This is disturbing

[bigtree]

Maggie Haberman? @maggieNYT 1m1 minute ago
Tillerson will miss NATO meeting, travel to Russia in April

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to skip an April 5-6 meeting of NATO foreign ministers for a U.S. visit by the Chinese president and will travel to Russia later in the month, U.S. officials said on Monday, a step allies may see as putting Moscow's concerns ahead of theirs.

Tillerson intends to miss what would be his first meeting in Brussels with the 28 NATO members to attend President Donald Trump's expected April 6-7 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, four current and former U.S. officials said.

The decisions to skip the NATO meeting and to visit Moscow risked feeding a perception that Trump may be putting U.S. dealings with big powers before those of smaller nations that depend on Washington for their security, said two former U.S. officials...

"It feeds this narrative that somehow the Trump administration is playing footsy with Russia," said one former U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"You don’t want to do your early business with the world's great autocrats. You want to start with the great democracies, and NATO is the security instrument of the transatlantic group of great democracies," he added.


read: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-tillerson-idUSKBN16S04I?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social

[Cooley Hurd]

1. I think Rachel's going to ask Adam Schiff about this after the commercial...

[mnmoderatedem]

2. this must relate to what Rachel just said

claimed to have breaking news regarding Trump vis a vis NATO and Russia

[Cha]

3. It's in your face.. and this with an investigation going on

for Russian meddling in a US election.

[tblue37]

4. Gosh, they aren't even trying! nt

[herding cats]

5. It disturbed me when I read it a few moments ago, too.

They don't even care about the optics. I've never never seen anything like this before.

[RKP5637]

6. Probably going to open the Russian WH! n/t

[still_one]

7. Well at least Haberman isn't obsessed with Hillary's emails anymore like she was

every chance she had before the election to slam Hillary

Too bad she wasn't as critical toward trump before the election

[WinkyDink]

10. Trump has re-defined "ethical." As in, removed the word from government's lexicon.

[Johnny2X2X]

9. Basically a signal to NATO

The US is now with Russia. He could have visited Russia any other time, or he could have missed the NATO meeting for any other reason. He is missing it to visit Russia to basically signal the end of US support for NATO.

This is a massive story.

[yeoman6987]

15. It says he missing it for a state visit from china

[Kingofalldems]

16. It can say anything, yeoman6987.

We all know what the real reason is, Trump has sold us out to Russia.

[Lint Head]

11. Their shit is in your face and they do not care. They think

Trump is bullet proof.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. Exactly, he boasted about it when he said he could shoot someone in the middle of NYC

Is that next on his agenda??

[UTUSN]

13. Is the whole game about greedy *CASH* or what does PU-TEEN *have* on these dudes?!1 n/t

[unblock]

14. "playing footsy with russia"?? honey, we're way past that and close to making babies.

[Juliusseizure]

18. Trump's downfall is his delusional narcissism

He can't stop until stopped. He needs to be stopped, like straightjacket stopped.

[Beartracks]

23. So far, his delusional narcissism seems to be working for him.

When will this downfall finally happen?

==================

[Juliusseizure]

24. It's happening right now

Only two months into his presidency, he's a lame duck under investigation for collusion (treason). His paranoia is only exceeded by that of rational American people fearful ofvhis actions and mental instability. His popularity is at 37%, the lowest of any historically. All his supporters have now is "what's wrong with Russian collusion?". There's a great campaign slogan. "We're with Russia, the former USSR."

Am I missing something? I know it can't happen quickly enough, but there's no precedent in US history where a president has become so politically toxic so early.

[Beartracks]

29. No, you're absolutely right.

When I heard downfall, I was thinking actual resignation or impeachment.

================

[NRaleighLiberal]

19. there isn't a single thing or person in or associated with this administration that is NOT!

[grantcart]

20. This is a provocation to sanity

I would like to hear what Senator McCain has to say about this.

This is a big FU to the "Security Wing" of the Republican Party.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

22. I would like to know if there are any R's waiting in the wings ...

From the security wing.

[LudwigPastorius]

21. Maybe the Trump gang feels the noose tightening,...

and he's there to negotiate their status in their new homeland, after they steal as much as they can in cash and intel and flee the U.S. to evade prosecution.

[Vinca]

25. This is really strange.

Either there is no one with even a trace amount of common sense in the White House or Pootie is calling the shots.

[spanone]

26. everything is disturbing about this so-called administration

[dalton99a]

27. Tillerson has to represent U.S. branch operations at Kremlin Inc.'s executive review meeting

[Initech]

28. But there's no connection between Trump and Russia, they tell us!