President Trump flew to Finland to meet with Vladimir Putin.\u00a0 Meetings between the U.S. and Russia are always critical, and it is important to route for our President to be successful, regardless of how we voted and our views on policy.\u00a0 Putin will never publicly admit Russia\u2019s interference in our election or why he favored Trump to win.\u00a0 However, it was essential on many levels for President Trump to aggressively challenge Putin on this and ensure he dissuades Russia from further such action.\u00a0 We also needed Trump to successfully assert U.S. interests concerning Russia\u2019s invasion of Georgia, invasion of Ukraine, annexation of Crimea, the Syrian crisis, Iran, arms control, etc.\u00a0 Putin, despite his criminal activity, is widely respected as a master craftsman.\u00a0 He has been in power for 20 years, thus possesses significantly more knowledge, experience, and skill than Trump.\u00a0 Most believed Putin would take advantage of Trump and must to the nation\u2019s collective chagrin, he did.<\/p>\n
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If there ever was a need to prepare, this was it, yet Trump not only continued to refuse to read and properly prepare, he inexplicably and recklessly insisted on having a private meeting with Putin with no others in the room, not even his closest advisors.\u00a0 This placed Trump at a significant disadvantage and set conditions for Putin to extract secret commitments that could easily be against U.S. interests or otherwise ill-advised.\u00a0 The secrecy supported serious concerns that this was how collusion occurred.\u00a0 Did Putin provide policy or priority direction?\u00a0 Did Trump quietly give Putin the green light to meddle in the 2018 and 2020 elections, obviously to his benefit, especially considering his otherwise illogical refusal to accept our intelligence and law enforcement community\u2019s assessments?<\/p>\n
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In advance of the meeting, President Trump set conditions foolishly ceding any position of strength to Putin, a grossly amateurish mistake in any negotiation.\u00a0 Communication and discussion is a good thing, but under the circumstances it was critical to first extract some concession from Putin.\u00a0 By agreeing to the meeting while Russia is under an international cloud of scrutiny immediately granted them readmittance to the world community without a single concession in return.\u00a0 He gave Russia a free pass for attacking its neighbors, annexing Crimea, meddling in our election, etc., contrary to the ongoing efforts of the international community to address Russian aggression. \u00a0Instead, Trump created an even worse climate and demonstrated weakness by outrageously referring to our NATO\/Europe allies as foes.\u00a0 This on the heels of the debacles Putin watched of Trump\u2019s NATO and UK visits, where he again fell flat on his face and alienated key allies.\u00a0 Putin entered the meeting with exactly what he craved most \u2013 a weakened western alliance with frayed relations that he could exploit for his nefarious purposes.<\/p>\n
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Trump claimed he raised the issue of Russian election meddling with Putin.\u00a0 It is clear he did not raise it in any sincere or meaningful manner.\u00a0 First, Trump blames weaker relations on his predecessors and the Mueller investigation, as if somehow, we would ignore Russia\u2019s attack on our electoral system.\u00a0 It is fair to argue that President Obama could have done more in response to the invasion of Ukraine, Syria, and Russian election interference.\u00a0 Putin respects strength.\u00a0 However, any Obama failure to react strongly enough is not the reason U.S.\/Russian relations are at a low point.\u00a0 The reason is Russian aggression against its neighbors, support for war crimes in Syria, and significant interference in our electoral systems.\u00a0 Trump\u2019s ridiculous denials of the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference is the biggest source of destabilization in U.S.-Russia relations and our own national security.\u00a0 It is beyond shameful.<\/p>\n
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In the joint press coverage, responding to two separate reporters\u2019 questions, Trump gave false and incoherent answers on this matter. \u00a0Rather than answer the question relating to the evidence of Russia\u2019s actions, he focused on the lack of evidence of collusion with his campaign.\u00a0 That is a separate matter that was irrelevant.\u00a0 He attacked the DNC, Clinton campaign, and Clinton email server issue, which had absolutely no place in a crucial meeting with a dangerous adversary determined to hurt our country.\u00a0 Trump continued to simply accept Putin\u2019s denial, again outright dismissing the unanimous, strongly proven findings of the entire intelligence community.<\/p>\n
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President Trump was asked straight up if he would take the opportunity right then and there to tell Putin to cease any further election meddling against us and Trump refused, again claiming he believed Putin\u2019s denial. \u00a0Trump also welcomed Putin\u2019s outrageous suggestion that Robert Mueller or DoJ could send a request to Russia to interview the indicted Russians on their behalf.\u00a0 Russian officials would conduct interviews and share the results.\u00a0 Trump praised the offer in an extreme example of his naivete and how beholden he is to Putin.\u00a0 There is zero chance any prosecutor or investigator would ever think for even a second that was a legitimate option.\u00a0 That was such an absurd idea it defies reason.\u00a0 It was akin to allowing a charged rapist to conduct his own DNA testing of himself and his victim.\u00a0 Rex Tillerson, maybe you were right\u2026<\/p>\n
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Trump\u2019s performance was atrocious, unacceptable, and entirely contrary to U.S. interests.\u00a0 He stood next to a hostile, ruthless dictator and reprehensibly took his side over the entire U.S. intelligence community and Congressional leadership, outright denied Russia\u2019s interference in our electoral systems, and thus acquiesced to continued Russian attacks against our country.\u00a0 Trump bragged that after his four hours with Putin, everything suddenly changed, and relations were now good.\u00a0 In true Trump fashion, following this meeting, as he has done after his previous international meetings, he offered grandiose assessments of success.\u00a0 Were it only the truth because so much rides on the outcomes of these sessions.\u00a0 Unfortunately, his claims again lacked any merit. \u00a0He boasts to the extent of complete dishonesty.<\/p>\n
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While it is abundantly clear to anyone reviewing the evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and strongly favored Trump to win, it has not been as clear to what extent there was a conspiracy involving members of the Trump campaign.\u00a0 Yes, there were meetings to discuss opposition research, but was there an organized effort to impact the electoral systems and did it rise to the level of Trump himself?\u00a0 It has been very hard to reconcile Trump\u2019s ongoing refusal to accept the intelligence community\u2019s assessment, refusal to challenge Putin or Russia, and refusal to assert the national security interests of the country.\u00a0 Taking it all together, adding in the appalling results of this meeting, and then considering the respective body language between the two leaders, the result became clear.\u00a0 There is an unholy connection between Trump and Putin.\u00a0 That is the most logical conclusion to explain Trump\u2019s subservience.<\/p>\n
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Unfortunately for the American people, President Trump lost again, as he did after the G20, G7, Kim Jong Un, China, and NATO meetings \u2013 all disasters.\u00a0 Consequently, expectations could not have been lower for this meeting, yet he failed miserably, causing even more damage.\u00a0 Putin let with a tremendous victory on all fronts.\u00a0 President Trump could refrain from attacking our own country, assailing our allies, lavishly praising our enemies, and catastrophically failing to assert U.S. interests.\u00a0 He has proven himself woefully incompetent, incredibly weak, and seriously hazardous to national security on any world stage.\u00a0 It is unfathomable to think any U.S. President would stand on foreign soil, support a hostile adversary over our own government, and denigrate our intelligence community, democratic institutions, etc.<\/p>\n
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Trump\u2019s continuing stream of actions against our own country must cease and it is long past time for Republicans to act and act they must.\u00a0 Simple tweets of disappointment are meaningless.\u00a0 They are gone in minutes, yet the severe, irreparable damage to our national security grows.\u00a0 They all swore an oath to the nation, not partisan politics.\u00a0 Republican leaders feign inability, asking what the public would have them do.\u00a0 There is plenty \u2013 they control funding for his agencies and programs, passing his agenda, confirmations, and the ability to exert their own influence.\u00a0 This is of paramount concern and they can affect Presidential action.\u00a0 At a minimum, Congress, with significant Republican votes, must immediately announce support for the intelligence community, DoJ, and FBI.<\/p>\n
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In any case, it should now be clear to all that Trump does not care about the oath he took or even about his job as President.\u00a0 How will Republicans work with Democrats to address this calamity?\u00a0 I have previously stated that talk of impeachment was premature, especially prior to Mueller finishing.\u00a0 The focus needed to be on issues and policy.\u00a0 After this latest debacle, one could argue Trump has crossed into the areas of high crimes and misdemeanors against the U.S.\u00a0 Some used the word \u201ctreason\u201d to describe his serious, ongoing actions against our national interests.\u00a0 It may just come to impeachment sooner rather than later to protect the nation\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Trump flew to Finland to meet with Vladimir Putin.\u00a0 Meetings between the U.S. and Russia are always critical, and it is important to route for our President to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7,131,224,225,244],"class_list":["post-295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-2016-election","tag-helsinki","tag-president-putin","tag-president-trump","tag-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}