Helsinki--the Tipping Point?

[Bengalholic]

(07-17-2018, 11:39 PM)Dill Wrote: That is spot on.

He has people telling him how to prepare for summits, and what NOT to ever say. But he ignores their advice, wings it. Then blames the press and his staff when it all goes south, as his staff warned him it would.  "What about Hillary's server?" That isn't just inexperience. No candidate from either party would have called for this summit and then botched it like this.

I think it possible, even likely, that he DID NOT really understand the backlash that would follow from from kissing Putin's ring on behalf of the nation. I think Putin had a narrative ready for him, knew how to present it, and Trump, all alone and unprepared, swallowed it hook, line, and sinker, thinking his base and most of the party would understand how "important" working with Russia is and how unimportant invading the Ukraine was. ("It happened under Obama.") That is Putin's narrative--not the GOP's. And most of the GOP could see that.

This will go down as the greatest and most successful psy op in history.  Can all the US security agencies and the DoD and Congress effectively respond to Russian interference in our politics when the #1 "mole" is the commander in chief--and can't admit he's the mole?

One thing is for sure - whatever was said by Trump during his private meeting with Putin was recorded. If there's any truth that Putin had something on Trump prior to the meeting - and no one really knows for sure - he may have even more ammo now.

BTW, the attempt at damage control earlier today - saying that he should have said 'wouldn't' instead of 'would' was just embarrassing. It makes zero sense in context with the rest of the presser.