Trump: Putin’s Praise of Me ‘Terrific,’ Mutual Dislike With Obama Is Cause for Conflict, Omnibus ‘Very Disappointing’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump declared the praise he received from Russia’s Vladimir Putin “terrific” and “what should be happening,” adding, “his dislike for President Obama, and it’s a mutual thing, is terrible. That’s why you see all the conflict” and criticized the omnibus bill on Thursday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Trump said of Putin’s praise of him, “Well, I welcome it. I think it’s great. I think that’s what should be happening. I mean, his dislike for President Obama, and it’s a mutual thing, is terrible. That’s why you see all the conflict, all the problems, all the hatred. We should be able to work and [if] we can’t work with Russia, that’s not a good thing. And I’m greatly honored by his statement. I think it is terrific.”

Earlier, Trump stated, [relevant remarks begin around 2:10 of the second video] “Well, you know, the budget is very disappointing. You look at what’s going on, and you look at [Speaker] Paul Ryan (R-WI), and how easy it seems to be for the Democrats to get whatever they want. And there’s never any threat, there’s never any negotiation it seems. And it just gets bigger and bigger. And frankly, in terms of security, we’re getting all of the wrong things. But, you look at what’s going on with our budget process, it’s a disaster, it’s a joke. it is a joke.”

He added, “if there’s a shutdown it’ll — it won’t be very long. And the biggest problem is every time anybody mentions that, just as a threat, immediately the Republicans say it’ll never happen, it’ll never happen. So, now they’ve already lost the negotiation.”

Trump further argued, “the pressure is on the president. Nobody’s going to know about Ryan and they’re not going to know about [Senator Mitch] McConnell (R-KY). The whole thing — in 50 years from now, when they talk about it, they’re talking about Obama, they’re not talking about anybody else. I don’t know why they aren’t tougher, why they aren’t sharper. I don’t know what’s going on. And you know, the Republicans, we elect them, I’m actually more disappointed with the Republicans.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett