Note former U.S. diplomat Nicholas Burns' tweet, which was reference by Chuck Todd during the program:
Like a true diplomat, Mr. Burns excluded one word that can not go without saying: embarrassment. Mr. Trump lied... At this point, it's like saying the world is round, but he particularly lied about being able to act 'presidential.' He alienated NATO allies, particularly Germany, which is the largest economy in Europe then he goes to the UK and insult the prime minister weighing on England's domestic politics where he has no business commenting. U.S. presidents stay over night at Buckingham Palace, but Queen Elizabeth gave Mr. and Mrs. Trump an hour, and he was late. Who does that?
The more pressing issue over whether Mr. Trump can act presidential is whether or not he can fulfill his presidential duty to protect Americans and our democracy...
Obviously, there is debate as to whether the U.S. president's meeting with Mr. Putin should even take place given the indictment issued by the U.S. Justice Dept. on Friday. The indictment names Russian military officers by name, on which the president was briefed before he left for Europe. Yet, Mr. Trump continued to call the special counsel's investigation a 'rigged witch hunt' during the press conference with Mrs. May and that there's no evidence that anyone from the Trump campaign did anything wrong. However, if you actually read the full indictment, you know that there were American citizens involved and more indictments are coming. Mr. Todd duly noted that Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has yet to make a statement on the indictments... Typical.
And as far as collusion is concerned, don't take this column's word for it, refer to the late conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer's piece that "Bungled Collusion Is Still Collusion."
The fact remains that there is no indication of push back from President Trump, which let's Mr. Putin off the hook for attacking the United States - a narrative that Hugh Hewitt said is pushed by the media. Frankly, I don't care what show he host on the radio, what connections he has or who he's worked for in the past, Mr. Hewitt is a hack and part of the clown show that also includes Rudy Giuliani. Nothing Mr. Hewitt said today had any validity in the slightest. When he tried to make the media argument, even Chuck Todd, going out of character, got in his face about it.
Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) made good points that Congress is passing legislation and taking action against Russian aggression toward its neighbors and the U.S. election system with various sanctions being stepped up, but the fact remains that the president has to step up appropriately because he's the one that everyone pays attention and listens to. It's understandable that the senator from Alaska would not directly criticize the president, but how do you disagree with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) when he says that Mr. Trump can not be trusted in a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Putin? You simply can't.
Everything the president does domestically and by extension internationally only caters to 30 percent of Americans, which is unacceptable. The American voters need to decide how long we can tolerate someone in the presidency that does not act like nor perform presidential duties.
Panel: Elise Jordan, MSNBC; Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report; Joshua Johnson, NPR; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network
One more thing...
Though the panel only touched on it briefly, the hearing with FBI agent Peter Strok were pointless. They were simply an opportunity Republicans gave themselves to seem like they were conducting oversight, but the end result of their political grandstanding was that they embarrassed themselves.
Enough already with the games.
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