Right and Left React to the Trump-Putin Meeting
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/us/politics/trump-putin-meeting-reactions.html Version 0 of 1. The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen. Has this series exposed you to new ideas? Tell us how. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com. Michael Brendan Dougherty in National Review: “The most obvious explanation for Trump’s behavior is not that he is enacting a 30-year-long plot against American democracy. It is that his vanity utterly forbids him to acknowledge that Russian meddling in the 2016 election contributed in any way to his victory.” While Mr. Dougherty supports the idea of improving relations with Russia, he says President Trump’s remarks in Helsinki, Finland, after his meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin will make that harder by further inflaming his critics. But think twice before crying treason, writes Mr. Dougherty, who says such accusations are “likely to warp our politics long after Trump leaves the scene.” Read more » _____ Patrick J. Buchanan in The American Conservative: “Helsinki showed that Trump meant what he said when he declared repeatedly, ‘Peace with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing.’” Mr. Trump’s message on his trip to Europe has been “clear, consistent and startling,” Mr. Buchanan writes: no more trade deficits, no more missed NATO payments and no “Cold War II.” Antagonizing Mr. Putin would have been foolish, Mr. Buchanan argues, for a president who is seeking better relations no matter what Russia has done. Read more » _____ Charles J. Sykes in The Weekly Standard: “We simply do not know (and it remains dangerous to speculate) whether the Russians have ‘kompromat’ on Trump. Perhaps the reality is worse; maybe Trump really believes all of this and genuinely admires what Putin represents.” Bullies yearn to cower before bigger bullies, Mr. Sykes writes, and Mr. Trump found that bigger bully in Mr. Putin. Last week, conservatives were celebrating Mr. Trump’s second Supreme Court nomination. But even that prize, Mr. Sykes writes, is not worth “the debasement of the presidency” and “the diminishment of our role in the world.” Read more » _____ Paul Bonicelli in The Federalist: “President Trump missed the chance to show Putin as well as the world that a Trump relationship with Russia will be different than Obama’s.” Mr. Bonicelli calls the Trump-Putin meeting a “missed opportunity” and envisions how it should have gone: a direct confrontation in private, followed by a public warning against election meddling by any country. He says Mr. Trump will now have to make up for the deference he showed Mr. Putin with harsher actions. Read more » James Fallows in The Atlantic: “[…] never before have I seen an American president consistently, repeatedly, publicly and shockingly advance the interests of another country over those of his own government and people.” Mr. Trump is either intentionally advancing Russian interests, Mr. Fallows writes, or is “so profoundly ignorant, insecure and narcissistic” that he doesn’t realize he is doing so. Mr. Fallows says Republican lawmakers must now decide whether to defend their president or their country. Read more » _____ Fred Kaplan in Slate: “[...] any member of Trump’s national security team who doesn’t resign immediately ... is from this point on doing a disservice to the United States.” The summit meeting proved that Mr. Trump is completely in thrall to Mr. Putin, Mr. Kaplan writes. He exhorts the president’s aides not to stand by if he finds more “opportunities to cave” in future meetings with the Russian leader. Read more » _____ Alina Polyakova for the Brookings Institution: “The worst scenario was avoided in Helsinki: There was no grand bargain on Ukraine, no Russian deal on Syria and no reneging of U.S. security commitments to Europe. But it was still the Russian president who won at the summit.” Mr. Trump let Mr. Putin set the agenda for meeting, Ms. Polyakova says, with the Russian president using the opportunity to blame Ukraine for the continuing violence there and to suggest a mediation role for Russia in the Middle East. Read more » Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post: “Trump has just composed the most elaborate thank-you note in history. As millions watched around the world, he said it out loud: Thank you, Vladimir Putin, for helping me win my campaign!” Ms. Applebaum wonders if, far from tempting Mr. Trump to cancel his meeting with Mr. Putin, the indictment of 12 Russian agents last Friday made the president more eager for it so he could tell Mr. Putin in person how much he appreciated his help. Read more » _____ The editorial board of USA Today: “All presidents up until now have understood deep in their bones which side they’re on. Whatever happens with Robert Mueller’s investigation, Trump now has Americans wondering where his interests lie, and that’s an indictment in itself.” USA Today’s editorial board backs Mr. Trump’s Republican critics and suggests that the president continues to express doubt about Russian interference because he is insecure about his election victory. Read more » |