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The New York Times’ Peter Baker was worried.

It was November 2010, and Tea Party Republicans had just taken over the U.S. House, and Baker warned that this could undo President Barack Obama’s “central foreign policy achievement, his new partnership with Russia.”

Baker praised Obama’s “reset” with Russia for “forging a friendlier relationship with the Kremlin after years of tension.”

The “years of tension,” were the presidency of George W. Bush. Bush, though, early in his administration, sounded a lot like Obama.

“I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy,” Bush said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I was able to get a sense of his soul.”

And of course, Donald Trump has been warm toward Putin off and on for a decade. Most recently, Trump gushed about how Putin agreed with his claims that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election from Trump.

For more than 20 years, American presidents have been wooed, tricked, and flattered by Putin. The news media occasionally make it a Trump thing, or posit conspiracy theories about Kompromat or collusion. The truth is simpler and more dangerous: America has a Putin problem.

The problem is that Putin has figured expertly how to manipulate our presidents. It’s not genius-level psychology, but it is impressive and consistent.

Donald Trump has shown fondness for Putin for at least a decade.

“He is a great guy…. He is a........

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