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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's Treachery Makes Republicans 'Sad' When They Should Be Mad - By Joe Conason
July 16, 2018 11:44 pm
Donald Trumps performance in Helsinki on Monday morning was certainly historic. On no other occasion since the founding of this country has an American president publicly demonstrated that he is a witting agent of a hostile foreign power even as that countrys authoritarian ruler smirked beside him.
Standing at the podium with Vladimir Putin, Trump brazenly endorsed the Russian presidents denial of Kremlin interference in the 2016 presidential election. Only three days after his own appointees in the Justice Department announced charges against a dozen Russian agents, ratifying the long-held conclusions of US agencies, he told the assembled world media that he considered Putins word as good as the counsel of his own intelligence chiefs.
He did nothing but genuflect to Putin during their joint press conference, meekly saying that he credited the Russians strong and powerful denial of interfering in the US election and that he didnt see any reason why they would. Of course he personifies that reason, having spent the past year doing Kremlin dirty work against NATO, the European Union, and American institutions. He even praised Putins absurd offer to let the Russians investigate their own crimes against the United States.
On foreign soil, in the presence of an adversary, he blamed tensions with Russia on fellow Americans, from special counsel Robert Mueller to the Democratic National Committee while absolving the Russian leadership of its aggressions in Crimea and elsewhere. In a breathtaking betrayal of his own self-proclaimed, patriotism, he declared Russia and America morally equivalent.
But even as Trump enacted this stunning sell-out of American principles and interests before a global audience, there were still Republican leaders willing to make excuses for him. With their cringing criticisms, they didnt appear to comprehend that Mondays events marked a dividing moment, between those who defend Trump despite his betrayal of our country and the oath and those who know that he must go.
To describe Trumps remarks in front of Putin as a tragic mistake, in the words of Senator John McCain, was itself a grave mistake. To say Trump doesnt understand what the Russians did (and are doing), as his own staff whispers, is to promulgate yet another deception.
From scheduling a meeting with no policy agenda to insisting that nobody take notes of the conversation between Trump and Putin, the White House ignored policy and protocol. Only by casting aside all the usual safeguards could such a blatant hijacking occur. It is now obvious that the entire exercise including Trumps provocations against NATO, the European Union, and the government of the United Kingdom and up to his legitimizing of Putin was a deliberate scheme to promote the interests of the Russian state against the West.
The obscure agenda became clear enough as soon as the two leaders began to speak. Trump had gone in to receive his instructions from Putin and Putin had come out to pull his puppets strings in public.
To be sure, there are patriotic Republicans who understand the travesty of this presidency and are willing to stand up. Among them a few who have declined to run for office again, such as Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who called Trumps remarks shameful.
Far too many Republicans, however, delivered the most mealy-mouthed rebukes, whining that they are disappointed and saddened. The reliably craven Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that Trumps encounter with Putin was a missed opportunity. The usual suspects such as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) just scolded Trump, impotently. (Thats what Republicans do, whenever they arent eagerly backing his racism and corruption.)
This is not a time for sadness or disappointment or passive whining. This is a time for determined action against a president whom we have known for many months is unfit for office and a present danger to democracy. Elected officials who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and to defend the nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic, must ensure that he and his cronies are held accountable. If they fail, if they appease him, they too will be proved unfit.
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http://www.nationalmemo.com/trumps-treachery-make-republicans-mad-not-sad/
Full column posted with the permission of the author -- Don