Will Trump Accomplish Anything In Vietnam? - Probably Not!

(Image was found on Facebook. The originator is unknown.)

Donald Trump is in Vietnam for a second meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-Un. The last time they met (in Singapore), Trump got nothing except an agreement that didn't oblige North Korea to do anything.

In spite of that, Trump claimed that he had made the world safe, and North Korea had agreed to give up their nuclear weapons. It was not true. North Korea continues to make nuclear bombs and missiles capable of carrying them -- and the world knows that. Note in the chart below (from the Pew Research Center) that both Americans and people in other countries are still concerned about the danger of North Korea having nuclear weapons.

Since then, he has scaled his claims back, since his own intelligence agencies have said the North Koreans have done nothing to disarm. Now Trump claims that his visit caused North Korea to stop testing nuclear bombs and missiles. That's another disingenuous claim. They have tested both enough to know they work.

Will Trump be played for a fool again this time? It's likely. No one believes that North Korea will give up their nuclear weapons. Even many in the White House are nervous that Trump will give up too much for spurious promises from North Korea -- promises they have no intention of keeping.

The meetings start Wednesday, and the world holds its breath -- hoping that Trump doesn't blow it too bad this time. Sadly, that's probably a vain hope.

Why Does Trump Conceal What he Discussed With Putin?

The statement above is Donald Trump's reaction to a Washington Post story about the abnormal secrecy Trump has imposed over his one-on-one meetings with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. Of course it is a LIE! There are no transcripts of these meetings, and Trump has even asked for the translator's note's (and forbid her from talking to anyone about the meetings).

No one (but Putin and Trump) knows what was discussed in those meetings, and we only have Trump's word that no treasonous actions took place. The American people don't know what was said. The American (and world) press doesn't know what was said. Congress doesn't know what was said. Our intelligence agencies don't know what was said. And even the senior staff at the White House doesn't know what was said.

Why the extreme secrecy? Shouldn't the senior White House staff, the Congress, and our intelligence agencies be privy to those discussions at the very least? What is Trump trying to hide?

This brings back a question that many (including me) have wondered about since Trump was sworn in (and began his Russia-friendly statements and actions) -- What does Russia (Putin) have on Trump?

Is it Trump's financial ties to Russia (which Trump has denied while his sons have bragged about)?

Is it that he helped the Russians to launder money through his businesses and properties?

Is it because the Russians have evidence of his collusion with them regarding the 2016 election?

Is it the embarrassing "pee tape" the Russians could reveal?

Or is it something else that could be revealed that no one knows about yet?

There is something, and Trump's desire to keep his discussions with Putin strictly secret would seem to point to that something being serious enough to damage or destroy Trump's presidency.

The Trump/Putin Bromance Will Continue (In Moscow)

(Cartoon image is by Dave Granlund at davegranlund.com.)

It looked like Donald Trump's love affair with Vladimir Putin might have to be put on hold. Trump got nothing but misery from the press and Congress after inviting Putin to visit him in the White House, and had to delay the invitation. But Putin has come to the rescue by inviting Trump to visit him in Moscow. That might be better anyway, since those pesky journalists can be kept from interfering with they tryst there.

Here's how Mark Sumner at Daily Kos describes Trump's efforts to meet with his heartthrob and favorite dictator (and Putin's efforts to keep Trump dancing to Russia's tune):

In what can only be seen as a blatant display of his ability to make Donald Trump sit up and bark on command, Vladimir Putin started Friday with an invite for Trump to come to Moscow. And now it appears that Trump is going. According to the Associated Press, Trump is “open to visiting Moscow” and is just waiting on a “formal invitation” from Putin. The White House response does not say if Trump is also expecting a corsage or news on what kind of after-party activity Putin is planning.

To make it more obvious who is calling the tune, here’s a quick timeline:

16 July: Disastrous meeting in which Trump is patently subservient to Putin.

19 July: Trump invites Putin to the White House.

19 July to 24 July: Putin is busy washing his hair.

24 July: Kremlin suggests there are “other occasions” where the two could meet.

25 July: White House officially delays meeting Putin until 2019.

27 July: Putin invites Trump to Moscow.

27 July + a few minutes: Trump starts packing his bags.

Donald Trump appeared at a session on Friday morning to brag about quarterly numbers for the economy that were well below those produced in at least four quarters by Barack Obama, then retreated into the White House without taking questions. So no one was able to inquire if it makes his shoulders sore when Putin pulls this hard on his strings.

What Did Trump Agree To In Secret Meeting With Putin ?

(Cartoon image is by Arend van Dam at cagle.com.)

While Donald Trump bragged about what a good meeting with Vladimir Putin, he said nothing about reaching any agreement with the Russian leader. Instead, he left the impression that the two men had a friendly talk, and that talk had (in Trump's opinion) established a new and friendlier relationship between the two countries.

But Russia seems to have a different opinion of what happened in the secret Helsinki meeting. Here's what Russian military spokesman Major General Igor Kosashenkov said on Tuesday (the day after the secret meeting):

"The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is ready for practical implementation of the agreements reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in the sphere of international security achieved at the Helsinki summit." 

WHAT AGREEMENTS? Were agreements reached on international security that Trump doesn't want the American people to know about? Has Congress been informed about these agreements? If not, then why not?

If any agreements were reached in that secret meeting, even agreement in general terms, it should not be kept secret between Trump and the Russians. Did Trump give away something he shouldn't have? Did Trump give Putin a free hand in Syria? Did he assure Putin we wouldn't act to protect some of our Eastern European NATO allies? Did he agree to something else equally nefarious?

I would say that its time for Trump to tell Americans what went on in that meeting, but frankly, Trump can't be trusted to tell the truth about it. He has shown himself to be a prolific and consummate liar.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) has come up with what is probably the only way to find out what happened in the secret Helsinki meeting. She wants to subpoena the U.S. translator that was in the meeting to testify before Congress under oath.

Some people won't like that, but in my opinion, the meeting shouldn't have been held in secret to begin with. Top aides or cabinet members should have been in the room to curb Trump when his incompetence got out of hand -- and make sure any agreements reached were in the best interests of the United States.

This is especially important in light of the fact that most Americans don't trust Trump's judgement. As the chart below shows, only 35% of Americans think Trump exercises good judgement, while 50% thinks he does not -- a gap of 15 points.

The chart reflects the results of a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between July 15th and 17th of a national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,272 registered voters). The margin of error for adults is 3.2 points, and for registered voters is 3 points.

Orange Idiot Blames U.S. For Poor Relationship w/Russia

I didn't think the Trump administration could get any worse, but this last week he proved me wrong. In just the last week, he has attacked NATO -- threatening to go it alone if the other countries don't increase their military budgets by January, and saying the U.S. doesn't get much from NATO anyway (even though the only country NATO has sent troops to defend in the United States after 9/11).

Then he went to Great Britain -- where he interfered in British politics, threatened to damage trade between the U.S. and Britain if they don't initiate a "hard Brexit", and finished the visit by labeling the European Union as our number one foe.

All of that would have been bad enough, but Trump wasn't done. After arriving in Helsinki to meet with his favorite dictator, Trump tweeted that the poor relationship between the U.S. and Russia was due the United States "foolishness and stupidity" -- and the Russian foreign ministry was quick to agree. It seems that Russian aggression around the world, and it's computer attacks on the United States are not important. But putting sanctions on Russia and investigating them for their attacks on the U.S. democracy are unacceptable in Trump's eyes.

Frankly, I think Trump's actions in the last week border on being traitorous. He seriously damaged our relations with our best allies, and appeased the enemy who attacked us. Then he met in secret with Putin. We'll never know what happened in that meeting, since both Trump and Putin are known to be incessant liars.

In just a few days, Trump has done immense damage to world peace and stability.

Here is what legendary journalist Dan Rather had to say:

There has been no shortage of historic summits in American history - but nothing like what is happening today. 

No American president has ever appeared as a supplicant to a foreign power who attacked us - an attack that the intelligence community says is ongoing. 

No American president has been so eager to placate a hostile foreign power. And no American president has been under a credible shadow of allegedly conspiring with a hostile foreign power. 

No American president has so attacked our allies and heaped scorn on his fellow citizens while heaping praise on a hostile foreign power. 

No American president has been so ill-prepared for diplomacy and statecraft and then insisted on handling negotiations with a hostile foreign power alone. 

We do not know what was discussed. We will not be able to trust what President Trump or Putin say was discussed. Their words fail even the most minimum standards of political truth telling. 

This is a historic summit indeed, but historic in terms of the damage it can (and likely already has done) to our nation and a democratic world order.

Trump Continues His Attacks On NATO

(Cartoon image is by Matt Wuerker at Politico.com.)

Article 5 of the charter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) says if any member nation is attacked, it will be considered an attack on all of them, and they will all respond to that attack. This article has only been invoked one time in the history of NATO -- after the terrorist attack on New York City on 9/11. All the NATO nations joined the United States in sending troops to fight in Afghanistan (and those nations all lost soldiers defending the United States).

One would expect a leader of the United States to appreciate this. Unfortunately, we now have an ignorant and incompetent leader who doesn't know or respect the history of NATO -- or its value in protecting the free world.  Upon taking office, Donald Trump almost immediately attacked NATO, berating the NATO nations for not spending enough money (the only thing he has ever cared about) and even suggesting he might withdraw from NATO.

As late as last week, Trump suggested that the United States gets nothing from NATO (forgetting their response to 9/11), leaving the impression that the U.S. would be better off leaving NATO. This left the NATO nations wondering what would happen when it held its meeting on July 11th and 12th. They were right to be nervous, because Donald Trump wasted no time attacking. His first attack was directed at Germany.

Here's how The Guardian reported it:

At his first meeting of the summit, with the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, Trump described the relationship between Germany and Russiaas “inappropriate”.

Nato officials had been nervously awaiting the first meeting as an indicator of how Trump – who arrived in Brussels on Tuesday night – would behave over the next two days. Within minutes they had their answer.

This summit is shaping up to be the most divisive in Nato’s 69-year history. Normally, Nato summits are mostly fixed in advance and proceed in an orderly fashion. Trump’s first words signalled this one was not going to be like that.

He complained that German politicians had been working for Russian energy companies after leaving politics and said this too was inappropriate. Germany was totally controlled by Russia, Trump said.

With Stoltenberg looking on uncomfortably throughout, the US president was unrelenting. “I think it is very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia,” Trump said. “We are supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions dollars a year to Russia.

“We are protecting Germany, we are protecting France, we are protecting all of these countries and then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they are paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia. I think that is very inappropriate.”

He added: “It should never have been allowed to happen. Germany is totally controlled by Russia because they will be getting 60-70% of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline. 

“You tell me if that’s appropriate because I think it’s not. On top of that Germany is just paying just a little bit over 1% [of GDP on Nato defence contributions] whereas the United States is paying 4.2% of a much larger GDP. So I think that’s inappropriate also.” 

His comments were linked to his push for other European countries – particularly Germany – to pay more for Nato’s defence needs. 

“I think it is unfair,” Trump said. Other US presidents had raised the matter of European defence spending levels in the past but he was intent on dealing with it, he continued. “We can’t put up with it.”

The U.S. Public Sees Trump As Being Too Soft On Putin

One of the first things Donald Trump tried to do after being sworn in was to move to remove the economic sanctions that had been put on Russia. Congress had to step in and stop him. When Congress later put more sanctions on Russia, Trump refused to impose them. Trump still says the Russians didn't interfere with the 2016 U.S. election, and says he believes Putin's denials -- in spite of the fact that the evidence is now clear that Russia did interfere in that election (and is preparing to do it again in 2018).

It's easy to see why the public doesn't think Trump sees Putin like they see him. About 15% of the public has a favorable view of the Russian president, and 63% have an unfavorable opinion. But 51% of the public thinks Trump has a favorable opinion of Putin, and only 25% think Trump's opinion of Putin is unfavorable.

I agree with the public's opinion. Trump has made it plain that he admires Putin. And since Trump got so easily played by Kim Jong-Un, what will happen when Trump meets with Putin (who is much more savvy than Kim Jong-Un). I especially worry about what Trump will give up in their secret one-on-one meeting (with no aides around to help him). Will Putin play him like a fiddle? Probably!

And it didn't help that seven Republican senators (Kennedy, Shelby, Moran, Then, Hoeven, Daines, and Johnson) and a Republican House member (Granger) spent the Fourth of July holiday in Russia. They said they were going to make it clear to Russia that they would be tough on them if they tried to interfere with the coming election, but that doesn't seem to have happened. One Russian official said the meeting with Republicans was one of the easiest meetings of his life!

Have the Republicans completely abandoned their tough stance on Russia? Are they now ready to follow Trump in his appeasement of Putin and Russia. Did their trip just assure Putin that no matter how many times Trump kisses his butt, they will still support Trump?

This is still a very dangerous world, and giving in to the wishes of the Russian dictator will not make it safer. But that seems to be what Trump is willing to do.

The charts above are from the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between July 1st and 3rd of a national sample of 1,500 adults, with a margin of error of 3 points.

Could Half Of All Americans Really Be This Clueless ?

The chart above reflects the results of a new Rasmussen Poll -- done on May 10th and 13th of a random national sample of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3 point margin of error.

I understand that the Rasmussen Poll is usually kind to the Republican point of view, but I was still rather shocked to see these results. The poll says that 51% of the public is at least somewhat confident that the meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un next month will result in the denuclearization of North Korea (or at least the slowing of their program). Only 39% don't believe the meeting will accomplish that (and 10% are unsure whether anything will be accomplished).

I know that Trump has a dream of North Korean denuclearization, and believes the economic sanctions on that country has forced them to the bargaining table. I believe he is wrong.

North Korea has wanted a one-to-one meeting with the President of the United States for many years now -- and they would happily have done such a meeting with George W. Bush or Barack Obama. But Bush and Obama both were smart enough to understand that such a meeting would only benefit North Korea, and would not result in the termination of their nuclear weapons program.They understood that the North Korean leader only wanted such a meeting to enhance his own standing in the eyes of the world -- and meeting one-on-one with the most powerful leader in the world would make him look like a true world leader.

Trump is not that smart, and he fell for the ploy by Kim Jong-Un. He doesn't understand that this was just a public relations ploy by North Korea, and the fact that the meeting will be held means North Korea has already gotten what they want (and the meeting's photo ops will just be icing on the cake for them).

Trump claims that North Korea stopping their nuclear testing was because of his threats and sanctions, and represented a concession by the North Korean leader. It wasn't. As experts have noted, the nuclear test site that North Korea used has collapsed. It is unusable. North Korea couldn't test a nuclear device right now if it wanted to do so. Trump was conned.

North Korea has no intention of giving up their nuclear weapons.

Did North Korea Say It Was Willing To "Denuclearize" ?

 The new media is full of stories about a possible face-to-face meeting between Kim Jong-Un of North Korea and Donald Trump -- which would be to negotiate the differences between the two countries.

The stories spring from a meeting Trump had with South Korean officials. They told Trump that the North Korean leader would like to have a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump, and that the North Korean leader said he would be willing to discuss denuclearization.

Trump, impulsive as ever, went off half-cocked and announced to the press that he would be willing to have such a meeting. He then told the press that the North Koreans were willing to give up their nuclear weapons. He even had his press spokesman, Sarah Sanders, repeat that in a press conference -- although she seemed to walk back Trump's willingness to meet by saying certain "concrete" steps would have to occur before a meeting could take place.

Did North Korea really say it would be willing to unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons? No! They said they would be willing to discuss denuclearization. Isn't that the same thing that every nuclear power has said (including the United States)? They have all talked about a dream of a world without nuclear weapons -- but none of them have said they would unilaterally give up their nuclear weapons. And neither has North Korea.

No nation that has acquired nuclear weapons has been willing to give them up -- and anyone who believes North Korea will be the first to do so is living in a dream world. North Korea is NOT going to give up its nuclear weapons.

They did say they would be willing to stop testing for a while to have a one-to-one meeting between Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump. This is not surprising, since they already have the bomb and the missile delivery systems. Why would they want this meeting (since they are not doing to give up their nuclear weapons)? For propaganda purposes. It would allow them to pose as an equal to the United States, and in their eyes, would enhance their importance.

I don't believe this meeting will take place. Cooler heads seem to have talked with Trump, and he's now saying things must happen before that meeting could happen (and those things are unlikely to happen).

This could be a good thing. A meeting between the two narcissists would be doomed to failure (with North Korea refusing to unilaterally disarm and the U.S. refusing to lift any sanctions). Such a public failure could give Trump the excuse he has been searching for to laugh a military attack on North Korea. He has been wanting to do that, but so far cooler heads have talked him out of it. They might no longer be able to do that if he is embarrassed by a face-to-face negotiating failure.

Trump Jr's Meeting With Russians "Business As Usual" ?

The chart above reflects the views of the public on Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with Russians (who he believed represented the Russian government). About two-thirds (67%) believe that meeting was at least inappropriate -- and 37% believe it was probably illegal (violating U.S. election law).

But amazingly, a third of the public (33%) say it was just business as usual. I don't understand that. How could meeting with people representing a foreign government (which most people view as an enemy) to get information to help you win an American election be considered normal behavior? If you don't draw the line at colluding with a foreign government, then where do you draw the line? Is there anything (either unethical or illegal) that your candidate could do that you would not approve of?

In January of 2016, Donald Trump said:

"I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters." 

I think this 33% are the people he was talking about. There is literally nothing their "hero" could do that they couldn't justify in their own minds.

The chart above uses information in a new Harvard / Harris Poll -- done between July 19th and 24th of a random national sample of 2,032 registered voters. (No margin of error was given.)

Monmouth Poll Has Trump Job Approval At 39%

These charts are from a new Monmouth University Poll -- done between July 13th and 16th of a random national sample of 800 adults, with a 3.5 point margin of error. It shows Trump job approval is 39%, while disapproval is 52% -- a negative difference of 13 points.

The charts below show that the public disapproves of the meeting Kushner, Trump Jr., and Manafort had with Russian officials. But that has not really affected Trump's job approval. It is about the same as it was before the meeting with Russians became big news.

It seem that Trump's loyal supporters don't care that he (or at least his family and campaign aides) colluded with the Russians to subvert the American electoral process.

Jr. Still Hasn't Told Whole Truth About Russian Meeting

(Photo of Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya and Donald Trump Jr. is from Fox News.)

Donald Trump Jr. released his e-mails regarding his meeting with an attorney representing the Russian government. He did so because the New York Times had obtained those e-mails, and was preparing to release them. The e-mails showed that Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya (who they believed represented the Russian government) to get information Russia had on Hillary Clinton.

Junior then went on Fox News and claimed that he was being "transparent" and there was nothing more to be known. HE LIED!

At that time, it was believed that only four people had been at the meeting -- Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort, and Veselnitskaya. Then it was revealed that at least two more people were at the meeting -- Rinat Akhmetshin (a lobbyist for Russia and former [?] Russian counterintelligence operative) and a translator (name unknown). Now CNN is reporting that there were at least eight people at the meeting. The additional two are Rob Goldstone (who arranged the meeting with Trump Jr.) and a representative of the Russian family who asked Goldstone to arrange the meeting.

But it doesn't stop there. Not only did Trump jr. expect to get information that would be negative to Hillary Clinton, but the Russian lawyer actually gave Trump Jr. a document purportedly showing illicit funding going to the Clinton campaign (although the information had not been verified).

I can understand why Trump Jr. would want to keep it hidden that he received a document at that meeting. Just having the meeting expecting to receive information was collusion -- but actually receiving a document (they expected to have important information) is a violation of the election laws of the United States. Receiving money (or anything else of value) from a foreign country is illegal.

Some Republicans are now saying the document was worthless (because it was unverified information). That doesn't matter. Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort attended the meeting expecting to receive something of value from the Russian government (that's collusion), and they actually received that document (that's illegal).

I don't expect Trump Jr. or Kushner will ever see the inside of a jail. "The Don" would never allow that to happen -- even if he had to resort to giving a presidential pardon. But that doesn't change the facts. What happened was both unethical and illegal -- and the Trump administration is still trying to hide what really happened.

Trump Knuckles Under To Putin In Their First Meeting

(Photo of Putin and Trump is by Evan Vucci (AP) at NBC News.)

Here's what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the Putin/Trump meeting:

“President Trump has said that he has heard earlier declarations from Mr. Putin that Russian leadership and Russian government has not interfered in the elections. And he accepts the things that Mr. Putin has said.” 

And here's what U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said:

"There was not a lot of re-litigating of the past. I think both of the leaders feel like there's a lot of things in the past that both of us are unhappy about. We're unhappy, they're unhappy. What the two Presidents, I think rightly, focused on is how do we move forward. How do we move forward from here, because it’s not clear to me that we will ever come to some agreed-upon resolution of that question between the two nations."

Frankly, I don't trust what either Lavrov or Tillerson ever says, because the Putin administration and the Trump administration have both demonstrated a total disregard for the truth. But when both sides agree on what happened in the meeting, then we are probably getting something at least close to the truth. And that's how I read the two statements above.

Tillerson said Trump opened the meeting by "pressing" Putin on the issue of Russia hacking our election. He had to do that, even though he said just the day before that he still isn't sure it happened (or that it was the Russians who did it). If he hadn't, he would have been roundly criticized by members of both political parties. While Trump doesn't want to admit it happened, the Republicans and Democrats in Congress (and the American public) believes our intelligence agencies (who say it is a fact, and that it was directed by Putin himself).

If we are to believe Lavrov and Tillerson, then Trump did bring the subject up and Putin denied it. Then (whether Trump accepted it or not) they agreed to move on to other subjects and work toward developing a better relationship. That's is NOT adequate!

The hacking of our 2016 election by Russian hackers at the direction of Putin was nothing less than an attack on our country -- on the very basis of our democratic form of government. NOTHING is more important than that -- not Syria, not Ukraine, not North Korea, and not improving relations between Russia and the United States.

The hacking should have been the most important subject of that meeting, and until satisfaction was received on that subject (an apology and assurances that it would never happen again) no other subject should have even been discussed. How can anyone improve relations or have agreements with a government that has attacked the very foundations of our democracy?

Trump knuckled under to Putin on the most important issue there was to discuss. By refusing to stand up to Putin, he failed his country -- and he made the world a much more dangerous place (with a stronger Putin and a weaker American presidency).