OpsLens

Why the Private ‘Chat’ Between President Trump and Putin at the G20?

“Even if the chat was completely innocent, why would Trump risk further scrutiny at a time like this?”

By Chloe Longstreet; OpsLens:

President Donald Trump’s time in office so far has been plagued by accusations of collusion with Russia. It is constantly in the news, he in constantly denying it, and yet he still can’t get away from it all. Of course, every Presidency and other major public office is subject to criticism and the potential for scandals. Today’s media is set up in a way where journalists are often forced to find topics to fill the 24- hour news feeds and insatiable internet appetites of the public for new and titillating stories,which leads to some organizations reaching to find news that may not be there. So, whether or not the Russian collusion scandal is true or not is something that will only come out in time, after a proper investigation is completed, and I am happy to leave that in the hands of the qualified (or not so qualified) officials that have been assigned that task.

However, recent news of Trump having a chat with Putin during a dinner of international leaders should have his supporters and non-supporters alike scratching their heads. Even if the chat was completely innocent, why would Trump risk further scrutiny at a time like this?

How hard would it have been to grab someone else (preferably someone official) before heading over to speak to Putin?

Why did Trump engage in this interaction without ensuring he did so in a way that wouldn’t have caused him more controversy in regards to his relationship with Russia? Realistically there aren’t many options here that make sense. One option is that he didn’t think it through ahead of time. The other is that he planned to speak with Putin about things that he didn’t want anyone else to overhear.

I have a hard time believing that Trump would be dumb enough to speak with Putin in such a public place about sensitive matters on purpose, especially considering the fact that every action he takes in regards to Russia is currently being analyzed and over-analyzed by such a large faction of people in the country and the world. The fact that he is currently facing accusations regarding his potential relationship with Putin would (hopefully) lead him to be more careful if the accusations were true. So I personally don’t think that was the case.

However, I do find it easy to believe that President Trump still struggles with problems of impulse control, and that this was what led him to have such an ill-advised, impromptu meeting with the Russian leader. President Trump and his team have had to do damage control in response to his impulsive actions or words more than a few times since before he was elected, to the point that rumors were swirling over the limits that his team placed on him in regards to his Twitter access towards the end of his campaign. I can easily see President Trump seeing Putin at dinner and feeling it was a good opportunity to chat with a fellow leader about important or non-important issues without thinking the scenario through to the end.

If this was the case, President Trump needs to realize that he is no longer a businessman, and that his role as the leader of the United States means that his every action will be placed under intense scrutiny. He needs to learn to take a deep breath before acting on his impulses and think about the possible repercussions of his actions. Whether or not the Russian allegations are true, the very fact that they exist shows poor judgement on the part of President Trump in deciding to have a private chat with Putin. Hopefully he will learn from this and bring an advisor along next time.