President Trump is facing a lot of backlash over his recent meeting with Vladimir Putin, and this time around even staunch allies are criticizing him. During his already infamous meeting with Putin, Trump largely blamed the United States for all of the Russia-America woes. Trump also said that he took Putin’s word that Russia did not interfere with the 2016 Presidential election over the reports from his own intelligence agencies.
Before the summit, many Republicans had been urging the President to condemn Russia on multiple accounts. Trump’s embrace of Putin isn’t particularly surprising, given his remarks leading up to the summit. Still, the extent to which Trump embraced Russia has many people worried.
Many Republicans are firing back. Some of them are already known for being Trump critics, such as John McCain. Others, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have generally been supportive of the President. While McConnell has mostly been tight-lipped regarding Trump’s summit, he noted that Russia is not America’s “friend.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan also criticized President Trump, arguing that there is “no question” that Russia interfered with American elections. Ryan also said that Trump needs to “appreciate” that Russia is not America’s ally and further claimed that Russia is hostile to America’s goals and values. Ryan has generally been supportive of the President and has helped champion his policy agenda in Congress.
Senator Bob Corker, who’s been quite critical of the President, was likewise disappointed by the President’s remarks. Second-ranking Republican Senator John Cornyn also expressed disappointment in President Trump and has stated that the Senate may vote to express confidence in America’s intelligence community.
Senator John McCain was especially harsh with his words, releasing a long, damning critique. Among other things, McCain argued: “The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.”
Fellow Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, also a frequent critic of the President, blasted Trump, tweeting: “I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression. This is shameful.”
My take? I have to agree with Trump’s many critics. The President is chumming up too closely with Russia, which is a genuine foe. I agree with Trump that the United States is certainly not blameless but at the same time, it’s no surprise that America pursues its own interests in opposition to Russia.
Trump is also right to blame past administrations for the current mess we are in. However, I’d argue that firmer positions, such as confronting Russia, would have been appropriate. As for Russia’s alleged interference in America’s elections, I’ll take the word of our intelligence community over Putin’s. The intelligence community has no reason to lie, whereas Putin has every reason to do so.
Trump’s strong criticisms of NATO and the European Union are all the more worrisome given his embrace of Russia. It’d be nice if the world could move beyond zero-sum politics and we all got along. It’d be great if Russia wasn’t our foe, but you can’t invade a foreign country (Ukraine) and threaten Western Europe while also being a friend.
