Trump tells Russian official to 'watch his words,' but he bites back instead
In a midnight social media post, President Donald Trump called Dmitry Medvedev a "failed former President of Russia" who had better "watch his words."
Less than three hours later -- morning by then in Moscow -- Medvedev responded.
He said Trump should picture the apocalyptic television series "The Walking Dead" and referred to the Soviet Union's system for launching a last-ditch, automatic nuclear strike.
"Russia is right about everything and will continue to go its own way," said Medvedev's post on the Telegram messaging app.
It was the second time this summer that Trump and Medvedev, Russia's head of state from 2008 to 2012, traded blows on social media.
The exchanges have been striking not only for the verbal brinkmanship on display between the world's nuclear superpowers, but also for the mismatched stature of the figures involved. While Trump commands the world's most powerful military, Medvedev is widely seen as a social-media attack dog relegated to the periphery of President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
The viciousness of the overnight exchange highlighted the volatility and opacity of a geopolitical relationship in which Trump and Putin set policy largely on their own.
And it put on display the combustible mix that can occur when the Kremlin's long-standing willingness to use nuclear threats meets Trump's penchant for late-night diatribes on the internet. Hanging in the balance is the future of Ukraine, three years into Russia's full-scale invasion.
"In wars, traditionally diplomatic messaging is something that's done with a lot of care and discipline," said Michael Kimmage, a professor at Catholic University in Washington who specializes in the U.S.-Russia
relationship. "The consequences of screwing up can be so huge."
Grigorii Golosov, a professor of political science at the European University in St. Petersburg, Russia, said there was something symbiotic about Trump and Medvedev fighting on social media. Medvedev, who had styled himself as a pro-Western liberal when he served as president more than a decade ago, has recast himself as an uncompromising soldier in Russia's showdown with the West.
But attacking Medvedev may also be useful to Trump, Golosov posited, by allowing him to show he's getting tough on Russia without attacking Putin directly. In June, Trump attacked Medvedev for saying countries could send nuclear warheads to Iran, adding: "I guess that's why Putin's 'THE BOSS.'"
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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