By now most Kossacks who weren’t already experts in psychology have the equivalent of a college degree in the subject. I won’t even bother explaining what the generally unconscious psychological defense mechanism of projection is, or how projection is also used deliberately by accusing your opponent of engaging in the same nefarious behavior as you are. You already know.
Do an Internet search for Trump projection and you will come up with this (click to enlarge image below where you can read very brief article summaries):
Now Vladimir Putin is deliberately using projection when he accuses the United States and its allies with lying about Russia’s intentions about Ukraine and would be to blame if he invades the country. This is from the Reuters article with a title that makes my point - "Putin causes U.S. of trying to lure Russia into war":
Putin had not spoken publicly about the Ukraine crisis since Dec. 23, leaving ambiguity about his personal position while diplomats from Russia and the West have been engaged in repeated rounds of talks.
His remarks on Tuesday reflected a world view in which Russia needs to defend itself from an aggressive and hostile United States. Washington is not primarily concerned with Ukraine's security, but with containing Russia, Putin said.
"In this sense, Ukraine itself is just an instrument to achieve this goal," he said.
"This can be done in different ways, by drawing us into some kind of armed conflict and, with the help of their allies in Europe, forcing the introduction against us of those harsh sanctions they are talking about now in the U.S."
Trump, compared to Putin, is a special case (“case” used in the sense t is when the word is used following the word “mental”) because at times Trump’s projection seems to be an unconscious psychological defense mechanism and at other times it seems planned. When Trump believes his own projection it is a sign of psychopathology. The more he believes this ego or self protective deception the closer he moved towards suggestion that he suffers from a delusional disorder. The word “suffer” is used advisably because the disorder keeps him from experiencing the feelings of suffering a major blow to his self-esteem.
As noted by none less an expert than his cousin Mary Trump wrote in her book , "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man":
"Donald is not simply weak, his ego is a fragile thing that must be bolstered every moment because he knows deep down that he is nothing of what he claims to be. He knows he has never been loved" reference.
When it comes to any measure of being a psychologically healthy person Putin, while his ruthlessness could be considered sociopathic, he is far and away a more rational and better balanced person than Trump. The way to diagnosis severe mental illness is to assess the ability of someone to differentiate between what is real and what isn’t. Putin knows what's real. Trump doesn’t.