President Trump is getting a lot of grief for what he said following his meeting with Vladimir Putin the other day. Asked whether he believed Putin or his own intelligence services about Russian meddling, President Trump said “I have confidence in both parties. So 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.” Wrong answer. (President Trump yesterday did attempt to clarify his comment, saying he actually meant to say “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t (rather than would) be Russia.”)
Let me be crystal clear. Putin is a liar and a thug. He’s former KGB. He has people killed. He should never be trusted, ever.
Now President Trump isn’t the first president to be charmed by Putin. President Obama sent his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to “reset” our relationship with Russia, with a reset button and all, because Obama thought Putin could be trusted. And Obama, not realizing that a camera was picking him up, famously told Putin’s right-hand man, Dmitry Medvedev, to tell Putin that he’d have more flexibility (to sell out the U.S.) after the election. And George W. Bush embarrassingly claimed to have looked into Putin’s eyes, got a “sense of his soul” and found Putin to be “trustworthy.” WHAT’S WRONG WITH THESE PRESIDENTS WHEN IT COMES TO PUTIN?!
In Trump’s case, I think he hears “Russian collusion” and “Russian meddling” as the same thing, when in fact they’re not. There should be no question in anyone’s mind, that the Russian’s attempted to, and did, meddle in the 2016 election in a number of ways. However, at least up to this point, there’s been no credible evidence that Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russians.
But The Left, for the better part of a year-and-a-half now, has been alleging that with Russian help, Trump somehow stole the election. Now it’s quite an accomplishment to win the presidency (a lot of people try and fail), and Trump’s obviously proud of his accomplishment. Alleging that the election was stolen, diminishes that accomplishment, and really ticks Trump off. And I think that led to the statement that got him into trouble.
Of course more important than words, are actions. And anyone who may worry that President Trump won’t stand up to the Russians, should feel relieved by the ACTIONS he’s taken. There was concern by some that he was going to accept Putin’s takeover of Crimea. He hasn’t, nor should he. Trump hasn’t relieved the sanctions on Russia, and in fact, has imposed additional sanctions.
Obama refused to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine to use against Russia; Trump gave Ukraine the weapons. Trump ordered missiles fired at Syrian military sites, and killed hundreds of Russians. Trump was outspokenly critical of the Russian pipeline intended to bring natural gas to Germany. He closed Russian diplomatic properties in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York City, and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle. He kicked dozens of Russian diplomats out of the country. He’s been insisting that our NATO allies strengthen their militaries, so they can help defend themselves against Russian aggression. And most importantly, Trump’s building up our military so he can counter the Russians, or any other hostile actors across the globe, if necessary.
The bottom line is, President Trump is right in wanting to improve relations with Russia. After all, we do have some common interests with Russia, for example combating radical Islamic terrorism. However, it seems that at least since WWII, U.S. national interests and Russian national interests seldom align. And Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, continues to be one of the bad guys.