked fact that Putin sees us as his number one enemy.If Putin is actively working to undermine our democratic process (and there is credible evidence suggesting exactly that), then a President Trump is very likely to just hand us over, knowingly or unknowingly, to a hostile leader who believes he can destroy us on a whim.Russia has a squillion nuclear weapons   that s never been a secret. We have roughly 4,100 of the damn things that aren t awaiting dismantlement while Russia has roughly 2,700 in that state. In total, we have 7,100 while Russia has 7,300. However, Russia has managed to negotiate cuts in our arsenal while they work to strengthen theirs. Some reports say that their military exercises center around nuclear strikes now.In other words, their nuclear arsenal might be a bigger threat than ours, and they are more prepared for a nuclear war than we are. Compare all of that to North Korea s eight and Iran s nonexistent nuclear arsenal, and one has to wonder why our leaders seem to focus all our energy on those two countries when Russia is currently led by a man who said he could destroy us in a half hour, and we have a presidential candidate who is in love with that man.This is so frightening to many in the GOP that some feel they re in the awkward position of having to rationalize Trump s love affair with Vladimir Putin while quietly quaking in their boots. But others aren t fooled, like Lindsey Graham: Other than destroying every instrument of democracy in his own country, having opposition people killed, dismembering neighbors through military force and being the benefactor of the butcher of Damascus, he s a good guy. And the ghostwriter of Trump s best-selling Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz: To undecided voters: Trump wants to be Putin, a despot & dictator. The world may not recover. Save your children and grandchildren. Yeah. Putin s a great guy. So s Trump. Two peas in a pod. Anybody who thinks we ll be safe with Trump as president has their head buried up their buried up an ass full of sand.Featured image by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images