In a joint press conference held after his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump said that he holds "both countries responsible" for deteriorating relations between America and Russia, described America's tough foreign policy toward Russia as "foolish" and said that "we're all to blame." Trump also claimed that "the Russian State has not interfered and will never interfere in internal American affairs" and suggested that America and Russia engage in a "joint working group on cybersecurity" and once again, sided with Putin over America's intelligence community.
"Putin said he didn't attack us, and I believe him. Mueller's witch hunt must stop," he said while standing next to a smiling Putin.
Trump's treatment of Putin stands in stark contrast to his obliquely critical press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May last week, and quickly caused widespread outrage. Even Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits, infamous for their reticence to criticize the GOP president, expressed horror at Trump's language, describing it as giving unprecedented power to Putin — and possibly being treasonous.
Perhaps appropriately, Trump had to wait for nearly an hour before his Russian counterpart showed up for their much-ballyhooed summit in Helsinki.
It was a moment of Trump being visibly dominated by Putin that, for many of the American's critics, aptly sums up the problematic relationship between the two world leaders.
Putin's fashionably late arrival was only one of many memorable moments that preceded the private meeting between the two men, according to The New York Times. Prior to the meeting, Trump went on a characteristic tweet storm that blamed deteriorating relations between the two countries on the ongoing investigation into potential collusion between Trump's presidential campaign and government and members of the Russian government.
Russia's foreign ministry retweeted and "liked" Trump's latter message, indicating that at least that aspect of the meeting would see the two leaders off on friendly footing. "We agree," the Russians tweeted.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., was not as favorable about Trump's tweet as the Russian government.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats also tweeted that he would have a very harsh message for Putin if he had an opportunity to speak with him in Helsinki.
"My message would be: We know what you’re doing and we know you know what you’re doing and what we’re doing … you make the choice," Coats said he would tell Putin. "But if you want to stay in this tit for tat we’re going to beat you."
🚨 DNI chief Coats when asked what he’d say to Putin: “My message would be: We know what you’re doing and we know you know what you’re doing and what we’re doing … you make the choice. But if you want to stay in this tit for tat we’re going to beat you."
— Norah O'Donnell🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) July 16, 2018
Of course, there are reasons beyond a single tweet to suspect that Trump and Putin will have gotten along disturbingly well once their summit is good and over. The links between the president and Russia are numerous, including the fact that he has extensive business ties to Russia, has hired (and been compelled to fire) a number of associates who also have been connected to Russia, has personally benefited from Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election and has notably refused to cease his practice of lavishing praise on Putin. This trend continued in the hours leading up to his meeting, when he neglected to mention election meddling, Russia's annexation of Crimea or its imperialist actions in Ukraine and Syria as subjects to be discussed during their summit. He also didn't help that perception by openly trashing America's alliance with NATO in the week prior to his summit with Putin, a move that seemed to primarily benefit Putin more than anyone else. "America has always been a leader within NATO – and that has always been to our benefit," Laura Rosenberger, director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy and a senior fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, told Salon by email at the time. "Trump’s actions to create a crisis in the alliance – when no such crisis exists – risks isolating the United States and creating fractures for our adversaries to exploit. That includes President Putin, who has long sought to weaken NATO as a goal of his foreign policy." Trump also neglected to mention any problems between America and Russia prior to meeting with Putin.
"We will have discussions on everything from trade to military to nuclear," Trump told reporters as he and Putin posed for photographs, also including China on his list. "I think we have great opportunities as two countries that, frankly, we have not been getting along too well."
He added, "I think the world really wants to see us get along. We are the two great nuclear powers."
Trump and Putin then retreated to their one-on-one, closed-door meeting, which lasted for slightly more than two hours, according to The Guardian. Afterward, Trump and Putin had a very late lunch with a number of Trump's foreign policy advisers, including Ambassador Jon Huntsman, who represents the United States in Moscow, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, Chief of Staff John Kelly and Trump's Russia adviser Fiona Hill. Trump answered one reporter's question about how the meeting went by saying that it was a "very good start."
Of course, that answer doesn't clear up the main enigma surrounding the Trump-Putin summit — namely, why the event, which occurred after a phone call between the two leaders in March, is even happening in the first place. As Salon's Heather Digby Parton pointed out:
The single biggest unanswered question of this whole strange odyssey is this: Why are they having this summit? Trump's meeting with Putin alone is obviously suspicious. Considering all the evidence of some sort of collusion that is already in the public domain, it seems reasonable to speculate that the president has nefarious motives. He is certainly behaving like someone with something to hide. But he is also desperately whirling from one spectacle to another -- summits, reality-show Supreme Court nominations, meetings with world leaders, rallies for the faithful. Whatever Trump did or didn't do with Russians to get elected, it's obvious that he has no idea how to do the job of president. He's just putting on a show. This is how he's gotten through his whole life, bluffing his way through, teetering on the edge of disaster, always on the brink of having everything blow up in his face. He's dancing as fast as he can, but you can see that he's starting to flag.
As if in preparation for the possibility that Trump would walk away from his Putin meeting in an unflattering light, two Republican senators took to the press to make statements that downplayed the threat from Russia.
"I've been pretty upfront that the election interference — as serious as that was, and unacceptable — is not the greatest threat to our democracy," Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told the Washington Examiner. "We've blown it way out of proportion — [as if it's] the greatest threat to democracy ... We need to really honestly assess what actually happened, what effect did it have, and what effect are our sanctions actually having, positively and negatively."
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama echoed those thoughts in his own interview with the Washington Examiner. "Most countries would meddle and play in our domestic elections if they could, and some of them have," Shelby said. "We have to be realistic nations are going to do what is in their next interest; we’ve done a lot of things too."
The Republican party seems split on his criticism of Trump, but if the past is any prologue, then they'll all be on the same page soon: standing by Trump because the GOP base still loves him.
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