What did Donald Trump do today?
He took Russia's word for it.
Trump's anxiety about the ongoing Russia probe has been spiking recently, which has so far netted guilty pleas or indictments of 22 separate people and entities, including 13 Russian citizens, three Russian organizations, and a Russian-Ukrainian person with ties to Russian intelligence.
Even in the rare moments where he's been willing to consider that perhaps Russia might have had some designs on American democracy, Trump has always defended Putin, and rationalized it by saying that other countries probably did it too, and that the United States had done bad things in its history.
But in today's extended Twitter time, Trump retreated all the way back to his original position: that in spite of overwhelming and conclusive evidence that the Putin regime deliberately interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the intent of specifically electing Donald Trump, it could not have happened, because Vladimir Putin says it didn't.
Russian state-run media has been openly mocking Trump, saying earlier this week that cybersecurity should be a topic for the summit because it was how "we just elected Trump."
Trump will meet Putin for a summit meeting in July.
Even in the rare moments where he's been willing to consider that perhaps Russia might have had some designs on American democracy, Trump has always defended Putin, and rationalized it by saying that other countries probably did it too, and that the United States had done bad things in its history.
But in today's extended Twitter time, Trump retreated all the way back to his original position: that in spite of overwhelming and conclusive evidence that the Putin regime deliberately interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the intent of specifically electing Donald Trump, it could not have happened, because Vladimir Putin says it didn't.
Russian state-run media has been openly mocking Trump, saying earlier this week that cybersecurity should be a topic for the summit because it was how "we just elected Trump."
Trump will meet Putin for a summit meeting in July.
Why is this a bad thing?
- A president who can't or won't acknowledge an attack on America cannot defend America.
- It is humiliating for the United States for its president to be this captive to a foreign interest, whether he's a victim or a co-conspirator.
- People who have no connection with horrific crimes generally want them to be investigated fully.
- With the possible exception of Kim Jong-un, no leader of a hostile country deserves the benefit of the doubt less than Vladimir Putin.