July 16, 2018: "One of the Most Disgraceful Performances by an American President in Memory."

 

7/16/18: Trump starts the new day in Helsinki by tweet-complaining: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!” 

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The puppet danced perfectly as Putin jerked the strings.

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If you started rubbing your eyes then and there, you’d be excused. Did our fearless leader just say our poor relationship with Russia was our fault? 

Did this poor relationship have anything to do with the fact that Russia invaded the Crimea in 2014?  Did it have anything to do with the fact Russia continues a low-level war (if you can call 10,000 Ukrainian dead a low-level war) along the Ukrainian border? Was it a problem when Russia shot down a civilian jet liner and killed everyone aboard? Were the hundreds of billions of rubles Putin and his cronies laundered through the world’s banks – often investing in U.S. real estate – an issue? Nope. 

It was us. 

What about Russian agents poisoning a Putin critic on British soil? What about all the critics of Putin who end up dead? What about Russian military forces propping up Bashar-al-Assad in Syria while the Syrian people die by the hundreds of thousands? What about the attack by Russian mercenaries in Syria on a U.S.-held military base? Perhaps the problems between our countries were exacerbated by Russia’s extensive meddling in our 2016 election? Nope. Trump didn’t care. 

The problem was the United States.

 

It only got worse as the day wore on. After sitting down (oddly, alone) for a two-hour meeting with Putin – not that President Trump has anything to hide – he and the Russian strongman came out, read prepared statements, agreed that their discussions had gone great, and took questions. What a proud day it turned out to be for Vladimir Putin. The puppet President of the United States danced perfectly as Putin jerked him up and down on the strings.

 

A reporter asked Trump if there was anything he held the Russians responsible for, in terms of our poor relations. Did Trump believe the Russians interfered in the 2016 campaign? 

Trump’s answer was stunning. “I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish ...we’re all to blame.” 

Asked whether he believed the U.S. intelligence community, that Putin was responsible for a campaign to undermine the election, the puppet pirouetted on his strings. Rather than answer directly, he attacked the F.B.I. for not confiscating the hacked e-mail server of the Democratic National Committee. Here, in view of the entire world, the President of the United States was peddling a convoluted conspiracy theory, that the Democrats hacked themselves and ditched the evidence. He was letting Vladimir Putin and the Russians off the hook. 

“Where is the server?” he asked. “I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying.” 

Yes, he admitted, his Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coates, “and some others” had told him “they think it is Russia,” they think Russia hacked the election. He was skeptical. “I don’t see any reason why it would be [emphasis added]. But I really do want to see the server. I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” 

His response was so unexpected, so bizarre, that experienced reporters listening were stunned.

 

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YOU COULD EXPECT Democrats and probably most patriotic Americans to hit the roof. Many did.  

 

“He’s the best president that Russia’s ever had.” 

Let’s ignore Democrats and sample Republican reaction: 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a former Air Force officer: “The American people deserve the truth, & to disregard the legitimacy of our intelligence officials is a disservice to the men & women who serve this country. It’s time to wake up & face reality. #Putin is not our friend; he’s an enemy to our freedom [emphasis added here and below].” 

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming: 

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I am deeply troubled by President Trump’s defense of Putin against the intelligence agencies of the U.S. & his suggestion of moral equivalence between the U.S. and Russia. Russia poses a grave threat to our national security.

 

Mark Lowenthal, former assistant director at the C.I.A., says of Trump: “He’s the best president that Russia’s ever had.”  

Chuck Hagel, decorated war hero, former Republican senator from Nebraska, former defense secretary under President Obama, said it appeared Trump had no real strategy in meeting with Putin. “This was not a golf outing. This was not a real estate transactional kind of arrangement. ... Engagement must be connected to a strategic interest, a strategic purpose. I don’t know what that strategic purpose was. I am now convinced we didn’t have one.” 

Sen. Rob Portman: The president “failed to stand up to Vladimir Putin on some of the most critical security issues facing our country and our allies.” 

Sen. Orrin Hatch, a key Trump ally, issued a statement backing up the intelligence community. 

Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Our nation’s top intelligence agencies all agree on that point. From the President on down, we must do everything in our power to protect our democracy by securing future elections from foreign influence and interference, regardless of what Vladimir Putin or any other Russian operative says.

 

Mitt Romney: “President Trump’s decision to side with Putin over American intelligence agencies is disgraceful and detrimental to our democratic principles.” 

Even Milksop Mitch mustered a tidbit of courage. “I’ve said a number of times and I say it again, the Russians are not our friends and I entirely believe the assessment of our intelligence community.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Trump had handed Putin an easy victory. “This answer… will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves. Bad day for the U.S.”

 

In a rare moment of levity, considering the disaster Americans had just seen unfold, Graham warned the president to leave a soccer ball, a World Cup souvenir from Putin, outside when he came home. “If it were me, I’d check the soccer ball for listening devices and never allow it in the White House.” 

In a lengthy statement, Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, let rip: 

Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.

 

President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world. 

 

Republican Patriots: Where are you??? 

Former C.I.A. Chief John O. Brennan, who served both Republican and Democratic presidents, had had all he could stand. In a scathing tweet he blasted Trump. Let’s give Brennan, a man who devoted a long career to serving the United States of America, the last word: 

Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???

 

At least one member of the Trump administration had seen enough. Dan Coats, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, issued a terse statement in response to the president’s comments. 

His office took the unusual step of noting that it was issuing this message without clearing it with the White House: 

The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the President and policymakers. We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.

 

This is Dan Coats we’re talking about. Coats served for a quarter century in Congress. He’s a lifelong Republican, not a charter member of the “Deep State.” He was picked by Trump to be the top intelligence official in this administration. Hillary didn’t pick him. “Muslim” Obama isn’t lurking in the shadows. This is the president’s guy, making it clear. Trump is full of manure.