Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

International news

Putin surely ordered the ’16 election attack

Donald J. Trump has been fielding some direct questions to which he is offering some strangely oblique answers.

CBS News anchor Jeff Glor asked the president whether he thinks Vladimir Putin is “responsible” for the 2016 attack on the U.S. electoral system by Russian goons.

Trump’s answer has me scratching my noggin. Sure he’s responsible, Trump said, because “he’s the leader of his country” just as Trump is the leader of this country.

Huh? That’s it?

Actually, the consensus among the nation’s intelligence community has been pretty forthright: Vladimir Putin ordered the attack; he called the shots.

The CIA, FBI, National Security Agency … all of ’em … say the same thing. Putin was up to his armpits in this undeclared war against the U.S. electoral process.

So, for the president to pass it off solely as a function of Putin’s standing as the “leader of his country” once again demonstrates what many of us already have feared. Putin has cast some sort of spell over the Trump.

Or, he’s got some goods on the president. Allegedly. Maybe. Possibly.

I’m getting antsy. I hope the special counsel, Robert Mueller, finishes his investigation sooner rather than later.

national news

POTUS won’t take the bait: Yes, Putin lied

CBS News anchor Jeff Glor sat right in front of Donald J. Trump and asked him directly this week: Did Vladimir Putin lie when he denied the Russians meddled in our 2016 election?

The president had just declared in his conversation with Glor that he believed — finally! — the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia attacked our electoral process.

So, Glor asked the obvious question about the Russian president’s veracity. Trump wouldn’t go there. He wouldn’t call Putin a liar.

Hmm. OK, I’ll do it for him. Yes, Mr. President, Vladimir Putin lied when he denied the Russians’ culpability. Indeed, he has crafted his entire career as a KGB agent and as a politician by lying. He has turned lying into an art form.

Putin is a pro at prevarication.

Indeed, Vladimir Putin is far better at lying than — dare I say it — Donald John Trump.

International news

Did the walls have ears in that Trump-Putin meeting room?

This inquiring mind wants to know and I suspect I am not alone.

What in the world did the presidents of the United States and Russia talk about in that Helsinki meeting room when they were alone, except for their respective translators?

We heard what Donald Trump said he Vladimir Putin discussed. Do we believe the president? Should we believe him? Umm. No and no.

So, how do we — the public, the citizens Trump represents as the president — learn what was discussed?

Hey, here’s an idea: Summon the U.S. translator to Capitol Hill and have that individual talk to members of Congress; have the translator take an oath and then question the translator vigorously.

Now, having said that, I am willing to let the translator conduct a “classified” briefing. There’s no particular need to open the hearing up to the public if the translator is going to discuss security-sensitive issues.

Donald Trump disserved the public dramatically at the jaw-dropping press conference with Vladimir Putin. Officials in both major political parties have called it the “most disgraceful performance” by a president in their memory. I concur with that view … and my memory goes back a good while. Ike, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama never sucked up the way Trump did to the leader of a foreign hostile power in front of the world — and in the presence of that hostile leader.

Trump and Putin spent a couple of hours out of the world’s earshot. There were no national security aides present. No secretary of state, no foreign minister, no defense ministers. Just the two of them — Vlad and The Donald.

What did Trump promise Putin? What does Putin have on Trump? Why in the world would Trump denigrate our intelligence agencies’ view that Russia meddled in our 2016 election while accepting Putin’s “strong and powerful” denial?

Inquiring minds want to know.

They need to know.

national news

POTUS fatigue setting in?

I fear that I am on the verge of suffering from terminal POTUS fatigue.

I don’t expect to croak from it. I don’t even know if I’ll suffer an emotional collapse, or any kind of psychological breakdown.

I’m just wearing out. Maybe. Possibly.

The president of the United States is conducting himself and his office in a way none of us have ever witnessed. Do you remember “No Drama Obama,” with the previous president operating on level plain? He disliked the tumult, turmoil and tempest that occasionally comes with the office.

Donald John Trump Sr.? He relishes it! He looks for it! He wants to govern daily with chaos, confusion — and perhaps a bit of corruption — all swirling around him.

Good grief! He goes to Europe to meet with the most dependable allies this nation on planet Earth and then proceeds to p** them all off. He wasn’t done. Not by a long shot.

The president then goes to the United Kingdom, talks to the Sun newspaper, criticizes British Prime Minister Teresa May’s handling of the British exit from the European Union and then offers an endorsement of former British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson to be the UK’s next prime minister.

And then he denies saying it!

There’s more. He travels to Helsinki. He and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin meet for two hours, just the two of them. Then he comes out and declares that U.S. intelligence experts’ assertion about Russian attacks on our electoral process are not to be believed; he believes Putin’s denial.

And this is what happened just in the past week!

His entire presidency has been rife with weeks just like this, although the stakes of this week’s weirdness are getting more compelling all the time.

I need to get a good night’s sleep. I’ll awaken in the morning. I’ll be refreshed. I’ll get back at it.

How in the world does the president function like this?

International news

Let the Russians question former envoy? What the … ?

This isn’t happening. This cannot be allowed to happen. If Donald J. Trump allows it, he’s got a noggin full of rocks.

Vladimir Putin reportedly floated the idea with the president over whether Russian government officials could question a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul.

Trump then reportedly took the suggestion seriously and has asked White House legal eagles to examine whether it’s possible.

I repeat: This cannot be allowed to happen.

Putin apparently wants to interrogate McFaul in the wake of the Justice Department indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers. He might want to pick McFaul’s brain to figure out what he knew, if anything, about anything involving the Trump presidential campaign.

This is ridiculous, absurd, utterly frightening proposal coming from the former head of the Soviet Union’s spy agency, the KGB. To suggest that we could compel a former ambassador to talk to a foreign hostile power is preposterous on its face.

McFaul wrote this, according to Politico: “I hope the White House corrects the record and denounces in categorical terms this ridiculous request from Putin,” McFaul tweeted Wednesday. “Not doing so creates moral equivalency between a legitimacy US indictment of Russian intelligence officers and a crazy, completely fabricated story invented by Putin.”

Putin is an even more egregious liar than his pal in the White House. And, man, that’s saying something.

national news

How ‘stable’ can POTUS remain?

I know that Donald J. Trump calls himself a “stable genius.”

Why, he even inserted the word “very” in his most recent self-glorification. His use of the v-word reminded me of something one of my mass communications professors asked me when he read one of my stories: “What does the word ‘very’ do for you?”

George Carver didn’t like the word. He thought it was unnecessary. He was right.

The president’s “stability” must be getting tested these days. He goes to Europe and has a generally hideous meeting with NATO leaders; then he ventured to London and trashed his host, Prime Minister Teresa May, only to deny he said what was published in the Sun newspaper.

It got even worse. Trump went to Helsinki and groveled at Vladimir Putin’s feet, said he didn’t know why Russia “would” interfere in our election; then he kinda/sorta took it back — the next day! — by saying he meant to say “wouldn’t.” Whatever.

The scorn is piling up. Our allies abroad cannot trust the president. He’s being played for a fool by Russia. The critics at home now include many from within his own Republican Party. Former CIA boss John Brennan and others are saying Trump’s Helsinki presser was “treasonous.”

How much can this guy take?

Oh, wait. The president has no shame. A shameless man has a deep well of whatever it is that allows him to delude himself.

national news

Don’t go anywhere, Mad Dog … please!

As the president of the United States tries to clean up the wreckage of that hideous meeting with Vladimir Putin and the press availability the two of them had, I have a request to make of some key members of the president’s Cabinet.

I still expect to see some members of the administration team to resign. I want to plead for Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis to stay put.

He is one of the rare grownups hired by Trump.

For that matter, I think I’ll offer the same request to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He’s another adult in the room. He managed to cobble together that summit with Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Pompeo doesn’t deserve brickbats for the result of that Trump-Kim fiasco.

I’m still expecting White House chief of staff John Kelly to go; then again, he’s been on the bubble anyhow. The charade that Trump put on with Putin in Helsinki well might hasten his departure. I also wouldn’t be surprised to know that U.S. ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman will hit the road.

Perhaps, too, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, whose assessment of Russian meddling was challenged directly by Trump on Monday, might see fit to quit. Coats has acquitted himself well, too.

However, my favorite Trump Cabinet appointee remains the guy with the “Mad Dog” nickname.

Stay put, Secretary Mattis. We need you now … more than ever!

national news, political news

Donald J. Trump: classic, quintessential RINO

The chatter now about Donald J. Trump’s disgraceful performance this week in Helsinki deals with how Republicans in Congress are finally — finally! — beginning to condemn the president’s conduct.

It all seems to circle back to a question I keep asking myself and occasionally pose it publicly on this blog: How does the president command the loyalty of Republicans when he is the quintessential Republican In Name Only.

These same GOP loyalists are so damn quick to hurl epithets at other Republicans who deign to speak out against Trump. Sens. John McCain, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker and, yes, Mitt Romney are now considered RINOs in the world according to the Trumpsters.

Two of the men I mention — Romney and McCain — were the party’s presidential nominees in 2012 and 2008, respectively. They aren’t RINOs.

As for Trump, I’ll refer to a point that one of my sons made this week. The president, he said, once was a pro-choice Democrat and a member of the Reform Party before he became a Republican.

My own view is that Trump lacks any ideological grounding. He doesn’t speak with any knowledge or eloquence about his party’s ideology. He has no moral basis.

So, he blathers in Helsinki about how he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin and disbelieves U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment about Russian election interference. Democrats, quite naturally, are quick to condemn the president.

Republicans? They pull their punches. They speak in milquetoast terms: Trump’s remarks were, um, unfortunate, they were ill-advised.

They continue to rally around a guy who isn’t even a real Republican.

Go … figure.

International news, national news, political news

Would, wouldn’t … what does an ‘n’t’ mean?

Allow me for a brief moment to parse a few words from the president of the United States.

On Monday, he said this in response to a question about whether Russia interfered in our 2016 election: “(Putin) just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

Are we clear on that?

Then today, in the White House, the president said this: “I thought that I made myself very clear, but having just reviewed the transcript … I realized that there is a need for some clarification. The sentence should have been …’ I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia’.”

All right, back to the Monday reference. Immediately after he allegedly “misspoke,” the president then praised Russian leader Vladimir Putin for being “very strong” in his denial that Russians attacked our electoral system.

So, if he didn’t speak correctly on Monday, why did the president offer such praise for Putin’s strength of conviction that there was no meddling? He didn’t take back any of that other stuff.

Murky.

national news, political news

Nice try, Mr. President … but there was no one else

1 Comment

Let’s try to speak with some clarity on this Russian meddling matter and whether the president of the United States actually believes the U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment of the situation.

Donald Trump said Monday he had no reason to believe the Russians would have attacked our 2016 election system.

Then today he said he had no reason to believe the Russians would not have done it.

Oh, but then he said that maybe “others” did it, too, all while expressing full faith and confidence in the CIA, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies’ belief in their conclusions about Russian meddling.

As The Hill reported: “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump said, reading from a prepared statement in front of reporters at the White House.

But he added: “Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.”

Read my lips, Mr. President: Our spooks say the Russians did it! They did it by themselves. They had no help. There was no “400-pound guy lying on his bed.” The 29-page indictment handed down identifies 12 Russian military officers as the culprits … allegedly.

I have to ask, Mr. President: Do you support our intelligence network fully, or not?

And many of us are still waiting for a full-throated condemnation of Vladimir Putin and his Russian hierarchy for launching their attack on our political system, which the president took an oath to defend.