Like I said before, 4 years of weakness under Criminal Donald got us where we are today. We all lived through it and we have the documented evidence to prove what a disastrous 4 years we went through. Glad we have strong effective leadership once again with President Joe Biden.
In Helsinki, Trump shows his weakness for Putin to the worldThe Sydney Morning Herald
July 17, 2018
Helsinki: This was a disaster for Donald Trump on his own terms, not just in the eyes of the "fake news" media he so often derides.
Trump is the American Beauty president. His theme has been the movie’s memorable line uttered by a gun-loving real estate king: “In order to be successful, one must project an image of success.”
But this was American Ugly. Trump projected nothing but weakness in his press conference after hours of talks with his Russian counterpart on Monday.
Texas Republican congressman Will Hurd, a former CIA official, said:
"I've seen Russian intelligence manipulate many people over my professional career and I never would have thought that the US President would become one of the ones getting played by old KGB hands." Trump’s Europe tour has until now been chaotic but, in the eyes of his fans, defensible.
His fans can put up with, or rationalise, a lot.
But they demand patriotism and they expect America to be made great.
When the second-highest story on Fox News’ website is “Losing Bigly? Putin eats Trump’s lunch in shocking Helsinki summit”, you know he’s screwed up.
In the last seven days Trump has rattled NATO’s cage, demanding they increase defence funding generously and immediately.
He dismissed British Prime Minister Theresa May for not delivering a Brexit that would give the US and Britain a strong trade deal.
All these attacks on allies could be variously apologised for, contextualised or explained as a plain-spoken, confident President interested not in old alliances but the naked interests of America.
Trump’s election-winning message has always been that America must project power in order to win, and winning is everything. All relationships are negotiations and negotiations have just one victor.
But Trump rolled over and invited Putin to tickle him. Putin handed him a soccer ball, and Trump gave it to his son. You’d hope the intelligence services will check it for bugs.
Trump had boldly predicted he and Putin would come out of Helsinki with a new, game-changing relationship. He hoped they could be friends.
He tried, in more subdued tones than his usual bombast, to claim it had gone that way after the meeting.
“Our relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed as of about four hours ago. I really believe that.
“We have taken the first step toward a brighter future and one with a strong dialogue and a lot of thought.
“Our expectations are grounded in realism, but our hopes are grounded in America’s desire for friendship, cooperation and peace.”
But he had nothing concrete to show for the day’s work and he had nothing but praise for Putin – “I called him a competitor. And a good competitor he is. And I think the word competitor is a compliment”.
Asked who was at fault for their worsening relationship to date, Trump could have cited Crimea, Ukraine, MH17 (Australian blood on Russia's hands, the anniversary today), Novichok, the propping-up of a chemical weapons-wielding Syrian regime.
He could have mentioned Russia’s well-established efforts to meddle in elections not just in the US, but around the world, in close allies such as France, Germany and Britain.
No.
“I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish.”
The only cause of discord he could name was the US investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election. The investigation, that is, not the meddling.
He even intervened when a journalist asked Putin why Americans should believe the Russian claim that Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election, saying he was President just because he “ran a brilliant campaign”.
Asked whether he believed Putin or US intelligence agencies about Russian election meddling, Trump did not hesitate to back Putin.
“[Spy chief] Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have [asked] President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
He even swallowed Putin’s offer of Russian officials to “assist” with the investigation into their own criminality, and bizarrely called it an “incredible offer”. From the context he meant incredible in the sense of great, rather than hardly credible.
This was the one moment he should have listened to the Russian president, whose pointed comments directed at the media could just as easily be seen as a swipe at the man to his right.
“As to who is to be believed and who is not to be believed, you can trust no one,” said Putin.
“Where did you get this idea that President Trump trusts me, or I trust him? He defends the interests of the United States of America, and I do defend the interests of the Russian Federation.”
This was a summit without a clear goal. There were no potential wins, except the chance of a move on nuclear proliferation, on which there ended up being none.
The point, if any - as with much of what Trump does - was to show that he could claim wins where his predecessor couldn’t. The big opponents in his mind as evidenced by his preoccupations during the 40-minute press conference are the Democrats and Clinton and Obama in particular. He wants to be measured against them and found to be bigger.
But he fell short not just in the usual measures of international diplomacy, but in the gut instinct that drives his base.
The author of the Art of the Deal proved artless and unable to win a negotiation when it counted.
This may hurt the most.
Supporters may try to reassure themselves with mutters of “what about Obama” or “what about Clinton” or deep state and media conspiracy theories.
They will also have to spin away the coincident arrest of a Russian woman in the US on allegations Russia infiltrated the NRA - possibly with the aim to sway American politicians in favour of Russia and funnel money to Trump's campaign.
Trump may try backtracking to fix the situation, though his interview with Fox News after the meeting with Putin suggests he doesn’t want to.
He may try to brazen it out, repainting himself as the Gandhi of international love being unfairly criticised for trying to make friends.
His own approach to the rest of his tour would belie that claim.
The more likely explanation is a US president was just bent to Putin’s will.
Trump virtually admitted as much, explaining why he chose to believe Putin over his own massive intelligence complex.
“President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
The bully-in-chief had been out-bullied.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/in-helsinki-trump-proves-his-weakness-for-putin-to-the-world-20180717-p4zrv7.html 
