Mod: The denunciation of Trump's appeasement of the mass murderer and autocrat who launched cyber-attacks on an American presidential election is now pretty much all across the ideological board. We are living in a national emergency, and the betrayal by this president has become clear for everyone around the world to see.
Fox News hosts take Trump to task after Putin summit (
Politico link):
President Donald Trump usually turns to
Fox News and the
Fox Business Network when he wants to hear pundits defend his policies and behavior, but he probably would not have liked what he saw on Monday following his joint press conference with
Russian leader
Vladimir Putin.
Directly after the press conference,
Fox Business host
Neil Cavuto, who also hosts a daily show on
Fox News, called
Trump’s performance “disgusting.” Referring to
Trump’s refusal to side with
US intelligence agencies and his own
Department of Justice over allegations that
Putin ordered a
Russian interference scheme in the
2016 elections,
Cavuto said
Trump “is essentially letting the guy get away with this and not even offering a mild criticism. That sets us back a lot.”
“
Putin won," said
Cavuto’s guest,
Mark Weinberg, a former
Reagan administration official. "
Trump missed the opportunity to call [
Russia] out in no uncertain terms. He dodged every opportunity to do it, and he missed a chance he won't get again."
Lawmakers and pundits were left reeling by the joint appearance Monday, in which
Trump also indicated that the
U.S. was to blame for tensions between the two nations and suggested the countries work together on cybersecurity, even after special counsel
Robert Mueller's team indicted 12
Russians last week for their roles in hacking
Democratic computer systems in 2016.
On
CNN, the reactions to
Trump’s remarks were stark. "You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an
American president at a summit in front of a
Russian leader, that I have ever seen," anchor
Anderson Cooper said immediately after the press conference ended. Co-host
John King referred to the meeting as a "surrender summit."
Republicans Rebuke Trump for Siding With Putin as Democrats Demand Action (
The New York Times link): For nearly two years,
Republicans have watched uncomfortably, and often in silence, as
President Trump has swatted away accusations that
Russia interfered in the
2016 presidential race, attacked his own intelligence agencies and flattered
President Vladimir V. Putin of
Russia.
On Monday, even for members of his own party,
Mr. Trump apparently went too far.
The president’s extraordinary news conference with
Mr. Putin in
Helsinki,
Finland, stunned
Republicans across the ideological spectrum and the party’s political apparatus, leaving them struggling to respond after the president undermined his national intelligence director, blamed both the
United States and
Russia for poor relations between the two countries and seemingly agreed to
Mr. Putin’s suggestion that
Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, cooperate with
Russia.
Senator John McCain,
Republican of
Arizona, declared, “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.”
Newt Gingrich, the former
House speaker and
Trump adviser, declared the news conference “the most serious mistake of his presidency.”
Mitt Romney, the 2012
Republican presidential nominee and current
Senate candidate from
Utah, called it “disgraceful and detrimental to our democratic principles.”
The effect extended far beyond official
Washington. One local official —
Chris Gagin, the chairman of the
Republican Party in
Belmont County,
Ohio — resigned his post, announcing on
Twitter that he “did so as a matter of conscience, and my sense of duty.”
Neil Cavuto, a
Fox Business Network host, called
Mr. Trump’s performance “disgusting,” adding, “I’m sorry, it’s the only way I feel. It’s not a right or left thing to me, it’s just wrong.”
It was left to
Senator Chuck Schumer of
New York, the
Democratic leader, to demand actual action. He called for increased sanctions on
Russia; for
Mr. Trump’s national security team to testify before
Congress; for defense of the
Department of Justice and other intelligence agencies; and for
Mr. Trump to press
Mr. Putin to extradite the 12 Russian intelligence agents who were indicted Friday.
“In the entire history of our country,
Americans have never seen a president of the
United States support an adversary the way
President Trump has supported
President Putin,”
Mr. Schumer said.
He added: “A single, ominous question now hangs over the
White House: What could possibly cause
President Trump to put the interests of
Russia over those of the
United States? Millions of
Americans will continue to wonder. The only possible explanation for this dangerous behavior is the possibility that
President Putin holds damaging information over
President Trump.”
Former CIA director Brennan urges Pompeo, Bolton, Kelly to resign following 'treasonous' Trump-Putin summit (
The Hill link):
Former CIA Director John Brennan on Monday called on members of
President Trump's Cabinet to resign in protest following the president's news conference with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking how
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser
John Bolton and chief of staff
John Kelly "can continue in their jobs"
"I thought that there was nothing
Donald Trump could say that would shock me, but I was wrong. I was just totally shocked at the performance of
Donald Trump in
Helsinki at a press conference with
Vladimir Putin. I just found that it was outrageous," said
Brennan to anchor
Brian Williams on
MSNBC immediately following
Trump's press conference in
Helsinki,
Finland.
"Even when the press gave him an opportunity to hold
Russia accountable for anything, he chose to talk about
Hillary Clinton, about his election, about servers,"
Brennan continued. "He criticized
American citizens,
Secretary Clinton, and others as opposed to really taking advantage of a world stage with all the world’s eyes upon them to point out how unacceptable
Russia’s behavior and interference in our election and the elections of other democratic countries around the globe is. But he just shirked those responsibilities."
Ex-Tea Party lawmaker calls Trump a ‘traitor to this country’ after stunning Putin press conference (
Raw Story link): Former
Tea Party lawmaker
Joe Walsh on Monday said he was completely done with
President Donald Trump in the wake of his jaw-dropping joint press conference with
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Walsh, who backed
Trump in 2016 but who has been critical of the president’s attacks on law enforcement agencies, wrote on Twitter that he would no longer consider voting for him in 2020.
“Look, I’m no big deal, but today is the final straw for me,” he wrote. “I will never support
Trump again. If that makes me a
NeverTrumper, so be it.”
Walsh then took things a step farther and said he believed it was possible that
Trump’s actions have been treasonous.
“I am a tea party conservative, that will never change,” he wrote. “But
Trump was a traitor to this country today. That must not be accepted. Speak out.”
Kim Jong Un Upset to Learn That Trump Is Seeing Other Dictators (
The Borowitz Report link): The
North Korean leader,
Kim Jong Un, is reportedly “upset” and “hurt” that
Donald J. Trump is seeing other dictators, sources in
Pyongyang have confirmed.
According to an aide close to the
North Korean leader,
Kim was “devastated” to see images of
Trump warmly embracing another dictator in
Helsinki on Monday, just one month after jetting off to
Singapore to spend a memorable and intense five hours with
Kim.
Shortly after their time together, aides close to
Kim warned him against becoming emotionally attached to
Trump, alerting
Kim to press reports linking the
American to many other dictators.
“He’s been quoted saying nice things about
Xi Jinping and
Rodrigo Duterte, to name just two,” one aide said. “
Trump could never commit to just one dictator. When it comes to autocrats and strongmen, he’s a total player.”
Still, despite all the red flags, seeing
Trump in the clutches of another dictator left
Kim “deeply wounded,” aides said.
“
Donald Trump said that he and I had a ‘special bond,’ ”
Kim reportedly said, choking back tears. “I guess that meant something different to him than it did to me.”
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