In last week's column, we predicted that President Trump's European trip would not end well. Frankly, it was an easy call as it didn't take a political genius to see that one coming. What no one could see after the Helsinki summit how it could get worse, but it did. President Trump has a gift, to make bad things worse.
In walking back his comment that he seemingly trusted Vladimir Putin's answer on Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election over his own intelligence community, the president said that he misspoke when he said he didn't know 'why it would be' [Russia], correcting himself with the 'wouldn't' heard round the world. If that's the best that his advisors could come up with, they should be fired. Not only was it a weak explanation that was delivered disingenuously, it was immediately undercut by the president himself when he finished up the statement with a qualifying comment, 'could have been someone else.'
No wonder the Russian dictator was all smiles when they came our of their one-on-one. Since today's program has been preempted by golf, it's apt to say that the president decided later in the week that he wanted to take a 'mulligan' on the summit and invited the Russian president to the White House in the fall. It's a good idea if the president's goal is to rally the Democrats' base. Mr. Putin will be greeted with protests and an energized opposition to all that he stands for. Not that he cares because the end result will be a further weakening of the American president, which is good for him.
On the world stage, Mr. Trump is 0 for 4. Kim Jung Un got a winning photo op with the American president and the cancellation of military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea which was suggested to the president by Mr. Putin in fact. The tariff increases are alienating our allies, not to mention severely hurting American farmers in the Midwest. Our special relationship with the UK doesn't seem so special anymore, in addition to bashing NATO and our strongest partner in Europe, Germany. And then there's the Russian debacle.
When the mainstream media is openly asking about whether Russia [Putin] has anything on Mr. Trump, you can see this presidency slowly swirling down the drain. As the old saying goes, follow the money. The Trump Organization is most probably leveraged by Russian money to such an extent that Mr. Trump himself is fearful of the disclosure, and that it would not only bring down his presidency but his personal financial fortune. Note, this is only speculation on the part of this column, but without seeing a tax return, it's can not be ruled out as a possible explanation.
But never mind what Russia may have on the president, by the end of this week the talk was about what Michael Cohen, the president's former lawyer, has on the president. One thing we know is that Mr. Cohen had recorded a conversation between himself and Mr. Trump about a hush payment to a Playboy model. Over the initial WTF, the president issued this tweet yesterday:
For the record, the FBI didn't 'break into' his lawyer's office or home. They had obtained a warrant. And though the president may find it it inconceivable that his former lawyer taped a conversation, it's not illegal in New York State if the lawyer determines that what is being discussed goes against the public good. (Though also in the statute, it does state that continually recording conversation breeches ethically grounds.) So there are two false statements in this tweet.
With all of this said, there's reassurance because as Mr. Trump stated, "the good news is that our favorite president did nothing wrong," which the president asserts as a truth. NOT.
If the President of the United States has to make a statement like that, we have reason to worry.
No comments:
Post a Comment