Donald Trump continues to perplex many Americans with his ongoing praise and adoration of Russian strongman and former Soviet Union KGB officer Vladimir Putin.

During the “Commander-in-Chief” forum hosted by NBC on Wednesday, Trump lauded Putin for his “82% approval rating,” while promising to continue his praise toward Putin as long as the compliments were reciprocated.

“Well, I think when he calls me brilliant, I’ll take the compliment, okay? Trump told moderator Matt Lauer.

On Friday, the ghostwriter for Donald Trump’s bestselling “Art of the Deal,” Tony Swartz, joined CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Trump apologist and defender Jeffrey Lord to discuss why Trump continues to pay homage to Putin, a brutal dictator.

“Tony, what is it you think about Donald Trump’s personality that makes respond to Putin like this?” Cooper asked Schwartz.

“He is at heart a deeply, deeply insecure man and he is a sucker for flattery. And he reveres — and let’s not kid ourselves — he reveres authoritarians because he dreams of being one,” Schwartz proclaimed.

After leading Trump sycophant Jeffrey Lord called Schwartz’s comments “silly,” laughing them off as unserious, Schwartz became outraged.

“Let me just say this to Jeffrey,” Schwartz began, addressing Lord directly. “You don’t Donald Trump very well. How much time have you spent with him? I lived with him day and night for 18 months. I know this man!”

“Here was one of his favorite phrases,” Schwartz continued. “‘I love that guy. He’s a killer — he’s a killer.’ You don’t know him! Anybody who does know him well knows who Donald Trump is and no one who knows him well would doubt that to be a dictator and to be able to control everything would be his dream come true,” he predicted.

Also on Friday, former CIA counter-terrorism officer turned Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin said that CIA sources have informed him that Vladimir Putin is actually blackmailing Donald Trump.

The exchange between Schwartz and Lord continued to heat up and is well worth a watch. Schwartz claims that Donald Trump has never read the Constitution because “he doesn’t read anything.”

Lord repeatedly attempted to divert the conversation away from Schwartz’s accusation with “but Obama…” line, but Schwartz wouldn’t have any of that.

“I’m here to tell America that he is not the person who they think he is. If they want a dictator, if they want a person who does the kinds of things Putin does, they should vote for Donald Trump. I’m encouraging people who want a dictator to vote Donald Trump. Everybody else should not.” 

WATCH:

http://politistick.com/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-tony-schwartz/