Changing 1 Word Doesn't Excuse Trump's Embrace Of Putin

(Cartoon image is by Kevin Siers in The Charlotte Observer.)

On Monday, the entire world watched as Donald Trump groveled before Vladimir Putin. He said the United States was responsible for the poor relationship between the two countries, and again made it clear that he believes Putin (who says Russia did not attack our election process) instead of his own intelligence agencies (inspire of the fact 12 Russian military operatives have been indicted for that attack).

It was a shameful performance. No American president has ever attacked his own country while embracing the world's most dangerous dictator. And it caused an immediate backlash -- from members of both U.S. political parties, and our allies (who now wonder if they can count on Trump at all).

On Tuesday, Trump offered a rather pathetic excuse for his behavior. He claimed that the whole thing was due to him using the wrong word by accident ("would" instead of "wouldn't" when saying whether he thought Russia had meddled in the U.S. election). He seemed to think changing that one word made everything OK. It doesn't. The press conference lasted about 40 minutes, and Trump didn't defend U.S. interests in a single moment of it making many indefensible statements.

NBC News gives us a list of some other statements that Trump didn't walk-back -- statements that were inexcusable. Here is that list:

To be clear about the entirety of Trump’s remarks with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, however, here are the president’s OTHER remarks from Monday that he didn’t try to clean up:

• “I hold both countries responsible [for the decline in U.S.-Russian relations]. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish.”
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• “I think that the [Mueller] probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us apart. It’s kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it.”
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• “You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the [DNC's] server. Why haven’t they taken the server? Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee? I’ve been wondering that.”
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• “What happened to Hillary Clinton’s emails? Thirty-three thousand emails gone — just gone. I think, in Russia, they wouldn’t be gone so easily. I think it’s a disgrace that we can’t get Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 emails.”
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• “So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
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• “And what [Putin] did is an incredible offer; he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 [indicted Russians]. I think that’s an incredible offer.” (By the way, Putin’s condition for that offer? That Americans and U.S. residents who Russia believes have committed illegal actions should be questioned, too.)

And here is the business-oriented Financial Times take on Trump performance:

Mr Trump has undermined his country and his office in a series of important ways. His performance in Helsinki made it absolutely clear that the US president places his own political survival and personal vanity above any belief in the rule-of-law. Just a few days earlier, Rod Rosenstein, America’s deputy attorney-general, had indicted 12 Russian agents accused of interfering in the 2016 election and had correctly pointed out that the indictments should not be a partisan issue. But this crucial point is lost on Mr Trump. Everything — including truth, the rule-of-law and the dignity of the US — is subordinated to his own partisan interests.

The president’s rambling and self-centred remarks also underlined the questions about his intellectual fitness for office. The contrast with the controlled, polished (and deeply cynical) performance of Mr Putin was painful to behold.