Trump trying to calm down the political storm over his summit with Putin was the most insulting event to the people’s intelligence—not only Americans but every possible human being in the world. All Trump’s advisers needed was 24 hours to come up with a believable excuse and in turn they just demonstrated in Trump’s America all you have to do is lie your way out of trouble because no one holds you accountable.
Facing an onslaught of bipartisan fury over his glowing remarks about Vladimir Putin, President Trump said more than 24 hours afterward that he had misspoken during his news conference with the autocratic Russian leader.
In one of the only times of his presidency he’s admitted to a mistake, Trump said that when he returned Monday from the summit with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, he “realized there is some need for clarification” about his remarks on Russian interference in the 2016 US election. His comments were so different as to make it seem like they came from two different people.
Contradicting his prior comments, Trump said he accepts, with caveats, the American conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. He also claimed that he intended to say he saw no reason why Russia wouldn’t be the culprit.
Sincere excuse? Accepted apology?
No.
Even reading mainly from a prepared statement, Trump veered from his script to hedge on who was responsible for the election interference: “It could be other people also. There’s a lot of people out there.”
His backtracking failed to quell the controversy. Democrats dismissed Trump’s statement as political damage control, an effort to clean up the mess he made in Helsinki. Most rational person would dismiss his statement now as well.
A sign?
As the president said he has “full faith” in the intelligence agencies, the lights in the conference room briefly went out.
The truth is the condemnation for his performance at the Helsinki news conference — including from many fellow Republicans — matched or eclipsed previous controversies in Trump’s turbulent 18 months in office.
Trump has damaged U.S. foreign policy and we only hope that moving forward, his administration would repel any effort to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections and certainly not hold Russia accountable for what they’re doing.
I hope you had a good laugh, but also, think this presidency is not OK.
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In Trump’s America, Lie your Way out of Trouble
