True Daddy, there's also the added possibility that unlike from 2017-2021, Trump might feel or try to show he isn't Putin's little lap dog anymore, his perceived, pathetic "birch" in front of the international community and our NATO allies. Seeing how badly the war in Ukraine is going and its disastrous impacts on Russian domestic economy, plus sanctions, Putin knows that any military victory or amenable stalemate/armistice won't come without enormous manpower and resources lost not seen since end of WWII and it'll take years for the Russian economy, entire oil/natural gas infrastructure, armed forces to fully recover from this boondoggle. This is arguably Russia's worst geopoliitical mistake/military blunder since 1979-89 Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and even their, Soviet losses paled in comparison to RuAF forces are piling up. His long-reliable erstwhile Middle East client-state with Assad regime in Syria was overthrown and gone.