I think that it's long past time to start referring to Trump by his real name: Tяump.
77
I completely agree with Mr. Friedman's take on the traitorous actions of the current occupant of the White House yesterday. Just as horrifying is the inaction and complicity of the GOP. The Republicans in Congress will do nothing about Trump's treason (and yes, I believe it is not hyperbole to label it as such, as the core element of our democracy - voting rights - are compromised because he and the GOP refuse to take any action to prevent Putin and his moles from attacking our next election) because with the current president in office and their congressional majorities, they are achieving the goals they have dreamed of for the last 50 years: billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy, slashing environmental and banking regulations and appointing conservative judges at every level of the the federal judiciary. They are on the verge of having a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that will keep them in power for the next 50 years, with the possibility of enacting their extreme social agenda denying voting rights to minorities, taking reproductive health control away from women and codifying the right to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. The only solution is to vote for a Democratic majority in Congress this November.
67
Trump was baiting liberals, and Tom Friedman took the bait.
Yes, the evidence is persuasive that Russia meddled in the US election.
But there is also clear evidence that the US meddled in the Russian election of 1996, which elected Boris Yeltsin to a second term.
Yeltsin was a disaster, conditions in Russia got really bad, there was an attempt at impeachment, finally Yeltsin resigned in favor of Putin. That is what Putin looks back on.
Since the US meddled in Russian elections, he feels he has a right to meddle in US elections. (It is conceivable that those who hacked into the Podesta emails had no contact with Putin.)
Calling Trump treasonous raises the division between two groups in the US to new levels.
Better for the NY Times to be less partisan. Fewer articles calling Trump a treason, more attempts at presenting a less partisan version of the truth.
More listening to the approximately half of voters who voted for Trump. Why did they do so? How can liberals better meet their needs.
One step would be fewer stories about immigrants being separated from their children. Yes this is terrible. But life is pretty bad in Guatemala, and unfortunately many other places.
Like Africa, with a population of 1.2 billion, which is expected to double by 2050.
Liberals seem to cling to the slogan: growth will solve all problems.
Global warming argues otherwise.
We need a one-child policy in the US and a humane end to illegal immigration.
4
But Trump spoke against the USA publicly. What US president has ever done this before ? We’re not supposed to object?
61
No, conservatives cling to the idea that they have no common interests with most other human beings, that nearly all other humans are their natural competitors for the scarce necessities of life.
47
Did anyone see Red Dawn? Yeah, this is how it REALLY happens.
16
John Brennan for President.
22
If enabling an enemy is not treason, what is? A telling moment yesterday - when Putin presented Trump with a soccer ball, rather than accepting it as a gesture from Russia to the US, or, as a commemorative of the meeting, Trump immediately said he'd give it to his son, as if accepting a gift from a family friend. Trump was unable to represent our country, even in so small a matter; he was there to represent his own, personal interests.
35
Ha ha. The joke is on me. I thought I was safe. First he came after ..... Mexicans, Muslims, Women, Black Football Players, Journalists, ... As a white male, I thought I was safe. After yesterday, I found out I gotta be Russian.
50
Everything you need to know about POTUS mindset, is to understand who he listens to, Steve Bannon "I'm a Leninist. Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that's my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down and destroy all of today's establishment" Couple those sentiments with POTUS entire life of skirting the law and running a criminal enterprise, makes clear what we're dealing with. A truly corrupt and un=learned hack.
20
Trump would never have won Pennsylvania and Michigan without Putin's help. Those of us not targeted will never realize how effective the Facebook Fake News was in dissuading potential Hillary supporters from voting. Or how the release of the DNC emails kept Barney youth away from the polls. Or how the Black vote was suppressed using data stolen from the DNC.
The Russians won a war we started when we expanded NATO into the former Soviet satellite states, an aggressive act fully supported by all neoliberals like this columnist. Wasn't there another way to guarantee the sovereignty of Poland without moving nuclear weapons there? The Russians would have let us sell Coca Cola and cars to anyone, but they reacted just like we did when they tried to put missiles in Cuba, only in a more covert, more unforeseen, and more punishing way. Perhaps the Russian people would have wanted a different kind of government as their empire crumbled had they not been so threatened by a West they had been taught to fear for decades. The expansion of NATO was hardly a new Marshall Plan
15
At the very least, Mueller should be able to get Trump for failing to register as a foreign agent.
56
Crimea is 3/4 ethnic Russian. It has belonged to Russia since the days of Peter the Great. The Ukrainians have a language close enough to Russian that they can speak to Russians; there is much intermarriage; their history and religion are compatible. You seriously want us to challenge the world's other military superpower over the independence of Crimea and the Ukraine?
Reserve challenges to issues that make sense. Like our elections. How about a paper trail at the voting booth? You probably can't stop digital fake news, so how about educating the public to treat it as tabloid news and have a paper trail to check on any interference? Fourteeen states don't. And let's realize that we've lost men and money bailing Europe out twice in one century; if they want our support, they can actually decide to fight along side America in the Middle East, not piously announce you're only there to give technical and humanitarian aid. And money in 2030? That's no way to fund building fighter planes and training their pilots. I just googled it: France has still not paid back its World War II debt to America. Right. Our invaluable ally.
1
Many Europeans and Canadians have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
38
The reason Trump is behaving this way is that he's deeply personally compromised. I don't believe he colluded with the Kremlin on the election, though I wouldn't put it past him. He is dumb enough and venal enough to do so. It's just that there doesn't seem to be evidence of that thus far, and he's obsessed with the term "no collusion," because he wants his minions focused on that, and only that.
Donald Trump is owned by Putin for some very dirty financial dealings in Russia with Russians, for a very long time. Follow the money. That's what's keeping this treasonous, foul president up at night. That's what Mueller is looking into.
40
Hard to find a space where the Times addresses conservative media's portrayal of these very same events - or where we commenters can discuss the opposing media angles - but I suppose here is as good as any, considering how boldly and unequivocally yesterday's Hannity's show sided with Trump/Russia after the Helsinki summit.
In many ways, it seems that the tactics of the Fox-Hannity enterprise are akin to what we now know predated the 2008 financial crisis: People so attached to chasing every last dollar, even as the walls are crashing down around them, and yet so priveleged that they would put the fundamental awareness and well-being of millions of others on the line. I'm not sure what the bursting of the Fox News bubble will look like (if that day ever comes), but if it does, it sure as heck will be sad (and ugly). What are your thoughts?
11
Tom, Thank you for putting in words just how I feel, but more importantly, stating clearly what's going on here.
16
In a perverse way it's all quite simple: Trump's behavior in Helsinki is in and of itself an act of collusion with the Russians...
33
Trump is deliberately standing up in opposition to the liberal international system established by the U.S. and to the liberal democracy government by law that is our republic. He's doing so with the enthusiastic support of about sixty million American voters who no longer believe in liberal democracy because they feel it has become dominated by citizens who intend to deprive them of what is theirs and who also think that the U.S. can have it's way in the world without the compromises it must make in gaining support from other countries. Trump is breaking his oath of office but he is serving the wishes of a huge proportion of Americans who have lost trust in the rest. Our republic is facing collapse due to mistrust amongst our citizens towards our citizens. Unless trust in the mutual good faith and common interests of our citizens is restored, this nightmare is going to get worse.
8
That soccer ball Putin gave trump probably contained trump's reel of greatest hits from the Epstein parties, reminding trump that yes, there ARE worse things than caging children, and he will be outed for them if he doesn't obey.
8
Helsinki proved that Putin is knowledgeable in ways that Trump will never be.
Putin is offering vodka toasts as Trump destroys America’s credibility.
Putin, because he listens to his intelligence officers, will out-con Don the Con.
Putin knows Trump's behavior is largely Id driven--that his responses to the slightest provocation are immediate, uncensored, often vengeful and contrary to his own and America's interests.
Putin knows that the narcissistic Trump responds to manipulative flattery.
Putin knows that if Trump is to be successful, he would have to possess a coherent vision of America's objectives and a sense of the threats to our national interests posed by others.
Putin knows that Trump has no such vision or focused sense of threats.
Putin knows Trump's vision is as incoherent as his use of language.
Putin knows Trump’s run-on sentences, sentence fragments, repetitions of trite "pronouncements," low-level vocabulary, non-sequiturs, lack of all semblance of logic, inane tweets, etc., are emblematic of Trump's jejune, limited, out of focus, stunted and fragmented psyche.
Putin knows that Trump lacks the reflective capacity to be a world leader. Trump scarcely acknowledges that there is a world out there, inhabited by other people, concerning which he should form a coherent vision, and over and against which he should reflect on the quality of his own character and comportment.
Trump the Unready has proven to be no match for Vlad the Impaler
19
Legal procedures require evidence. In criminal cases, especially with the treason indictments, the issue of evidence is more problematic.
What kind of Trump's dirts have Putin and the Russian spy networks amassed that forced Trump to openly humiliate the USA and its people as stupid and/or foolish?
Let's hope that the courageous mainstream media like the CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, Reuters, etc, will educate the public on this issue.
8
If republicans don't fall on their swords to protect this country, they won't have a country worth warm spit to run. Stand up now!
13
Let's face it. We don't need to know what a president with an ounce of sense would have said at that conference. There wouldn't have been any conference after it was shown that the country formerly known as the Soviet Union had indulged in such abhorrent behavior (which begs the question"Just where is Edward Snowden anyway?").
Let's hope Congress can pull itself together and save the country.
As a PS, I believe all this talk for the last year on no collusion is so no one will notice conspiracy, which IS criminal.
13
I am perhaps alone on this but what I took away from the strange news event was the thought that Putin doesn't have something on him so much as something for him and/or his family: namely a golf course or hotel or both.
5
No collusion, right? If yesterday's farce wasn't evidence enough (or at least the implication) of collusion, I don't know what is. The shear act of meeting with the Russian tyrant without any preconditions or agenda or fidelity with his advisors is collusion in and of itself. If the glove fits, you must convict!
13
our electoral process is in severe danger. Putin is probably promising that he will hack elections again, the only thing Trump really cares about is himself getting reelected.
8
Can we say that it’s treason yet? All this dissembling is rather obscene.
9
I learned yesterday what Trump's initials stand for: Despicable Traitor. We will learn how many others ride his tailcoats. Our country hangs it's head in shame.
5
The only rationall explanation is that the Ruskies have something on Trump, whether it’s billion dollar loans, laundered money, or salacious tapes.
6
Unfortunately most of the media (including the NY Times) wanted Hillary to win. Nobody expected Trump to win, including Putin. Hillary was a security risk and a liar. Trump stood next to Putin, and that took guts. Trump knows he's an idiot. Voters are tired of getting screwed, and voted for Trump. (I did not.)
@Frank "Hilary was a security risk and a liar". Huh? Compared to Trump? Really? Trump lies on a continual daily basis about everything and nothing. Have you forgotten how he spilled classified information to the Russians in the Oval Office and conducted a meeting about North Korea in a public restaurant at Mar-a-Lago?
12
NOW is the time for OUR five living Presidents to join forces to save/preserve/restore OUR United States of America from the treasonous forces that have taken it over.
Presidents Obama, Bush Jr., Clinton, Bush Sr and Carter can join forces, put The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren in OUR government/agencies under Citizen's Arrest and lock them up.
Working together they can manage OUR United States of America until WE THE PEOPLE elect a Socially Conscious U.S. Senate/House this November and, in 2020, a Socially Conscious President.
They can pass a Constitutional Amendment to remove OUR Justice and Judicial systems from any President's control.
Please, Good Gentlemen, help WE THE PEOPLE save/preserve/restore everything good about OUR United States of America and prevent WW3.
Thank You.
6
I am not a US citizen, and although I greatly admire the US history for its sometimes sinuous defense and promotion of individual freedom and dignity, so it is not for me to comment on the issue of whether the leader of the Western world committed impeachable offenses or not. But I would suggest it is high time someone begins asking Rupert Murdoch if he agrees with the behaviour of President Trump on Russia and Europe. As the master thinker and grey eminence of so many of those individuals trying to destabilize a structure which has largely protected this western world from massive conflicts causing innumerable losses of lives, it would be nice to know what gets him going.
9
Trump if he is not forced to respect the duties and obligations of the office of President, will bring our republic to it’s end. He truly represents about sixty million voters who now think that only a charismatic leader can serve their desires and needs, that the rest of the citizens in this country are their existential adversaries who use the republic governance to take from them to which they have no right. No republic can survive such a state of affairs. The last time this happened it took a civil war to resolve.
6
We seem to be looking a Munich 1938 situation. What would happen if Russia invaded the Baltics right now? Would we honor our NATO obligations or just say Russia had cause.
9
I want Tom Friedman for President. anyone else feel as I do.
4
It is a bit awkward to think of the leader of the "free world" sitting on stage twiddling his thumbs waiting for shorty the dictator to show
9
Burn those MAGA hats!
7
As usual, Mr. Friedman has cut to the core of the matter.
It is imperative that Congress immediately initialize formal OVERSIGHT of Trump's actions. It is Congress' responsibility to do so. The Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, does not even mention Trump's name. The Senate Majority Leader, McConnell, says nothing and wanders around in a comatose daze.
The members of the House and the Senate should fire Messrs. Ryan and McConnell. NOW! Today. Not later.
Congress should replace them both. NOW.
Impeachment proceedings should be immediately considered.
This is no longer a partisan issue. This is an American issue. The country deserves better. And Putin deserves less.
20
We need to consider that DJT may not be compromised by Russia so much as he is compromised by his own ego. He is incapable of accepting the inauguration crowd size even when presented with photographic evidence.
Democrats should focus on UNPREPAREDNESS. Trump’s general incompetence naivety, letting his ego cloud his judgement, etc. This is also an opportunity to talk about how international diplomacy is an entirely different kind of “deal making” than anything Trump did in his real estate business.
4
Where oh where is Congress? we know they have no backbone, but to tolerate this most immoral act is beyond the pale.
VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.
11
Thanks for the comment...and thanks for the New York Times especially in this time of stress!!!!!!!!!!!!
6
Isn't this treasonous? Colluding with a foreign power? Hello, is anyone home?
7
What else does it take for the american public to demand impeachment?
12
What a tragedy for America is this man! No, not Putin. The President of the United States. I am saddened by his throwing America under the bus and cozying up to an avowed enemy. Putin must have been partying hardy after that ridiculous meeting. My question is why oh why oh why are people - intelligent, mature, American patriots - continuing to support this traitor? Open your eyes folks while there's still a country left to be saved....
7
It's time for real action from the Grand Old Putin Party. Perhaps Trey Gowdy should publicly brow beat another member of the intelligence community for hours about their bias toward Dear Leader.
7
Anti-Putin America is still bringing itself down to promote its warmonger economy. History will remember these anti-Putin warmongers as absurd.
1
It's like Munich 1938, but Twitter 2018 style!
2
America is under new management and Putin is our CEO. Good job Trump supporters!
8
When President Obama said on 27 January 2009 that "We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect" the Heritage Foundation said that Obama had "humiliated" the US:
https://www.heritage.org/europe/report/barack-obamas-top-10-apologies-ho...
Now President Trump writes not about "sometimes ... not been perfect" but about "many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity".
When will the Heritage Foundation admit the logical conclusion: Mr. Trump has done far more apologizing for the US than Obama ever did. It is Mr. Trump, not Mr. Obama, who has humiliated the US.
16
Donald Trump is not a President, he is just a con man who fooled a lot of ignorant, took advantage of the feckless Hillary Clinton, and won by a fluke of hopelessly outdated the electoral college system.
What we see in this capitulation is simply the man that Donald Trump is. He cannot do better than this. He cannot see beyond his own immediate needs. This is his limitation. He cannot be President, because to do so demands that he see beyond his own personal agenda. He does not have this capability.
11
Pres. Trump's performance yesterday was a disgrace. What this country needs is a veto-proof coalition of GOP and Dems to take our country back from this self-appointed emperor, who BTW has no clothes.
13
For all those Trump haters out there who think the President didn't get anything out of the meeting obviously weren't paying attention. Every fair minded person could see he got a soccer ball.
8
I think Vice President Putin is doing a great job & hope he runs for President when Trump's term(s) are up in 2032.
2
It is with extreme sadness I see this country ripping itself apart when our relationship with Europe dissolves in the near future.
There are followers of Trump that will stop at nothing to make him President for Life. The Republican controlled Congress is now cowered by those followers and is in effect neutered except to dismantle all programs enacted since the New Deal.
Bigots are emboldened and the police are being fragmented by the gun lobby and "chicken littles" who see that every mistake made by the police is to be paid for by more and more onerous regulations and "re-education".
Our national law-enforcement agency is being made a laughing stock by the executive branch, our intelligence gathering organizations are not to be believed apparently.
I'm just very tired of seeing my country going down the tubes while 30% of the population will support the current administration without question.
Enough is enough, time to realize that we are destroying ourselves and to toss these fools out of power in 4 months. I know politicians lie when it is convenient and do sell their souls, but to wonder at their unpredictability and acquiescence to our impending situation is a little too much.
You know, if not making an issue out of the 2nd amendment will get reasonable people to vote these idiots out - do it! Same with the other polarizing issues that these people are using to garner power. You can always come back to them when sanity is restored.
2
What we really need to be asking ourselves is, "How did we go from a democracy that elected an official as intelligent as Barack Obama to one that elected an official as unintelligent as Donald Trump."
I put the blame on the Republicans who believe that "No Matter What" the idea of winning is all that matters.
There is no attempt to educate the people because there is only the education of money.
The more you earn:
the smatter you are:
the better you do.
It is that simple.
The result is also simple.
Stupid but Simple
5
"...Podesta, Hillary's campaign chairman, sat on the board of a small energy company alongside Russian officials that received $35 million from a Putin-connected Russia government fund, " and "Podesta never fully disclosed the relationship," as required by law.
Clinton had a "strange, and mutually-beneficial relationship with Russia that led to Clinton lending a hand in helping ..Putin build Skolkovo, a high-tech community meant to be 'the Russian equivalent of America's silicon valley'.... . Of the 28 companies that took part, 17 were donors to the Clinton Foundation or paid for Bill Clinton to give speeches."
"While Clinton was Sec. of State, the US recruited a bunch of US high-tech powerhouses to take part in the project."
FBI assistant special agent ...Ziobro in 2014 sent a letter to several US corporate participants warning that "the Skolkovo project may be a means for the Russian government to access our nation's sensitive or classified research development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial application....the FBI believes the true motives of the Russian partners, who are often funded by the government, to gain access to classified, sensitive, and emerging technology from the companies."
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/hillarys-biggest-scandal-r...
1
Which is all total whataboutism. Now concentrate on what your president is doing. Clinton is history whether you like her or not.
9
For the sake of argument only, let’s assume these false allegations are true. What the heck do they have to do with the treasonous behavior of Trump?
One can not justify Trump’s attacks on America by citing how others may have taken bad or illegal actions.
Even if your allegations are true, they bear no weight on the self-incriminating evidence Donald Trump has presented as his being an enemy of the United States.
7
About half of America or more this morning writes, "TRE45ON!"
89% of Republicans think it's "TUESDAY!" and that we "liberals" are hysterical snowflakes and Trump is just great.
108 million didn't vote and don't care it's treason or likely even know that it's Tuesday.
I hope we understand that's the "real" America, Tom.
5
Pat Buchanan is making much more sense.
http://buchanan.org/blog/trump-calls-off-cold-war-ii-129662
Isn't this hilarious? The president who claims to "make America great again" shrinks to a dwarf when he meets Putin.
5
If he is President as a result of Russian meddling in the electoral process, does that not make it impossible for him to admit such? For him to admit he is there as a result of meddling by a foreign power would suggest his presidency is null and void and he would be required to step down. Don't be surprised by his refusal to be the instrument of his own demise.
1
The Democratic Establishment, their neocon/neoliberal allies, and the mainstream "Liberal" media are in full existential melt-down mode over the possibility of improved relations between this country and Russia.
The many anti-Trump anti-Russian cookie-cutter type columns indicate that nothing short of war will ever quench their bellicosity and hatred.
However, even if Democrats have sunk into suicidal despair over the defeat of their anointed neocon Hillary, the rest of us would much prefer a more prosperous and peaceful world. A good working relationship between President Trump and President Putin will help to secure both.
Given the destablizing effect mass immigration has had on nearly every country in the EU and Scandinavia, it has become increasingly evident that Putin's escapades in Syria had nothing to do with helping al Assad preserve his brutal dictatorship.
Putin's primary motive was destablizing NATO alliance and the EU as a way to generate the right-wing nationalism infecting the democratic-liberal order that has sustained peace and prosperity for more than 70 years.
Putin's invasion of eastern Ukraine has been his beta-testing site to see if it could help him reclaim former Soviet captive states. He would like nothing better than see western democracy unravel as he gathers troops on his western borders.
Meanwhile, Trump was sucker punched and never knew it happened. Some would call it Putin's charm offensive. But the cool-and-collected former KGB agent had the poker face of Las Vegas veteran. He would be the "card-counter" beating the house at its own rules.
But Trump lives for the moment and for his ego-fragile nature. He never prepared himself for a meeting with Putin. And it reminded me of the New Yorker article by a Reagan WH staffer who went to the Reykjavik meeting of Reagan and Gorbachev. While "Gorby" brought boxes of binders with material for discussion, Reagan spent much of that time discussing his Hollywood career. Gorbachev fumed all the home to Moscow.
Fortunately for the world, Gorbachev read the tea leaves and dismantled the USSR.
1
Plan for Congress post-Helsinki:
Impeach.
Anything less is further collusion by the governing legislative body. One wonders how many of its members are beholden to Pootin's forces by way of blackmail.
3
Mr Friedman,
Donald Trump is your head of state. His party controls the legislatures and the courts and most State governments. My fellow Canadian and I have no choice but believe Donald J. Trump is the voice of America and he alone has the power to inflict tremendous pain on our country and its economy. We know Russia has much the same religious, social and political platform as the GOP and we understand Russia to oppose our liberal democracy but Putin doesn't speak for the USA and Donald J. Trump does.
1
As long as Fox News is shouting the Trump talking points:
Most Republican politicians will stay quiet.
The Nunes, Jordan, Gohmert, Meadows, etc. will continue defending Trump.
4
As headlined by Politico, the question of the [congressional] GOP to the world: “What would you like us to do?” can be answered using 2nd grade arithmetic.
+ American banks won’t do business with Trump companies.
+ Russian oligarchs do lots of business with Trump.
+ Trump won’t disclose his Income Tax Returns.
+ Trump cashes in by meeting with foreign leaders at Mar-a-Largo.
+ Trump tells us that American intelligence agencies are not to be trusted.
+ Trump says that Mueller’s investigation is a witch hunt.
+ Trump tweets new lies each day.
+ Trump’s tariffs and his attacks on NATO alienate America’s allies.
+ Trump’s tax policy leads to corporate investment abroad, not at home.
+ Trump’s immigration policies deprive aging America of young workers.
+ Trump makes his buddy, Putin, very happy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
= Trump is a treasonous crook.
+ Most of the congressional GOP has collaborated with Trump.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
= The free world answers the GOP, “Remove Trump from office or resign.”
20
The victory Putin rejoices in is simply the election of an ignorant,narcissistic, bumbling fool as American president.
His efforts, on a broad based scale, turned out to be enough to overcome a negative majority vote and squeak by in electoral college vote to put this jerk in the white house. Who knows what Putin holds over Trump, but this nation can no longer afford the total risk if allowing him to remain in office. Maybe the Trump dossier is as accurate as some say.
6
looking at the federal statute defining "treason", there is probable cause to believe trump has committed treason.
for our immediate future, those, especially congressional republicans, who continue to irrationally protect and defend trump from the special prosecutor's investigation, acting outside the confines of the capitol, may be guilty of aiding and abetting treason.
this is indeed a national crisis, and many will be judged in the future, by history and by their families, by how they acted now.
6
In summing up the wrongdoings of the Russians, you forgot one major thing, the proven involvement of the Russians shooting down MH17 killing more that 250 civilians. Everybody seems to forget this horrible event, even our dear Italian friends that are now pushing Europe to lift the Russian sanctions.
6
Maybe the Republican National Convention should be held in Moscow in 2020 and Putin invited to attend as the keynote Speaker.
5
Trump's adversary: the truth
7
Trump is under the delusion he is admired by Putin. The truth is, Putin recognizes Trump as a vain idiot who is easily manipulated and controlled. The problem is, we as Americans are going to suffer the consequences. Trump's enablers in congress will make sure of that.
11
We don't talk enough about why Donald Trump was already a household name decades before he had a TV show. There are a lot of affluent real estate developers in the state of New York; can you name any others with a gun to your head?
He wanted to be famous, and he did it by getting his name in print as much as possible. After a certain point, that made him famous for being famous. It's literally the Paris Hilton playbook -- what a leaked sex tape did for her name recognition, he got via housing discrimination lawsuits and shamelessly messy extramarital affairs.
What he's doing now is what he's always done. His willingness to get his hands dirty, to be the bad guy, to say and do things you're not supposed to -- it's how he got this far in life. Publicly fawning over our oldest enemy while publicly ridiculing our oldest allies is entirely on-brand. The only difference is the stakes, and what hangs in the balance.
7
Putin has had his asset on cruise control, since the “election” until the G 7. Since then, he revved the Cheetoh motor, and today went full red line. Until the G 7, I might have accepted that Comrade Trump was a lucky beneficiary. Not anymore. I now believe that, the KGB has been grooming Trump since 1987. God help us and our country.
2
But Trump is enjoying this and probably saying to Putin...."watch how powerful I am....they'll let me do anything I want, and I have done what I wanted....and nothing will be "done" about it....as long as they have the majority, so Vlad, you better keep us going...."
3
Republicans in Congress, as your former leader once infamously said, "If you're not for us, you're against us." Well, we've now come full cycle, and it is now upon you, The "us" is the US--its institutions and its rule of law, not to mention its security. You must declare yourself, Republicans in Congress, for the rule of law and American institutions. Because if you don't, you're against them.
The high crimes and misdemeanors of the current inhabitant of the White House, not least the violation of his oath of office, make him unsuitable to continue in office. If you do not see this, you're committing your own violations of your oaths of office.
7
Since we know that Trump did not win the election legitimately then that should void anything he has done...including SPOTUS appointment(s), changes to law, tax codes etc....we have been operating without an authentic president so nothing he has "accomplished" should be allowed to stand. Is this our chance for a reset of the Trump admins harsh & destructive actions? We should get every $ back and then take their assets to help compensate for our losses as well as expenses, legal costs etc.
3
@Sandra Garratt - REMINDER: Trump is SECOND GOP president who did not win legitimately. That's how Republicans work.
4
My daughters have Swiss and US nationality. The older one is working at Tromsoe university (Norwegian arctic) as ethologist on circumpolar warming; she is married to a Russian. Contact with the in-laws and with Russian researchers is lively. It seems to be known in Russia the Trump organized or financed a beauty contest in Russia and must have compromised himself in that context (she mentioned it casually, quite a while ago
3
You recall Lance Armstrong's name erased from the record books for his cheating, lack of moral character, and his arrogance.
I would like the same fate (besides long jail time) extended to the impostor Trump.
Use the Russian intrusion in our election process if you need a reason but REMOVE his name from the list of presidents this country has ever had (regardless of how poor some may have been). Do it for THEM, for US, and for the REPUBLIC.
5
Here at home, Trump's self-interest and the Ryan-GOP agenda, so harmful to the poor, are "Russianizing" the American people:
"Russian life [is marked by] the all-pervasive cynicism that no institution is to be trusted, because no institution is bigger than the avarice of the person in charge."--Michael Idov, "Russia: Life After Trust," New York Magazine (January 23-February 5, 2017), p. 22.
Trump's avarice is beyond reasonable doubt. The plutocratic Trump administration and the pro-plutocratic Ryan-GOP agenda are effectively demoralizing the larger American public and fostering an increasingly cynical view of politics, politicians and America's role in the world.
A demoralized people will view Trump's foreign policy--whatever that may be--with cynical skepticism. A further weakening of public trust in Trump's "leadership" will invite foreign enemies to test American power and resolve.
Americas military and diplomatic resources are and will be increasingly challenged abroad. President Trump's loss of international and domestic credibility tempts foreign adversaries to test any perceived American weaknesses.
If Vladimir Putin by his electoral interference had hoped to weaken America's international prestige and leadership, he has already succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Is there much doubt that Putin and others will seize the moment, test America's resolve and attempt to further diminish our nation's international reputation?
5
After Helsinki, seems more than hypocritical for the US Senate to vote on 45's Supreme Court nomination. Merrick Garland was nominated by a lame duck but Mr. Kavanough has been nominated by a traitor.
13
TRUMP VIOLATED HIS OATH OF OFFICE With such excruciating and totally devastating ignorance, imbecility and insouciance, that there can be no doubt that he perpetrated Helsinki, the high crimes and misdemeanors that he utterly demolished both his oath of office and the integrity of the Constitution. Never has so much harm been done by the utterance of a few words as Trump's attributing moral equivalency to Putin le Putain's knowing, sustained and deliberate attacks on our election system and other security apparatus. That Trump is morally bankrupt is gainsaid. But that he would confirm the gold star parent, whom Trump degraded, Khzir Khan, challenged Trump to read the Constitution. To study and learn it. And what impact did Mr. Khan's admonitions have on Trump? Zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing. Nil. Vacuity. Ignorance. and High KKKrimes and Misdemeanors. What Trump said beside Putin dwarfs the enormity of the verbally violent demonstration by the White Supremacists in Charlottesville, VA, to which he also ascribed moral equivalence, insulting the free press that disagreed with his position with publishing fake news. There was only ONE FAKE in that situation. It was Donald Trump. He is nothing less than precisely how Michael Bloomberg described him at the Phila. 2016 National Convention, A New York Con!
10
I am puzzled that more people are not focusing on Trump's business relations (or hope for business relations) with Putin. Our leader is a man who worships money and doesn't care where it comes from. By cozying up to Putin and Kim....he was eyeing the beaches in North Korea, he made clear to me that he only has his small mind on one thing and that is making money....more and more money....a dollar..a mark..a ruble, a pound.....all the same to this greedy man.
6
What is Putin holding over Trump's head that makes Trump so obsequious? The usual suspects have something to do with power, money or sex. I'm betting there's money and sex involved. Trump has already given up his power to Putin.
4
Mr. Rosenstein, Mr. Wray,
I believe it's your duty to charge and arrest Mr. Trump for treason.
9
Mueller needs to hurry.
It's all in Trump's taxes. NY banks long ago stopped loaning/financing his business. He turned to the Russians, and he's being financed by them, and his business is a money laundering agent for the Russians (and perhaps other parties). It's all in the taxes. Tax returns don't reflect net worth; hell, even the numbers don't mean much, it's the relationships that are behind them. That's where the story is and the President is beholden to Russians. It's a house of cards; it's a mess, and it's all about him and he's ruining our country on his own behalf. Disgraceful. And the whole obfuscation about email servers - totally irrelevant at this point.
7
Wonder if Mueller has his taxes. Can Senators or Congressman be arrested for treason if they don’t subpoena taxes with more than “probable cause” and smoke indicating fire? See Article 1 Section 6.
2
I was not in favor of impeachment of Trump until yesterday’s sorry performance. I thought it was better to punish Trump by having him continue to fail until he went down to resounding defeat in 2020 (that is if the democrats can find someone effective enough to run; no Warren, too old; no Bernie, too old; definitely not Hillary, too divisive; and no Biden, too old). That changed yesterday. This is a man who has only his interests in mind not the USA. Trump wants to be a dictator so therefore he admires dictators around the world. Calling the free press the enemy of the people is as Stalinist a remark as he could make without quoting Stalin verbatim. Why he thinks having a cozy relationship with a country that has an economy about the size of Texas and counter to our country, politically and morally and would defecate on the countries that we have had economic as well co-defensive agreement (long term) is a good question but it is not in our interests. I doubt the weak willed Republicans in congress will do one damn thing to rein in the leader of their corrupt party, they are to concerned about their own selfish interests (reelection) to care about the interests of their country or constituents.
8
Thomas, if most of Trump's hard core supporters went to the schools like most of us on the left did, they could easily read between the lines of articles that appeared in NYT and other magazines that clearly printed the charges that have levied against 33 of Trump's campaign related people.
The evidence that you talked about in your article that came from C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A. clearly showed that most of those 33 people were Russians.
And the 3 Russian companies that have already been indicted by Mr. Mueller along with 3 of Trump's campaign officials who pleaded guilty to the charges of money laundering and lying to the F.B.I., were actually charged for colluding with the Russians even though the Special Counsel didn't use the word "collusion" in their charge sheets.
So my question to Trump and his minions is, "Which part of the charges that you people do not understand ? Will you call these charges "collusion" only when Mr. Mueller names them?"
Because to me and millions of other Americans on the left, these charges are what they are : Collusion with the Russians, nothing else.
Even after watching Trump dishing his own intelligence officers in Helsinki, Finland and defending our worst enemy Putin, if his supporters still wait for the word "meddling" to convince them that Russia was involved in the outcome of our last election, then only God can help them, not us.
Till then, they should listen to what Dan Coats has said, "Quite frankly, America is under attack."
6
Since Trump is acting no differently from Putin or one of the Russian oligarchs, then why not impose sanctions on Trump himself. Perhaps freezing his assets is the only thing that will get his attention.
2
I've been suspicious of the fact that Trump wanted no people in the room when he talked to Putin.
Then I read this in the Constitution:
"No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court." Article 3, Section III
He was just playing it safe (while he betrayed our country.)
8
Been saying that myself but that only protects after he’s out of office. It doesn’t protect him from impeachment or conviction.
3
Another editorial asks in it's lead: "Why?"
Easy answer, actually.
Having stolen something in the neighborhood of 200 billion dollars from his people as his typical fee for cooperation is 50% of the business's take in question, and having the ability and willingness to murder anyone at will, he is the god of all that Trump wants and wants to be. Putin and his stolen wealth are Trump's heroin and cocaine.
2
I happen to have a transcript of the meeting between Trump and Putin. After deleting filler, national security information that was handed over, and a great deal of obsequious flattery that Mr. Trump directed to Mr. Putin, here it is:
Trump: Vlad, I see Rupert [Murdoch] making a fortune from our arrangement, likewise the Koch Brothers, several of my cabinet members, the Koch Brothers...but what about me? All I get is a few measly million dollar bribes and a loan to bail out Jared's lousy investment [666 Fifth Ave]. They're killing me out there, I've done everything you wanted, and I need more money. What can you do for me?
Putin: We've already financed you in the billions. You're a bad investor: those capitalist golf courses alone are costing you millions. I'll see what I can do, but don't forget that those loans I've given you have to be repaid.
Trump: Another thing. If I can hold on through the November election, and the GOP keeps the House, I can get rid of Mueller. But it's not looking good, even though we've done a fantastic job of suppressing the Democratic vote.
Putin: Don't worry, Donald. I guarantee you we'll deliver the House and the Senate for you this November.
Trump: you better, otherwise our collusion will be in a lot of trouble.
3
Hysterical, only it’s not....or truth is stranger than fiction
1
It seems to me that what the Russians wanted is already happening. We are divided against each other, racism is rearing it's ugly head, we are tearing children away from their mothers in the name of security for our nation. Californians are talking about splitting the state up. Are we going to continue to sit on the sidelines and complain, holding marches every other week that have no consequences? If this president is treasonous why isn't something happening to put him on trial? I have to agree with the many other commenters here, the Republican Congress is shameful the way they support this president.
4
If peace breaks out, it would destroy the American economy which is based on trillion dollar expenditures for war and preparing for war.
No President can be permitted to disobey or question the fundamental drive of the Pentagon and US Imperialism for global domination.
The last President who defied the militarists was President Kennedy.
JFK was murdered by the military and the intelligence agencies & Deep State you now find so admirable.
2
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov described the meeting as 'Fabulous'. That says it all.
2
Why does this President behave this way ?. There are two explanations that are not mutually exclusive . One strong possibility is that the Russians know something about Trump that terrifies him . It could be something about his finances or something of a sexual nature . Another possibility is that Trump has severe mental problems . The second explanation needs no further proof because is in plain sight for all those who have eyes to see . That this man is unhinged is obvious . You may disagree about the exact nature of his problems . A psychiatrist will need to check him to render an exact diagnosis . But you don`t need a mental health professional to arrive at the certainty that something is wrong with this man .
7
This isn't just gross negligence or quirk of personality. The man was brought up as a crook and remains an habitual crook. Why won't he release his tax returns? Because he is as dirty as they come. I am expecting Mr. Mueller will soon provide ample evidence of money laundering, extortion and collusion with foreign agents. His behavior in Helsinki this week is enough to warrant impeachment and subsequent indictment for treason. While I am generally against the death penalty Trump makes as a good a case for it as I could imagine.
4
So are you backing Trump's claim that Merkel is a Russian asset? Because the Syrian refugees were in Turkey, until the EU refused to provide support to these camps (UN begged for help) and Merkel told the whole world that they could come, and then recorded pictures with them. By the way, she also dismantled the German military, and caused colossal damage to the EU with her mishandling of the euro crisis. Just ask Professor Krugman.
1
Trump's stunning confirmation of Putin's assertion that Russia did not interfere with the US election is consistent with the behavior of a person who knows his time in office is limited. Trump, his son, campaign staff and others all know that the game is now over-- Mueller has the evidence and is soon going to drop the bomb on America that the Trump campaign conspired and coordinated with Russian agents to undermine our election in 2016. Trump's damaging behavior towards our historical allies, cozy relationships with dictators and undermining of what he calls the "establishment" (including the nation's security, law and order, and intelligence agencies) are all consistent with a narcissistic personality disorder and someone who is guilty of a crime. At this point the President is blowing up the building on the way out the door. Mentally incapable of admitting wrongdoing, apologizing, or partaking in the general civil behavior of most leaders -- or people -- Trump will go down fighting until the end and try to spite anyone who stands in the way of his remaining in power. It's all about himself. Everyone is the enemy if they do not agree with him. And anyone or any institution that gets in his way he will try to crush.
It's a dangerous time in US history. Our nation's fate has been placed in the hands of a man who does not have the ability to think beyond himself. And he is determined to destroy anything in his way to win his fight.
12
The most shocking thing about any of this is that the press and some politicians appear to be shocked at Trumps' relationship with Putin. The Russians put Trump in the White House. Why would he behave otherwise? He owes Putin "bigly." Why anyone would ever think Trump has any loyalty to America is the astounding part.
5
The only conclusion I see is that the Russians, or most probably Putin, is that they have tapes of him while he was overseeing the Miss Universe Pageants. I would not go into Russian Hotel and not think there is no video surveillance. Knowing Mr Trump's appetite for woman I think something outrageous is on tape. Mr Trump is being blackmailed and the United States people are paying for his salacious behavior.
Not trusting our intelligence community is understandable to a point, but the Iraq war was a Bush-Cheney imperative.
There is only one thing left to do in order to save face with the world: use all possible means within the Constitution to get rid of trump now.
5
The United States and Russia have been interfering in one another’s domestic politics for since at least the end of World War II, to say nothing of what they do in far more extreme ways to the internal politics of other countries
Republicans love Trump.
Trump loves Russia and Putin.
Therefore, logically, Republicans love Russia and Putin.
Until they take some action beyond their empty words, that's the only conclusion possible. Trump is incapable of confronting Putin and we are left to wonder why. Just what do they have on him and why are the majority of elected Republicans in DC so silent about his treasonous behavior?
Americans want answers. Looks like we'll have to wait for Mueller to answer them and then vote accordingly in November.
6
2 supreme court picks + tax cuts + deregulation + sabotaging ACA > virtually everything else.
I think what we have to accept is Republicans don't see what Russia did as an act of war because it fits so nicely with the Republican business model. Voter suppression, gerrymandering, Citizens United, why not throw in foreign meddling.
Maybe we need to stop focusing on whether Trump conspired with the Russians (spoiler alert: he did), but which Republicans are his accomplices.
5
"[Government] ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority."
James Madison, Father of the Constitution.
Some "democracy"; but his plan seems to be working like a charm.
1
What do readers really need as evidence to believe that there was collusion between Russia and the US before the 2016 election? Mueller has indicted and sentenced several and while they have yet to go to trial, there appears to be substantial evidence for jail/indictments/and the continuing coverage of the acts of treason including this most recent time spent w/Vlad in Helsinki w/Trump. Pray tell indeed! Until trial, the evidence has not been made public as is the case of judicial rulings. But there's sure a hellvualot of smoke! Or money that's being followed.
1
Thank you, Thomas Friedman! I was so aghast after watching the Helsinki press conference, I could hardly speak. I finally composed myself and called my US representative, a Republican, and my one Republican senator to say they must call out Trump's dangerous behavior. He is jeopardizing our nation's security. I fear for both our short term and long term position in global relations. I wish I could have stated my concerns as well as Mr. Friedman. I so appreciate his frank and honest description of the peck of trouble the United States is in due to this most recent strange presidential behavior.
6
Whether you are a Trump supporter or not, whether you question the Mueller-led investigation or not, or whether you question the 2016 Russian hacking or not, President Trump’s performance at Monday’s joint press conference should concern you. He stood on the world stage and did not stand for America. His comments did not reflect a unity with his own administration, and were not ones that showed support of the nation he leads. We should expect that our President will always present a strong defense of democracy, and Mr. Trump did not do that. Granted, we have issues to address in our country, but that does not call for the type of rhetoric we witnessed last Monday. Years back, President Obama was excoriated for his supposed ‘apology tour’. What should we think of Mr. Trump’s latest effort?
6
Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution to provide weapons to the Ukraine to resist Russian efforts to annex eastern Ukraine. Unfortunately, the U.S. president ignored the resolution.
The year was 2015. The president was Barack Obama, acting on the advice of Angela Merkel.
Fortunately, President Trump acted on this resolution and sent lethal weapons so Ukraine can better defend itself.
Using today’s logic, who really acted as Putin’s stooge in this case, Obama or Trump? (In fact, it is neither.)
What a difference three years can make.
2
@John You omitted a couple of facts about the decision not to supply the Ukraine with lethal weapons: The decision was jointly made with other countries involved besides Great Britain. Trump agreed to send arms because the Ukraine agreed to stop cooperating with the Mueller investigation. He didn't do it help the Ukraine. He did it to protect himself.
1
@John The purpose of modern war-making, for someone like Putin, is dissemblance: get Russian patriots to focus on 'Make Russia Great Again' rather than the inconvenient fact that the Putin mafia is robbing Russia blind of its oil wealth because they can't vote themselves rid of this dictator. So, Trumps helping to inflame those hostilities gives Putin exactly what he wants. Obama and Merkel saw what Putin was actually doing, and hit him where it matters to him, making it more difficult for the Putin mafia to sell their ill-gotten oil-wealth , and hide the profits out of Russia.
It's helpful to remember that Putin's original popularity that propelled him to power was his strong response to terrorist bombings by 'Chechen rebels' in Moscow. His response was to lead an energized Russian army down to Chechnya to kill thousands there. Our CIA has concluded that the only 'Chechen rebel' who bombed those apartment buildings, killing hundreds, was Putin himself. But as Trump has alluded, what would the incompetent CIA know?
1
@John, and what would you have done? Started WW III? Angela Merkel was much closer to Crimea than we are, and she didn't want a war in her lap.
If the Republicans up for election in November don't break from Trump -- either continue to be silent, actively support him, or give some obfuscating answer -- what does it mean to vote Republican? What will it mean if they win? I'm wondering and worrying -- what *is* the will of the people, our neighbors and family?
5
Had this meeting been scheduled during the Cold War years of the 1950's, and prefaced by the indictments made public of Russian military officers just three days proceeding it, it would have been cancelled immediately with powerful statements saying no future meeting until apologies and pledges to abandon the interference.
That should have been Trump's blunt public tactic.
Missing from the whole CNN public discussion last night, except for a former US intelligence agency head, the key question becomes: is what Trump has done and said an "impeachable offense?"
I think he has clearly crossed that line.
7
Heartbreaking. But it’s not Trump for me. What is truly crushing are the elected Republican representatives fully in charge of Congress abdicating their role that shatters my spirit. To my many friends on the right, please show your patriotism now. America has never needed you more than it does in this moment.
15
In response to Friedman stating that all Republicans will be asked whether they are with Putin or America, the true answer is that they know that their hold on power is propped up by NRA/Russian money.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/17/1781244/-Russian-spy-worked-w...
https://www.thetrace.org/2018/01/nra-russia-timeline/
11
Reflecting on the Presidents performance, what seems to be most disconcerting was how weak and groveling he seemed to be in the face of power.
Made me think of the importance of values, whether it be personal or national, in forming our character. Especially as the values give strength of conviction when facing the world.
Sadly, the Presidential lack of values has global implications. What the Presidents behavior taught me is that a show of belligerence is hardly a match for the power of principles.
9
Finally, Putin admitted at the Helsinki Press Conference, that he did want Mr. Trump to win at the last presidential elections. This is not Putin simply expressing a wish, there was a plan and a strategy. A plan prepared by an astute and cunning master KGB spy. Not by any traditional politician. All of the indictments that have recently come out from the Special Counsel, tell us there is a link between the indictments and the Russian leader, our adversary. The Senate Intelligence Committee has confirmed of evidence to Russian interference in our elections. Our own intelligence community has over and over again reiterated Russian involvement. All of this has not convinced Mr. Trump. He has continuously disparaged the US intelligence agencies, the very institutions who work around the clock to safeguard our people and country from all forms of security threats.
For millions of us who have seen US presidents come and go, never have we witnessed anyone similar to Mr. Trump. His preference of Russia and that country's president, started off from the 2016 election campaign, has grown stronger even after being elected to Office. To go to a Summitt, outside the US and place his praise, interests and favorability on Putin, an adversary, over the interests of our own country, is the most troubling. Difficult to comprehend. Why would Mr. Trump trust and believe Putin and does not want to trust and be guided by our own people. What exactly is the reason for all of this to be happening?
12
Yesterday, was a date, that will live in infamy.
13
It is probably a function of my age, but
the first word that came to mind during
the Monday press conference was
QUISLING.
4
I will say this again. Trump's moral equivalence of Russian and US visa vs. Russian attacks on our democracy, are equivalent to FDR letting Japan off the hook for attacking Pearl Harbor. After all we were not ready for it so the damage is our fault. Would Republicans in Congress at that time have turned the other cheek as Republicans are doing now to protect a traitor?
14
A pox on both your houses... And NO to Making Russia Great Again! --drat, just when we had them on the ropes, reeling from low petroleum prices, atrocities in Ukraine and Syria, downing civilian aircraft, poisoning and the other perks of authoritarian rule.
There is really only one fail proof solution--PER DIEMS! Raise Trump's per diems sky high for trips to Trump's private golf clubs and make him personally pay full cost for any trip outside the US. Talk to him in a language he understands. Anything to keep him in the US where he becomes a mere domestic outrage.
Congress must also quickly pass laws protecting Mueller, prohibiting the visit of the Russian soccer team to the White House and making Russian an official second language.
And the only response to Putin's disastrous proposal ("great idea"--Trump) to allow his hoodlum operatives to interview Americans and help with the hacking investigations is to allow all Americans to become dual Russian-American citizens and vote in Russia's elections. We wont win even adding 370 million Americans but the elections will likely be a lot closer. And at least we'll have access to universal health care while Trump and his GoP facilitators tear down ACA.
So there are ways to counter the Putin-Trump axis of weevil. It just takes some thinking outside the pox.
5
@Chris Parel Perhaps we should just set up the oval office as a padded cell. It would stop Trump from hurting himself and others and signal how we need to think about his every utterance.
1
Watching the news last night I asked my wife how it was possible that Trump supporters now have an increasingly positive opinion of Putin, a man who supports a vicious tyrant in Syria, a man who kills opponents with deadly nerve gas, a man who invades adjacent countries, a man who will not permit a free press or free elections, a man who has openly manipulated U.S. elections? She calmly turned to me and stated "well he is white you know." Would this farce be possible if we were talking about a Black leader of a Black nation?
11
Allow me to ask again: what might the penalty for a seating US President, if accused of high treason?
5
As alarming as the unmitigated hysteria manifest in this newspaper presently is, it would be even more so if we had not been prepared for it by the reaction of the Times staff to the events surrounding the success of Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary season. Does the full Times stable of neo-cons presently working for the paper suspect Bernie Sanders of being a Russian agent as well? Ironically, the Times editors treatment of his success was reminiscent of nothing so much as the tactic utilized by the old Soviet manipulators of the news of disappearing figures like Trotsky from news photographs. Even more ironic is the noble cause they have chosen, namely the interference by one nation in the sovereign affairs of another. If there is one nation on the planet that has that distinction, it is indisputably the United States--except that our methods involved hit squads and helicopter gun ships rather than anything so subtle as computer technology.
2
@Vincent Amato
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/05/americans-spot-ele...
Treason. Period. Trump cares nothing for our nation and her people and laws. If this love fest doesn’t show us how much he does not care about doing his job in protecting this country, I don’t know what does.
Can you IMAGINE what Republicans and Trump’s rabid base would have said and demanded had President Obama sat so cozily with Putin? No, because he (nor any American President) would never have engaged in such contemptible, dangerous, and traitorous behavior.
I weep for our country. Trump supporters and the complicit Republican Partty, shame on you!
16
I am absolutely speechless! Never in my lifetime, growing up ducking and covering under my grammar school desk because the world was on the verge of nuclear war, would I believe that an American President would turn his back on his country and hand the keys to our democracy to a thug posing as a Russian president. Besides stupid and moronic, Trump is dangerous and clearly treasonous.
What's next? Does Trump give Putin our nuclear launch codes? How can Donald Trump be entrusted with the safety and stewardship of the United States of America when time and again his recklessness and ignorance are bringing our storied nation to it's knees in ways Putin has only dared to dream.
11
Whether he is an imbecile, or an emotionally, or financially compromised fish on the hook, he has been behaving as Putin’s useful idiot. His behavior has been treasonous.
Is it so upfront, on the table, in plain sight, in the light of day, that the establishment cannot figure out how to deal with it? In Orwell’s phrase, “To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.”
That struggle is upon us, now!
11
There are commenters downplaying the severity of Donny's treasonous statements and behavior. They are announcing to the world that they want our president to be the Russian dictator's puppet, they think that this is just fine, an improvement even.
And the silence in congress is astounding. All the hyper-patriots of the "Freedom Party" who back the Hobby Lobby and the moronic "patriotic" standoff by the Bundy's nitwits at Malheur, are just fine with the Russian dictator playing our so-called president for the fool he is.
It can happen here and it is.
13
America, we have a Russian mole in the White House, now what are we going to do about it in November?
8
Here is a name that could stick: Benedict Donald. #BenedictDonald.
10
How much longer are we going to tolerate this orange-haired lout to run amok? We don't have a real Congress these days, what with the Republicans scared of their Trump-loving constituents and the Democrats appearing to be AWOL. When the traitor in our midst is our own president, is there anyone we can trust to get rid of him?
8
Trump is a traitor. What more does he need to do to prove it? Start speaking Russian?
Putin owns him and he wants Putin to help him again in 2018 and 2020; that's the only way he can win.
So, he's not going to criticize Putin for interfering in our elections. He WANTS him to interfere.
8
In this world some people choose to destroy themselves, life by engaging in excessive drinking, unhealthy eating, sexual promiscuity; some even commit suicide. America is no different; it is knowingly moving towards its own destruction.
5
You lost me when you made the equivalency of a Russian phishing email that even my grandmother would know not to open to the attack that murdered 2,403 Americans at Pearl Harbor.
1
THANK YOU, Tom Friedman!
6
TRAITOR TRUMP
I hope the CIA and FBI were listening in on the Trump / Putin Summit conversation...I am sure that the GRU and the Kremlin were listening just in case they can further blackmail our President.
6
Trump likes Putin.
Trump wants to be Putin.
Putin is a despot who gets to say whatever he wants and people have to believe him.
If they disagree, they disappear.
That's the country Trump wants to live in.
4
Recent presidents have tended to blame their predecessors and their administrations for whatever difficult problems arise. While that may be understandable in the context of a campaign, a new president must put that behind and assume responsibility for leading the nation and protecting the interests of the United States against all enemies, domestic and foreign. Cordial personal relationships with foreign leaders may be useful but a president should be aware that in every word and action he represents the nation he or she is sworn to protect. Personal relationships do not matter when the interests of the nation are at stake.
2
This unsustainable development of the US society will inevitably lead the country's economy to a crisis; and through the crisis to a social grassroots revolution in society and the possible disintegration of the country. An example of such an inevitable development is the economic stagnation in the USSR (1983-1991). This stagnation led to counterrevolution (1991-1993) and the disintegration of the Soviet Union into the Union of Independent States (CIS) in 1991.
Trump wants to avoid this development!
@Alexandr
No disrespect, Aleksandr . . .
Without a doubt, the Russians are a great people -- athletes, artists, scientists, and warriors.
But, no one has ever suggested they have anything to say worth listening to when it comes to forms of government.
3
...and after all this - ALL THIS - we still cannot say that Trump and those politicians that support him will be removed from office by that section of the American electorate that continues to love everything that is foul and vile about politics and downright human decency. So where does that leave the rest of us? What IS the way out of this seemingly never ending madness and mayhem?
13
The oversold value of "faith" is nowhere more evident than in the deal the evangelicals made with Trump. If you cannot substantiate something, don't believe it.
7
@Steve - let's not get carried away. There are a lot of unanswered questions and intelligent design makes a lot more sense than a big bang don't you think? That said, of course what politicians refer to as "religious freedom" has nothing to do with faith and everything to do with theocracy.
I want Trump to clearly define what he means by “getting along” with Putin. He says it is good that he get along but what action does getting along exactly translate to? Does it mean overlooking Putin’s aggressions and even crimes? Does it mean we lift sanctions without any corresponding change in behavior?
He can have any personal bromance he likes but he still is required to defend our constitution.
6
I think it is worth telling the Republicans that they have violated their oath by not putting a stop to Trump and his administration- especially Mitch McConnell. The House Republicans are not worth discussing. They should all be impeached.
18
Trump said that the Russians didn't have anything on him because they would have used it by now. That is totally incorrect. If they used it, it would only damage him and destroy its worth to them. The exact opposite is true: If they have something on him, it is only valuable to them until they use it. This makes me think that they do have something.
See: RevolutionOfReason.com
8
Impeachment. It must now happen. Articles of Impeachment must be drawn up as soon as possible. Every member of congress must now take a stand. Either you are with the Constitution, or you are with a foreign dictator and his strangle-hold on the president. Now is the time. There is too much at stake to delay this any longer, even without Robert Mueller's findings.
12
@East End As much as I would like to see it, I think impeachment is a mistake unless Mueller produces compelling evidence that Trump conspired with the Russians. It would never succeed in the Senate; It hurt the Republicans when they tried it with Bill Clinton; and fundamentally and constitutionally, it should be bipartisan. Otherwise it will divide a divided country further, perhaps to the breaking point.
Resist, but don't impeach.
2
Friedman, go back and read an article you published on April 4th, 1993. The Vancouver Summit - Clinton-Yeltsin?
Buried even in that piece is a description of a FSB/GRU operation.
That Yeltsin got the US to fund.
25 years ago.
That's a big head start.
Is it true that Donald Trump told the Russians that
"after the election I'll have more flexibility" ?
4
GW Bush is breathing a sigh of relief now that history will place the title of Worst President Ever on our current feckless leader.
2
The Rs and the Ds, the Ls and the Cs
Americans regardless of reason
We’ll fight on the issues that matter the most
But collectively all condemn treason
Politics is ugly, it can bring out the worst
Especially when out on the stump
But regardless of lever you happen to pull
The treasonous one is that Trump
So come now ye patriots, Americans we
Our Founders did not expect us to fail
Whether you’re red or you’re blue, your country needs you
It’s time to put Donald Trump in jail
5
Let's save the billions spent on intelligence: just call Putin.
1
Trump's performance is only slightly worse that what I expected. He is never held accountable so he's showing more and more of his true colors: an upside-down, dirty and uncared for American flag.
The lack of response from most of the Grand Old Party is shocking. By now they know their Dear Leader does not repay loyalty. They must know his loyalty to Putin has to be based on fear. The idiots have the power to take Trump down - what is stopping them? Greed? Fear of his base? Dishonesty and weakness? What does America mean to these Legislators?
5
Talk about the enemy within...
I can’t say the pledge of allegiance until traitor trump is gone.
1
After reading comments supporting trump's actions today and the relative silence of the GOP, what other conclusion can be reached other than many Americans favor a fascist, authoritarian government? And they have chosen a mentally-ill ignoramus as their leader.
9
Complicity is the key word. The silence has nothing to do with money or power or morals, it has to do with the fact that a large number of republicans are just as compromised, and just as guilty, as trump. The question for me is, were they useful idiots or willful participants? Either way, the punishment for treason is the same and ignorance of the law is no defense, especially for lawmakers.
8
For months I have felt that Trump's team benefited from, but did not help orchestrate Russian hacking which helped us send the guy who lost to the White House. I just figured that everyone in the Trump campaign were venal, corrupt, money grubbing fraudsters who had a lot vested in Russian oligarchs.
I thought them too stupid be part of an active conspiracy. Now I wonder if they were too stupid to avoid the conspiracy, and still too stupid to know you are supposed to conspire *secretly.*
And this is the guy who already has a huge war chest for 2020. God help us, every one.
7
I can't understand why Americans aren't flooding the streets right now in mass protest against your treasonous president that is obviously in the pocket of Russia.
I'd be on the front doorstep of my closest republican representative asking what they are intending on doing about this travesty.
If not now, when?
9
Trump has made dismantling the US oh so easy for Putin. Years of hard work by our FBI, CIA and NSA recklessly destroyed in a few months by a person who does not read.
Prosecute Trump for treason.
8
Trump's next trip - to Moscow.
To be awarded the " ORDER OF LENIN "
2
There is only one word to describe the president's acts and words: TREASON! Treason to America, to its ideals, to the West, to democracy.
His place is in jail.
4
1938: “Peace in our time.”
2018: “He just said it’s not Russia.”
2
If this was Games of Throne then Trump just 'bent' the knee on live TV to Putin. Putin will be breaking open a bottle of Trump vodka on his way home to Russia.
1
Trump will forever be remembered as our Chamberlain
1
He is part of that generation that swallowed the ignorant notion of never apologizing or saying they are wrong. Not all of them did but for Trump it is a perfect fit for his infantile narcissist personality.
Or maybe it is just plain Treason. We've never seen Treason from a President previously so it's a shock.
1
It seems improbable but I think Trump is motivated to support Putin's denial of meddling in our election primarily because he doesn't want to taint his electoral college victory. Is it possible for a president to throw his country under the bus for this reason? It is if you are the flaming narcissist Donald J. Trump.
But Trump has not only shown his naivete to Putin, he has it on full display of the Republican Party. Republicans now have the Ace of Spades they needed to put Trump away and potentially keep the majority Republican voters. And the timing couldn't be better. They have their tax cut and 2 Supreme Court Justices. Mike Pence is waiting in the wings should Trump exit before the current nomination is confirmed.
Will the Republicans take this opportunity to clean house? I think they will. But I've been wrong before. So far Trump's stupidity has been matched only by the muteness of the Republican Party. Nevertheless, I don't think the Republican Senators are stupid or mentally ill. They must see the writing on the wall.
Sometimes you have to do the right thing no matter the consequences. Actually, I think if the Republicans handle this correctly they could use this as a time to be reborn. If they don't I'm not sure they will ever evade the stench of Donald Trump.
1
How some editorials about Republicans who fail to do anything, about thus guy and name names. If the water doesn't boil; tirn the gas up on the flame.
7
Not a surprising take from well know Neocon, interventionist, Russophobe, Tom Friedman. War is better than peace if it means acknowledging Trump, for all his rhetorical and ego faults, may be on the right track.
“As president, I cannot make decisions on foreign policy in a futile effort to appease partisan critics or the media or Democrats who want to do nothing but resist and obstruct … Constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia forwards the opportunity to open new pathways toward peace and stability in our world. I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics.” Not bad for a "moron".
Not long ago the Times editors put their full faith behind the WoMD farce. Now they sell out their readers again. Many, blinded by their own irrational rage, seem all to happy to go along.
Again, I recommend a saner voice.
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/07/16/us-media-is-losing-its-mind-over-t...
Make RUSSIA Great Again : GOP 2018. PERIOD.
2
The liberals calling Trump treasonous and all his supporters to be traitors as well, is disgusting. This hysteria from the left is much worse than McCarthyism, and if they think calling people traitors will win hearts and minds they are sadly mistaken.
How do? Trump favors Putin over our own government agencies?
1
Mr. Friedman states that "Every single Republican lawmaker will be — and should be — asked on the election trail: Are you with Trump and Putin or are you with the C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A.?" Why wait for the election trail? Constituents should insist on lawmakers from both sides of the aisle explicitly declaring their views on Trump's meeting and press conference with Putin now and what, if any, actions they will pursue as a result. Trump is either naive and incompetent or complicit - but either way he is dangerous and unfit for the office of the President of the United States. It's our responsibility as members of a democracy to make it loud and clear that this is unacceptable!
2
Yesterday, I watched in horror as the bad actor playing the role of President of the United States refused to defend it and essentially handed the country to its chief adversary. I agree with John O. Brennan that this is dereliction of duty rising to an impeachable level or, barring that, removal under the 25th Amendment. At last, we have some Republicans, as an evangelist once said, openly "weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth" along with the majority of Americans.
But where is their follow through? Why is the GOP still sitting on its hands while Trump is doing his best/worst to sell out our country? Their complicity by inaction is only marginally less irresponsible than Trump's disgraceful actions and assertions. Messrs. McConnell and Ryan, you know what you need to do; why are you waiting?
Trump and his acolytes leave me embarrassed to be an American and ashamed of our alleged leadership. Frankly, I would rather cast my lot with the religious zealot Mike Pence; at least he appears to understand what country he represents. Trump has handed us the biggest proof yet that he does not. His presence demeans us all.
4
"We got more money. We got more brains. We got better houses, apartments. We got nicer boats. We're smarter than they are. And they say, "The elite." We're the elite. You're the elite." - Donald Trump
"Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product - if we judge the United States of America by that - that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage ... It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile ... And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."
- Robert F. Kennedy
2
Your comment - "Every single Republican lawmaker will be — and should be — asked on the election trail: Are you with Trump and Putin or are you with the C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A.?" - should be a never ending mantra from every Democratic candidate during the November Congressional elections. It's time to take note of where everyone stands: on this side of the line (with those who stand with and defend our national institutions) or on that side (with those who do not).
2
The likening of Russian interference to Pearl Harbor is ridiculous. We accomplish nothing if we adopt the attitude that 'because Trump says this we're opposed'. Why is there no heed paid to the dire threat we now face, as we live in a world on hair trigger nuclear alert? Where is the urgency? If the ball towards arms reduction and peace with Syria can get rolling ever so modestly, is that not preferable to Friedman's insane monologue that his ideal president would have presumably uttered to Putin?
I believe President Trump likes the Communism structure of government. We should all be alarmed if we do not want to live in a Communist country. Mr. Trump would like to have a dictatorial position such as Putin has and we must not allow that to happen.
1
Trump just extended an invitation to Putin to get heavily involved in the coming midterms on the side of Republicans. The House "Freedom Caucus" and the House "Intelligence Committee" have promised Putin a free pass.
1
To continue,daily, to focus on Trump and his minions, harmful words and deeds, descriptions as well as possible explanations, paradoxically empowers the violating individuals and their supportive systems, while disempowering the limited human and nonhuman resources which are needed in order to make needed, equitable, sustainable changes for well being for ALL.A culture based on mutual trust, respect, caring and help is not a battle of words. Voiced or written. Overcoming an institutionalized WE-THEY toxic system needs targeting ongoing actions. By all of US who are able to see and experience the ever present diversities. Hate. Complacency. Mistrust. Lack of needed civility and respect.The infectious wilfull blindness to what is enabled to exist which should not be.Wilfull deafness to unnecessary expressed pains, as well as muted ones by people exhausted by their physical, psychological, social, spiritual, economic, etc pains.Wilfull ignorance to transparent facts which are challenged by principles of faith underpinned by altfacts believed in by “ faithful” in name only!Words alone, of whatever literary quality,are inadequate “ when the center will not hold,” and the “complicit” amongst us shamelessly reign confident that they will not be held personally responsible for the implications or consequences, temporary or more permanent, of their words as well as deeds.A range of daily unrelenting actions are needed.Each of US, with others, to counter and overcome a violating WE.
Senator Corker said it best , the Republicans are turning into a cult pledging absolute obedience and loyalty to the leader, party over country is the new motto. This is not be very surprising given the reverence the evangelical core of the party show to their spiritual leaders and their willingness to look the other way at excesses that does not reflect the spirit of Christianity but rather a new theology based on greed and reverence for money and power. To them Trump is the new Messiah and as such infallible. This a scary moment in the history of the US.
4
Putin wins no matter what...with this press conference or even if DT is impeached. Free elections will never be held in the same esteem. It will take generations to heal.
3
The President's behavior with Putin has been incomprehensible and appalling. Clearly, Trump has not read our Constitution, or, if he has, he doesn't understand what democracy means and how it differs from tyranny. Is Trump a Russian agent, like the Manchurian candidate? Probably not intentionally, but his total lack of historical perspective, his refusal to listen to others, especially his own security advisors and non-partisan investigators, his self-absorption and "Trump brand forward" thinking have conspired to make him a patsy for the Russian tyrant. Wake up, Mr Trump! You are an American and, as President your job is to defend our nation and its institutions to protect our future.
Still wondering why the ape here of permitted debate doesn’t allow for mention of what the emails actually revealed.
We are all hot and bothered boo Trump Putin bad mean mean boo but the sham Democratic primary is just memory-holed.
For the amount you all hyperventilate about how America may not survive Trump, can we gin up some moral outrage over the disenfranchisement of everyone who voted for someone other than HRC in a primary?
Anyone? An article or two on the importance of cleaning house in 2020–top to bottom and left to right?
Wow, now we know why trumps hat and Ties are Red!
I am sure they did select a location for the Trump presidential library. Downtown Moscow next to the GRU HQ.
Why his supporters don't see what he is leads me to understand why people who buy a lemon car still claim that the brand is great!
1
The real and overwhelming question I have is what is Congress going to do to protect the US in light of Trump's ongoing damage? The silence of Republicans in Congress is deafening.
5
This is nonsense. Treasonous? You should be more careful with your accusations. I know you don't like the Russians, nor do I, but Trump is President and he determines foreign policy for better or worse (worse in my opinion) as well as yours. Not liking Trump's foreign policy decisions does not make him treasonous. It just makes him someone you don't agree with, nor do I. No matter what our intelligence agencies say, they don't make policy. Trump, as the duly elected President, makes policy until he is removed from office, through the electoral system or impeachment and conviction.
One would think that Trump would know that relations with Russia (then the Soviet Union) were much worse during the Berlin blockade and the Cuban Missile crisis - which both brought us to the brink of nuclear war. I remember drills at my elementary school where we would shelter under our desks - as if that would protect us from the incoming nukes. But knowing about those and other events would require Trump to have a knowledge of History - and by now we all know that having the words "knowledge" and "Trump" in the same sentence is a sad joke.
3
In front of the world, our President joined forces with the enemy that has, and is still, attacking our country. That is an act of treason, a federal crime, punishable by death.
Imagine you're with the infantry in Vietnam, in a firefight with your platoon against a VC platoon. Suddenly, your Commanding Officer jumps up, runs to the enemy side and starts shooting back at you.
How is this different?
8
All it takes to put an end to trump in this country is for 3 republican Senators to drop their affiliation with the, now treasonous, republican party. The ball's in their court. Do the right thing!
6
Has Putin suggested any real estate deals in Russia, to Trump? Please get the transcript of their one on one.
mr. Friedman - you are a well-respected observer of geo-political machinations, esp. in the middle east. so i ask what country has gained the most from the Trump presidency? The obvious answer is Israel! and knowing how clever Mossad is, it seems logical to conclude that Bibi, the buddy to Trump, his family, and the GOP, would direct Mossad to interfere in the 2016 election and tilt it to Trump! and then put the electronic evidence on Russia's doorstep!
There is also an indictment against Butina who worked for Torshin and I believe the document will be made public for us to read. She worked with at least 2 American operatives to sabotage Hillary and throw the U.S. presidential election to the GOP candidate of their choice, Trump. They also used the conduit of the NRA to get Russian monies to the GOP, and out of 207 GOP members in Congress only 6 or 7 do not get money from the NRA.
Trump and his cabal made sure he got the U.S. presidency and is working for Putin. This is the first time in American history that a traitor actually reached the highest office in our land to conduct further treason against American democracy and American people.
It is unprecedented but it has to be dealt with. There are more Mueller indictments coming down and the majority of Americans are outraged and want Trump charged, impeached and removed, but there are still many who need to open their eyes and swallow painful truths about how Trump got into our WH and who he surrounded himself with, and who he is ultimately working for.
5
Next 'non-fake news'...TRUMP TOWER MOSCOW approved, ground breaking November 6th (Election Day). Don Jr & Eric Trump gleefully announce all financing from Russia so no need for US financial or emoluments cause disclosures. Discussions and negotiation of building have been in progress since 2013 but picked up momentum in January 2017.
2
In effect a bonafide Russian agent is occupying the west wing. I personally am not especially enthused about being under the control of Putin. Just because Putin owns Trump does not mean that he owns me. Until the controlling side of congress demands answers and works to put an end to this treasonous nightmare as delivered by a compromised president they imo are totally complicit and just as responsible as Trump. It is now without a doubt time for congress to take the reigns and stand up to our TRAITOR in chief.
3
While there’s been a lot of talk from Republicans, they won’t lift a finger to do anything. Trump is their dream President. The GOP’s plutocrats have their tax cuts, the Evangelicals a Supreme Court they can use to impose their intolerant and hateful beliefs on the majority and the white Southerners a President who shares their belief that people of color should have no rights.
The GOP picked Trump to lead them because Trump’s values are their values and Trump’s agenda is their agenda.
The problem isn’t Trump. The problem is the racist party of greedy Evangelicals that supports him.
6
Rather than going down the list of government agencies as suggested, we should ask Republican lawmakers......."who are you with"?
2
Since his election President Trump has launched a full-on assault against our Constitution. It began with his repeated derision and name calling of the First Amendment. Fake News! Liars! Now his lack of interest in protecting our free and fair elections and way of life. The "incredible offer" of Putin to "help" the United States investigation - where the indictments are already made no less. Our POTUS is incapable or uninterested in protecting us. Grounds for impeachment are clear.
2
Nothing new here. Tom, when will you acknowledge that it's time to impeach 45?
To paraphrase comedian Jeff Foxworthy, your President might be a "red"neck if he ignores his own intelligence agencies and blames the US and the Democratic Party for Russia's interference in our elections.
2
Trump should tried for treason, not impeached for treason.
2
@Panthiest Impeachment is first step to being tried for treason.
Here's the question. America, are you for the Trump and Putin team or the nation? At this point it's up to you as an American to choose.
Trump's real MAGA: Make America Grovel Again.
2
The Republicans in Congress have permitted and, indeed, encouraged trump's bad behavior. Why are their knickers in a twist at this latest solecism? They created the Frankenstein and now it's running amok in the world. Shame on them!
4
Putin was showing off his new puppet to the world.
What a disgraceful performance by Trump,
as he bows before his handler and accepts that
Putin has dirt on him.
What dirt?
*Sex tapes?
*Money laundering?
*Mob involvement?
Putin said that he gave orders to his men to help Trump
win the election, because he is more committed to the
Russian agenda.
Putin admits that Russia was involved in the 2016 election.
4
@PropagandandTreason
Putin said that he got his men to help Trump during the election.
So why is not the media and politicians talking about
Putin's admittance of ordering his men to "help" Trump
during the election.
Did that "help" involve the hacking of the American democratic election?
1
@PropagandandTreason
The Republicans are all saying how disgusting and disgraceful what Trump did at the press conference,
where he rejected the Intelligence Community,
and accepted that Putin did not hack the election in Trump's favor.
So what are they going to do?
Why isn't the media talking about Putin saying,
"I did, I did" to a question if he helped Trump and got his men to help Trump.
Putin accepts that he instructed his men to help Trump
during the election.
1
Someone save us from this horror.
Whether Trump is a 'useful idiot' or an actual Russian asset, the end result seems the same; and isn't that what matters?
It's shocking that the party of Reagan, who called the USSR "the evil empire," is continuing to stand behind a president who is so clearly in Putin's pocket.
10
I cried while calling my three Congressional reps. I started crying during the press conference and cried to these poor staffers who had to listen to me explain to them that this was TREASON! He is UNFIT!
And yet.....the Republicans do nothing. No one is protecting us! From Putin or Trump!
It's definitely Putin/Trump. Vote accordingly, America. You want to live under Russian rule? Then vote for R's. If you do not, you must vote and vote only D for the next several elections.
They're not going to save us, America. Somehow, we have to save ourselves.
4
That arrogant fool who was so pleased with his own historic accomplishments today is happy in his world. We cannot join him, it is not a real place. I am not able to help him. I can only text my support to those who need to remove him. There is nothing funny about watching a madman fighting windmills. His laughter and everything in his mind is empty of meaning. We are alone here. He is not here. I think, therefore I am. You?
2
@endname I believe the phrase "I really don't care, do you?" was used recently by this administration.
1
Mr. Friedman, will you please start writing about whats really going on here: that Putin has a sex tape of Trump that Trump will do anything to not have it make the rounds on the internet for the entire world to see? I truly believe it is that simple but given the press labels it "too outrageous" it doesn't get the traction it deserves. Do you have a better reason why Trump turned traitor today?
1
Let's say you have one of those horrible neighbors -- the ones who shoot squirrels and scream obscenities at the neighborhood kids if their kickball rolls onto his lawn. And let's say that this neighbor has often behaved in a disturbing and aggressive manner and that you have caught him lying many times, including irrefutable evidence that he keeps moving his fence farther into your yard. And let's say that your dog, who has vexed this neighbor, is suddenly and tragically poisoned. And let's say that your husband and three kids tell you that they saw the neighbor near the dog's outside water dish the day before. And let's say that you march over to the neighbor's house to confront him and you see an empty bottle of the poison in question on his front step. And let's say the whole neighborhood gathers because they are very concerned about this dangerous behavior. And let's say your neighbor denies poisoning the dog. Do you then turn to the neighborhood group, which includes your husband and three kids, and announce to everyone that the neighbor denies poisoning the dog and therefore did not do it?
Of course not. It's nonsensical and also disloyal to the people you trust.
Putin is a thug. Republicans are cowards. Trump is a traitor. And he is not just any traitor, he is the greatest traitor of them all. The question is now -- will the true patriots stand up and throw this traitor and his cabal of fake patriots out of office?
2
@Sandra Parker - Trump is thug AND a traitor.
Watch the video tape from Helsinki CLOSELY.
As Trump and Putin are getting settled, Trump looks over and WINKS at the head of RUSSIA. WINKS!
Why is Trump winking at Putin? It is an "us against the world" moment that turns my stomach.
Would someone please impeach (and hopefully imprison) this Traitor in Chief already? The world has had enough.
3
What if,
what if, Senator McCain asked Trump to resign?
-----------------------------------------------------------
I think that something has to be said that has a punch to it.
All the endless criticism about Trump and Putin, comes and goes. It does not add up to anything. In fact, it adds to Trump's myth, as an invincible, fearless leader.
No, I think someone on the Republican side has to take a stand.
======== Will Sen. McCain, please speak up? =========
1
What’s next? WH Issues Posthumous Pardon of Benedict Arnold?
3
Mr. Friedman as usual is out of touch with America. He does not understand that Americans do not trust US intelligence agencies due to Bush era Iraq Nuclear Weapon Lies that caused the maiming and killing of our loved ones in a pointless war. He does not understand that we saw Clapper tell similar lies during Obama era and we were truly frightened of the power of this deep state. Mr. Friedman please try to understand that your very biased globalist views that see China as our friend and Russian as our mortal enemy are not representative of America. Likewise, you and your ilk's very naive and gullible belief in everything that the US Intelligence community wishes for us to believe is truly laughable. Mr. Friedman you do not share the values and interests of Americans as demonstrated by your globalist intent to ship our jobs and lifestyles overseas to China and India, so please do not claim to speak for us.
1
noam chomsky 's analysis that Trump is a distraction seems so appropriate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQvig0KvUaE
Add a few collaborationists in the halls of Congress and on Fox News, and you might begin to believe that we are living in Vichy France under the leadership of Philippe Pétain.
Anyone who is either a Republican elected representative or works in the White House has two simple choices--they can either firmly speak out or resign. If they choose to speak out, they must be willing to take action.
There is no other acceptable behavior--anything less is inaction so unpatriotic that they no longer deserve to be employed by our government.
The first three words of the Declaration of Independence are WE THE PEOPLE. We the people are demanding accountability NOW.
3
The Declaration of Independence begins with "When in the course of human events." "We the People is the beginning of our Constitution, written 10 plus years later. It is an important distinction because the framers had to acknowledge that the Articles of Confederation had failed to unite the 13 former colonies, now states. The AMMENDABLE Constitution was their attempt at a uniting document. Smart people understand that our Constitution is supposed to be a foundation of our nation-- not a stone tablet that cannot be enhanced or changed. Unfortunately, the Powers that Be (the right wing oligarchs) have a vested interest in making sure it does not keep up with the times we live in. The real problem facing us now is this: clearly there are holes in the Constitution that have allowed an authoritarian traitor to seize power and the so-called checks and balances have failed. And this: because of dramatic changes in demographics, we no longer have a representative democracy. Steps must be taken to correct both issues; if not, we are doomed.
I think what we are witnessing in this latest show of Trump's disdain for government is just that - disdain for the rank and file government bureaucracy, including the intelligence communities, that he and other Republicans have labeled "the swamp." Because Trump has used this wide swath of generalities, anything that comes from a government employee, even from the military, FBI, CIA, even Congress, is not advice that Trump takes seriously. Trump's loyalty is not to any nation-state, it is to money and power at any cost. We wonder why Trump admires and fawns over Putin? Because these Russian oligarchs have more money than he does and he respects that. In their quest for money and power, the Russian rich have used their own system to advance themselves, and that's all that Trump wants to do. These ultra-wealthy can live anywhere in the world, they are nations unto themselves, immune from prosecutions, censorship and accountability to anything, and they see the global economy as their playground. There is not much that can stop them because they are just playing at being world leaders. They have little real concern for their own countries. I find that terrifying.
4
Perhaps President Trump’s suspect performance in Helsinki can be better understood if we (as Mueller’s team of investigators most certainly are) diligently follow the money.
With Trump & Sons, it has always been about the money.
After America’s very own Would-Be-Erdogan experienced his “financial difficulties”* of the past several decades, he could no longer borrow from US banks and had to turn to Russian sources of money—money which, as both of his sons have admitted, the Russian banksters, oligarchs and kleptocrats willingly supplied.
But we must be fair: Trump has never filed for personal bankruptcy. Like any good US mega-capitalist, he merely uses Chapter 11, Title 11, of the US Bankruptcy Code to deprive others of their money, which, of course, is just another example of economic efficiency serving the common good—just ask any of The Donald’s former creditors.
1
Every American should be demanding that their elected officials (especially the Republican ones) publicly challenge Trump's repeated attacks on our intel agencies and on our freedom of the press (something that does not exist in Russia). Here's the letter I sent to my congressman this morning: Dear Mr. Issa, You are among a growing number of Republican congressmen and senators who have decided not to run for reelection. While the vast majority of Republicans currently in office are still afraid to say anything critical about President Trump, some of your departing colleagues have finally started speaking up about his increasingly bizarre and dangerous behavior. His press conference yesterday with Putin in which he derided the U.S. national intel community's findings about Russian interference in our elections, along with his inexplicable willingness to accept Putin's denial, should be raising red flags all over Capitol Hill. Are you afraid to speak up about this, or do you actually believe that Putin (and not every single U.S. intel agency) is correct regarding Russia's successful (and continuing) attacks on our democracy?
Trump does what he does because he knows nothing. He is like a lost four-year-old kid who shrieks and runs from a harmless red robin, but then, when he sees a grizzly bear, cries out “Papa! Papa!” and runs towards it.
We need to stop giving Trump so much power. He is not “changing the order of the world” anymore than a four-year-old kid who throws his bowl of cereal on the floor is ending mealtime etiquette. Trump knows nothing. He is a wealthy, spoiled naïf. He doesn’t know the Kremlin from the White House kitchen.
Republicans, come on! Find your courage. You wanted a dimwit in office because you thought you could control him. What you are getting is a dimwit who is controlled by our adversaries.
Trump’s presidency is like putting that four-year-old kid into a Formula One race car and then expressing astonishment when the kid drives the car straight into the racetrack wall. No, such a crash is not going to “change racing forever”; it merely means that we need to put an experienced driver back into the car!
I have met many people like Donald Trump over the years and subsequently avoided them like the plague. That he is occupying the office of the presidency is an aberration and a tragedy. He is an intellectual pygmy. His lizard brain is all he has and it rules all his behavior. This is deeply worrying for a civilized world to have to contend with.
Because Putin is moderately intelligent, but street-smart, having worked his way up to the top, he finds Donald Trump an easy mark. He has dispatched many people like Donald Trump easily on his climb up the greasy pole of power politics. He schemes, with help from like-minded colleagues. Donald Trump wings it. He is so smug and arrogant that he simply doesn't know what he doesn't know (and doesn't care to learn anyway.) This makes him easy to manipulate. The possibility of there being Kompromat and/or blackmail adds another layer to the mystery.
The EU and Japan have made a tariff-free start. Now all the other like-minded countries should grow spines and take on the bullies, before we end up being sullied. (Here's looking at you, U.K. - sad and demeaning obsequiousness.) You lay down with dogs, you rise with fleas.
5
The primary reason that Mr. Trump obstinately refuses to acknowledge the findings of the intelligence community regarding Russian "meddling" in the 2016 election is simply that he believes it makes him an "illegitimate" president. (Recall that he also lost the popular vote, but he also continues to maintain that there was massive voter "fraud" during the election.) However, he is the president of the United States and in his oath of office has sworn to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution." I totally agree with Mr. Brennan and Mr. Friedman that his lack of action to ensure free elections is an impeachable offense and that he should immediately be convicted by the Senate and removed from office. Even though I do not relish the thought of Mr. Pence becoming president, the Constitution must be defended regardless of the costs.
2
It was never about the meeting. The meeting was just a prop, the main event always was for Donald Trump again to demand that the investigation be nullified, this time with the spectre of Putin ominously standing alongside and the pretext of the fate of the civilized world hanging in the balance. The very real danger lies in the possibility that the Republicans in Congress, the very same who are now issuing their obligatory disapprovals, slowly coming around to this line of reasoning.
2
Trump drew a line in the sand today. You are with him and Russia, or with the American people and their true allies. There is no middle ground. You stand with a traitor, you stand with Trump and his GOP lackeys or you stand with those who fought and for everything this nation is about.
The Republican Party has sold out this country by allowing Donald Trump to continue to spit on the American Flag, and those that died to defend it. Throw these traitors out of our government. Get out the vote in every election and let them know that the we the people cannot tolerate a lying Russian stooge in the White House!
4
How is this not treason?
1
I am 84 and remember when FDR and Hitler were current events. I learned about the 4 freedoms in school and I saw the sacrifices made by my generation made during WWII to defeat fascism as my older brothers saw combat in Europe as well as all my military age cousins. My oldest being killed during the invasion.
Our country was worth dying for and hundreds of thousands did. I believed that taxes were the price of civilization and everyone was equal before the law. I believed that everyone should have equal civil rights. Since I favored progress I voted Democratic.
There was a time that I believed that the government could be believed and was a force for good. Now in my old age I discover that Congress is controlled by fascists in the service of the super rich and we have a government which will likely allow a traitor and a puppet of a mafia like failed state who either controls this bogus president's business fortunes and lines of credit or has something to blackmail him with likely on film with sound track. He just takes orders.
Okay this traitor has a gun to his head, What does Trump love? He loves Trump and he loves money. So we know his "excuse" for treason and not defending the USA against Russia. The question every voter should ask every Republican who holds an elective office is what's your excuse. Is it love of Trump over country or love of money over country?
11
This isn't complicated. Trump depends on Russia for cash in the form of loans and "investments". No one else will loan him/Ivanka/Jr. money. Trump can't leverage currently being president, or later having been president, without access to cash. The Russians are probably stringing him along without any intention of fully following through with the idiot anyway.
4
Hyperbole, lies, irresponsibility. Not Trump, Krugman. The whining of an ensconced tenured professor of Neoliberal excuse making is laughable. Guess what? You & yours can continue to rant endless Trump Derangement and it will not get you the Progressive votes you need to win a Presidential election in 2020, unless you trash the DNC & it's superdelegates and support a real progressive candidate. Blather on Thom, it's your job!
1
@CK: The choice is between Fascism and Democracy in 2018 and 2020. Your whining about the Democrats not being progressive enough reminds me of a customer complaining bitterly over a purchase while the shop is on fire. Hillary Clinton would have been an excellent president who would not have turned back the clock on every progress for the people that took place since Roosevelt.
1
@Anna -Ok, you don't understand either democracy or fascism, check. Clinton, who I voted for with a clothespin on my nose in NH where she won, is a worthless Wall St Neoliberal who is materially indistinguishable from a Republican. AND adding irony to the insult of her candidacy, her own DNC blew it for Democrats by torpedoing Sanders who if you ask them was suitable for around half of Trump supporters and so would have been the biggest landslide since Reagan. YOU gave us a right wing SCOTUS.
What's most surprising is that US citizens are surprised - they are acting shocked, hurt and/or angry by Trump's actions in Helsinki. What did you expect?
Expect nothing else but a disaster. He is a morally bankrupt, imbecilic narcissistic. Always has been and always will be. Sprinkle in some senility and a perfect storm ensues.
5
Trump's incompetence and treason stand as yet another argument in favor of keeping abortion legal.
2
Trump, exactly who are you referring to as your all caps "MY" intell people?
“I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people”
Sure you do, but it's not "OUR" intelligence people, now is it.
That makes you an even bigger traitor than I thought you were before.
3
The only mistake we made was allowing the manchurian candidate neville chamberlain steal our election. Now we need to do something about the russian traitor and anybody that says otherwise needs to be dealt with with extreme malice.
4
Highly recommended audio show yesterday Background Briefing w/ Ian Masters. Macolm Nance career intelligence office and author sheds some light on what might be going on here between Putin and Trump.
https://soundcloud.com/user-830442635/trump-meets-with-putin-in-spite-of...
Donald J Traitor.
And still republicans will do nothing.
Talk is cheap.
Imagine if Obama did 1/1000th of this insanity.
Ironically, it appears that Hillary's private server was the most secure one. LOL
But seriously, Donnie-dict Arnold must go. Better yet, jail. And his whole crooked family too.
3
Now is the time for Carter, both Bushes, Clinton and Obama to speak as one voice and denounce this traitor!
5
I've often said in my comments about Trump's base that Trump could declare he was agreeing to a "incredible offer" from Putin to help him run America and Trump's base would argue that this is how we will Make America Great Again.
This November the question should be: will you vote for Trump and Putin or will you vote for the United States of America?
3
What did we expect? We’ve known since November, 2016, that allowing trump to be trump would move beyond entertainment into words and actions that threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions. And yet we have done nothing. We are all complicit in this nightmarish presidency, from the angry Sanders supporters who refused to vote, to the Republican majority, who have sold their souls to get their tax cut, Supreme Court justices, and re-election.
3
I agree Trump is in the pocket of Putin and he is an asset of GRU Question is, he is not alone - a host of Republican Senators and Congressmen are also in the pocket of Trump. And do not forget, a large part of Republican Party is also in the pocket of Trump. Let us try to understand the severity of this calamity - we are now in a state, where a large sections of our fellow Americans are willing to sale their country to Putin. What you call this situation - the second civil war. We have to fight this civil war to protect our Republic - it is not a joke any more. The first thing we realize that it is not Trump alone - many fellow Americans are directly involved in this act of treason.
1
McConnell and Ryan need to march straight into the Oval Office today and demand Trump’s resignation. “Resign today or we are going to impeach you,” should be the only words out of their mouths. Anything less makes them equally responsible for the disasters facing the United States.
3
But her emails.
Trump should have been taken into custody after disembarking from Air Force 1. John Brennon was accurate in his depiction of Trump committing treason. Did Russia buy the Republican Congress through money funneled through the NRA? Their lack of outrage is stunning.
This was a historic moment one people will remember where they were and what they were doing as in other tragedies: 9/11, the Challenger or assassinations of the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King.,
Chuck Schumer didn't speak from his heart or mind but read a tepid response lacking emotion from prepared papers. Think of teenagers in Florida successfully expressing their opinions after a horrific experience.
Betrayal is one of the most painful emotions. Trump is dangerous, destructive, lacking any loyalty to this country. He has alienated allies, made a fool of himself abroad and nationally....the question isn't..... Why did he do it? It is ...When? When will he be removed since the damage he and his third rate advisors commit may never be repaired.
1
Putin said on Russian state TV that Trump gave him " a very interesting offer on the Ukraine" and discussed getting around the sanctions. Trump is also beholden to Putin for the transcripts of the meeting which means that Putin can claim whatever he wants about the meeting-- whether Trump agreed or not. What's Trump going to do if Putin falsely claims concessions to which Trump did not agreed -- say that Putin is a liar?
Putin has control over what was discussed at the meeting is as damaging as the treasonous press conference, perhaps even more. No one seems to be talking about this aspect of the meeting. Putin owns Trump-- lock , stock and barrel.
3
Trump is a traitor and should be arrested upon his return to the US. He should be impeached immediately. Hanging is too good for him. Mitch McConnell should be censured for failing to perform his duty to the constitution and allow Obama to publicize Russia's interference in our democracy. The entire GOP should be voted out of office and the party ended forever, for collusion, for treason. What a crisis for the republic. We should have a general strike now. This is the time.
4
That Trump is a traitor is now established beyond doubt. But he is not alone. Every Republican in Congress who has backed him with their votes is a traitor to the Constitution. It is time to cleanse the Federal Government of Republicans.
1
how cynical and hypocrite can you be Mr. Friedman? to write that President Trump "engaged in treasonous behavior.." really?? why? because he met with Putin and Putin denied Russian involvement in the election? is the question, "Are you with Trump and Putin or are you with the C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A." reflects something? relevant?
Did President Obama, Mr. Friedman, acted "the American way" when he let Russia take Crimea, part of the Ukraine and drew his invisible "line in the sand" in Syria? was he a great American patriot when he let your ambassador murdered in Benghazi and did not responded? Did not FDR met with Stalin and gave him the Baltic states? was he a traitor to? So President Trump believes Putin that the Russia Federation was never involved in American elections, big deal. Ask the Egyptians, Israelis, Palestinians or Latin American countries if America is involve in their "elections".
America's Russia relations is top priority for the USA and the world and Trump is moving the right direction. I only hope all the hypocrites in the House of Representatives and the media who can not forgive Trump's victory will fail
Did Trump have thousands of our troops, and a million civilians killed, that also caused damage to the middle east for decades to come, over lies propagated by Bush and ilk with the help of the media?
No.
Thanks to our media, to protect Hillary Clinton, they'd rather see a war with Russia.
I'd have loved to see this outrage when Iraq happened - but we didn't. No investigation into the Bush lies, nothing..
2
"No collusion" Trump has said countless times. That is precisely what Trump is openly doing now, colluding with the Russians against the American government, Still in all, even if Trump were removed from office we would be stuck with a Bible thumping wimp as president. Best to vote against all Republicans.
1
Trump just shot someone on 5th Avenue.
Has he got the rest of that right?
2
Trump has been an embarrassment from the get-go. But he did win the election -- however he won it -- and is our president. We could only hope that he would accept the mandate and do all the right things. Instead, he appoints idiots as cabinet members, throws good people and countries under the bus, and leaves good Americans horribly puzzled about where we are going. Can we make it to 2020? The big question is: WHO DO YOU TRUST? If something bad happens, are we we confident this guy and his minions will do the right thing for America? That is a huge worry.
1
Trump is not our president, he is a Russian operative.
2
I you wish to understand Trump's performance, just follow the money. Ask his son Eric.
1
Trump is just out there solving the world's problems for us. The best part is he doesn't have to do any prep work except watch Fox and use all of the information stored inside his brain. He is an expert on nuclear, immigration, history, business and anything else you may ask him about.
He won't be distracted by the fact that all the old buildings in Russia are adorned in gold. He doesn't secretly admire Vlad's total control of Russia's government, military and media. He showed total control of the situation. He actually let someone else speak for over ten minutes without interrupting them. He demonstrated his ability to read from a piece of paper and speak at the same time.
He let his enemies at home have it. All those nasty folks at the F.B.I., C.I.A., N.S.A., D.O.J. and the Democrats. What better place to do it than in Russia, our new found friend. It only took the President four hours to do all of that. Mr. President, I think you deserve a new paint job on Air Force One when you get home, preferably something in gold. RAW
Only one explanation. Putin has compromising pictures / tapes / documents. Evntually the truth will out.
1
I don't believe President Trump is a trader. I think he subconsiously knows he is an illegitimate President. A "Manchurian Candidate" wouldn't have acted crazy in front of his handler. The Hillary e-mail comments were nothing short of crazy.
Mr. Trump is an unloved bully seeking love. He has eyes only for his base and they have eyes for him only. He can't admit the truth. Without Russian help and republican dirty tricks and leaks he would have been slaughtered by a hated Hillary Clinton. Hillary, who even her own supports dislike, slaughtered him in the democratic portion of the voting and obviously would have had bigger crowds at her inauguration.
Putin like Kim are simply father figures for Trump. He is seeking love and acceptance. I feel sorry for the man. I also recognize he is unhinged and needs to be impeached. The rest of us seeking love and acceptance need a stable world where the rule of law and truth still exist.
3
Is Trump America's Kim Philby? I'm just asking and waiting for the other shoe to drop. My money is on Mueller.
2
You buy a dog. Turns out the dog comes with fleas. Blame the former owner all you want; it's your dog now and so are the fleas.
1
Trump's first words to Putin: "Vladimir do me a solid and help out with this next election, OK?
1
I just called my Senator's Perdue and Isakson from Georgia to voice my disgust with this President and his treasonous behavior. I do hope thousands of others will do the same with their Representatives in Congress.
Trump needs to be impeached.
1
The leaders of the party of the majority, the Republican Party, are cowards. McConnell and Ryan will not step up to call this president to account. Patriots, indeed.
2
Have YOU written your elected officials yet?
Comments here may make you feel better but they are not action.
1
@SW - Yes, I have, and will many more times. I have also volunteered on campaigns and run for office myself. I also feel that commenting here, while not the answer, can certainly help. I'm also glad you made your comment.
History will come to view Trump as a Twenty-First Century reincarnation of Benedict Arnold. So much for MAGA. Traitors and treason have no place in our country.
1
Trump could never afford to believe the Intelligence Community, because what they say doesn't make him a legitamate winner in the 2016 election - a fact we've known ever since he took office. He likes Russia and Putin, a fact we knew since 2016 when he asked them in a public campaign rally to hack Hillary Clinton's emails.
Now people (members of the media and the usual politicians) are "shocked" when he doesn't backpedal in front of his friend Putin and behave like a "real" president. It's not like he's never done this sort of thing before. Nearly a year ago he supported Neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville. We let him get this far in his embarrassing tenure as president without any real blowback or consequences.
Anyone shocked by Trump being Trump shows wllfull ignorance. If you are surprised, stop following the tweets and the reports about tweets and go do or read real journalism. Donald's relations with Russian mobsters, oligarchs and other criminal elements in New York and abroad are well-documented. Books have been written about his exploits. The media just chose to forget these facts in their need to sell papers and legitimize a sociopath who never cared for this country or its people. The question now? What will citizens who care about democracy do to hold the GOP-run Congress and ratings-hungry media organizations, Donald's primary enablers, accountable?
5
The question is no longer if Putin has something on Trump but what it actually is.
If his spineless party does nothing after this pitiful, treasonous performance they become by default the party of Russia.
Republicans love Russia and trust them more than their own government. Let's tie that around their neck like an engine block in the next election. Never forget that they evidently couldn't care less about foreign interference in our elections, the foundation of our democracy.
His supporters are also indicted in this. You love Russia and Putin, too, don't you? You wish our country was more like Russia, don't you? Admit it.
1
Hey everyone....this is not shocking. This is what we expected to see, isn't it? Trump is evil and Putin has him in his pocket.
1
Finally, someone in MSM has seen fit to accurately call Donald Trump a Traitor. Trump's words did not come from a bull-horn today; they were uttered rather quietly- but with conviction.
Yet; the most we got from Republicans was the proverbial Pitcher of Warm Spit:
Newt Gingrich:
"President Trump must clarify his statements in Helsinki on our intelligence system and Putin. It is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected—-immediately."
Liz Cheney:
"As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I am deeply troubled by President Trump’s defense of Putin against the intelligence agencies of the U.S...."
Trey Gowdy:
"I am confident former CIA Director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, DNI Dan Coats, Ambassador Nikki Haley, FBI Director Chris Wray, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others will be able to communicate to the President it is possible to conclude Russia interfered with our election in 2016 without delegitimizing his electoral success."
Yet this is the same man who put on a Circus in trying to delegitimize the entire Mueller investigation based on one F.B.I. agent's personal emails.
They are all Disgusting.
4
There was no "cyberhit" on our "democratic process." No one who was going to vote for Clinton switched their vote to Trump. Clinton lost because of hubris - she knew instinctively that she was going to be the winner (plus she cheated by accepting the DNC's revelation of the questions she'd be asked before the debates). And when she lost, she and her sycophants - like you, Mr Friedman - had to blame Anyone But Clinton. Because never in a million thoughts did you or Clinton ever possibly conceive that she would lose. Except she did, and she did so because she was both horrifically horrible as a person, and she was horrifically stupid as a political candidate (hey, why send people or money to Blue states like Michigan and Pennsylvania that voted for Obama in 2012 - they're guaranteed to vote Clinton, right?).
The ire of the Democrats should be aimed and focused at the delinquent drunken teenagers running the DNC.
1
Thomas, I joined you feeling sick to my stomach this morning watching Traitor Trump sell us out to Putin. I have performed research for our great military for the past 32 years and was asked by the US Department of Defense to conduct six Esr on Terrorism projects. I have to believe that the US military will take out Trump before he sells us completely out to the Russians. To other Republicans; either you are with the American people or Traitor Trump!
2
What I don't get is why would Trump's base put up with his love fest for Putin? I can understand the base getting excited when Trump promises more jobs, insists that NFL players stand for the national anthem, attacking immigrants and demanding a wall, but kissing up to the Russians? Nobody could possibly benefit fromo that other than Trump himself - either because of his financial ties to Russia or because he is being blackmailed by Russia or both. This is a real head-scratcher for me. Thoughts anyone?
Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama-all of the Presidents of my lifetime. I may have disliked and disagreed with some of them but I never in my wildest dreams considered any of them a traitor to this country. But today all of my suspicions have been confirmed: We have a traitor in the Oval Office.
2
Q: "Republican Patriots: Where are you???"
A: Scared spitless of being primaried out of office by pro-Trump candidates.
1
A one word description of the Trump/Putin meeting and press conference: collusion!
1
Embarrassing. Humiliating. Sad.
The President had an opportunity to confront Putin in front of the entire world for Russian covert criminal actions against the United States. He didn't because he is a coward plain and simple. He is unfit to lead and unfit to be the president of the United States of America!
Amen, Thomas.
It's time to eject him from public housing.
Congress, where is your mettle?
1
I'll take this one step farther.
Regardless of if you are a Dem or Rep, it's time for all Americans to step up to the plate. Call, and I mean barrage all Rep Congressmen/Women phones, emails, and twitter accounts. Demand that ALL members commence Impeachment hearing by the end on this week. If the spineless enablers won't act, let them know they are in your cross-hairs. You will vote them out of office. Demand that they uphold the Constitution and get this repulsive person out of office, NOW...
3
The GOP Congress is equally complicit. They are behaving as traitors just as much as the president is doing.
Trumpnis more than a lackey; he is a threat to America. Congress, make him go away.
Why would anyone defend a President of USA who trusts the KGB more than he trusts the CIA?
When all else fails, follow the money. Trump wants to build lots of towers, golf courses, and other junk in Russia. He is "making a deal" on his own behalf to that purpose. He also has been compromised and Putey has the goods on him. But you cAN Bet that the almighty dollar (trump's god) is hanging out no matter what this boob does. He is a one subject guy and that is money in one form or the other. All he does is talk "trade", the only subject he can converse on or remembers because he is really demented to the core. He needs to be impeached for stupidity of the highest order.
1
President Trump once again showed why is is a transformational President. President Trump in meeting With Putin did more in one meeting than President Obama did in four years.
Putin is dealing with a President he knows will not back down.
No more red lines that aren't backed up like Syria. No more Criamia's that have aggression imposed against them with no accountability. No more ISIS that are called the Junior Varsity, and kill and behead civilians at will. No more leading from Behind. President Obama was the puppet that did nothing to stop Russia from using cyber warfare on the US not President Trump. By the way, do not think that the US is doing the same thing Russia. And who was it that stuck his nose into Israel Election. Who was it that used cyber attacks to destroy Iran's centrifuges , That was President Bush. Get real. Putin is a thug, thank God we have President Trump not puppet President Obama
Will Trump row back from his Helsinki calamity or will he get kick back? A kick up the bum certainly is in order.
Trump spent the best part of his week throwing hand grenades out of his pram at the whole of Europe. He may well see the kernel of a deal with Russia, but he has made the prospect of further military incursions by Russia all the more real.
Trump has set in motion in tacit agreement with the Kremlin, a signal that Europe must fend for itself. Expect no advocacy or further sanctions. The Ugly Sister's pantomime show is now the real deal as both will meet 'soon and often'. What joy!!
Trump is too corrupt and obtuse to see his persistent crimes. A lifetime with no consequences and brazen cowardice for the whole world to see. The Emperor truly does have a set of new clothes.
“Are you with Trump and Putin or are you with the C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A.?”
This ought to the first and only question the media ask each elected official, each candidate for office, each cabinet official, and each federal prosecutor.
Then the media should publish their answer each day - online, newspaper, radio, television.
That is how you will get the facts to the American public.
America is naturally obsessed with the Russian hacking and interference in the election. But far worse from a global perspective was the invasion and annexation of Ukraine. This was the worst upending of the global rules since Hitler. The only other annexation of an independent neighbouring country or its territory since World War II was Saddam Hussein's seizure of Kuwait (there were also India's and Indonesia's takeovers of the former Portuguese territories of Goa and East Timor, nestled inside their borders. And Indonesia had to give up on East Timor). Seizure of Ukraine was a crime on the same scale as Hitler's takeover of the Sudetenland, only with far less notice and with even less justification.
Along with the Russian inspired and organised uprising in Eastern Ukraine, this was a blatant breach of the security guarantees given to Ukraine in 1993 to get it to give up over 1000 nuclear weapons on its territory. What incentive is their for anyone else to do that in future? And Trump, it seems, not only doesn't mention this, but seems to think that the Russian actions were defensible? Now that's high crimes and misdemeanours.
I find it very interesting how this paper and the left were apologists for the previous Soviet governments. Never mind the millions that were murdered and oppressed by these communists, they were still praised. Now Putin is called a thug and worse. When Trump doesn’t go along with this Russia bashing suddenly he is suspect. A few years ago nothing was made of Hillary’s reset button, or her approval of uranium one sold to Russia. Bill making 500k from a speech in Moscow was perfectly fine. Obama’s live mike statement to the Russian President about having more opportunity after the election barely raised an eyebrow. Now with relations at its worse with Russia since the Cold War you can’t even support the president trying to improve those relations. Would you really rather push our country into nuclear war because of your hatred for Trump?
1
It's time: lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!! And save a few cells for the top GOP enablers; maybe reopen Alcatraz?
Amen, Tom
AMEN
Oh for Gods sake, let’s just all explode in a March on the White House!!! Time to be REAL patriots! Let the protest be with millions of people! Let’s get him OUT!!
I urge everyone to call your Senators and Representatives TODAY and demand that they impeach Trump. It is easy to get their contact numbers by googling their names. Phone calls are much more effective than emails. They work for you! In Maine, the numbers are: Susan Collins-207-784-6969, Bruce Poloquin- 207-942-0583, Angus King- 207-622-8292, Chellie Pingree- 1-888-862-6500.
It's obvious that Donnie admires Vlad soooooo much. Donnie is a wanna-be dictator, and Benito Mussolini is his role model. Watch Benito's film clips from the late 1930s and you can see the resemblance in their body language.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump vs. America is the rise of an axis of malign evil white male supremacist misogynist racist xenophobic prejudiced fascist nationalist corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch autocracy. This axis consistently acts contrary to the interests and values of preserving, protecting and defending our divided limited power constitutional republic of united states.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has baffled and befuddled the last three American Presidents. From George W, Bush fantasizing that Putin has a" soul " to Barack Obama's delusional "reset" to Trump's gratitude for Putin's assistance in getting him selected President of the United States, Putin is still smiling and smirking.
Putin sends his foes to hospitals, mental institutions, prisons, urns and coffins. While Trump imagines that tweeting and speaking slurs is fighting.
1
To: Thomas Friedman
Re: Taking the Gloves Off
You have been consistently critical of the stupid, disloyal hero worship of Donald Trump for a ruthless dictator, Vladimir Putin. Thanks for frankly calling what happened in Helsinki “nothing short of treasonous.”
1
Mr Friedman... perhaps a few deep breaths and a review of the Constitution's definition of treason are in order.
Riddle - what are you when you consort with a criminal regime?
I am simply astounded that there are any people in this country, let alone almost half of those who voted in November 2016, who believed that this imbecile, Traitor Trump, would make a good President! It is really unfathomable to me that we have so many people in the United States of America with so little sense!
Really, how can anyone with even a modicum of intelligence believe that Traitor Trump has one iota of concern for the common man, or any man for that matter, other than himself.
Every time Traitor Trump opens his mouth he makes it glaringly obvious that he has no idea what he is doing and even worse, that he doesn't care about anyone but himself. Nevertheless, his boorish followers seem unfazed by the clear and present danger he presents to our country and the entire free world.
Just about the entire Republican Party, along with the Republican propaganda 24 hr news network, FOX, have capitulated every last ounce of their collective patriotism over to this treasonous Mad Hatter!!! Since the Republican Party has now become the Trumpian Party, the only way to marginalize the future damage this buffoon will do to our country is to take away his power in 2018 by electing veto proof Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. The fate of our country, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance!!!
Register and vote in November 2018!!!
1
President Quisling has revealed his agenda.
1
Trump is surprisingly consistent with his "both sides" illogic. He is a tyrant and an appeaser of brutal facts . I'd like to hear if his logic extends to 9-11 or the gassing of civilians in Syria. This is why Trump is truly dangerous. His logic of "both sides" has and will mask unlawfulness, aggression, racism and is leading the world to a very undemocratic moment in time, not unlike what Hitler was able to achieve within a democracy in the name of a better economy.
This traitor was elected to have access to our national secrets by the lazy American populace who got what it deserved. Therefore DJT needs to be imprisoned so he cannot defect to the Soviet Union where he will be treated like a hero and have access to gazillions and spill all our secrets to his buddy. Till now I thought a Pence presidency would be even worse. Hope the pro-choice and gay rights folks will agree.
Three things
1. He owes big money to Russian interests
2. Russia has compromising information he doesn’t want released
3. He has dictator envy. It’s only
Time until he grovels to Erdoğan, Maduro Chávez. He’s made already made footsie with Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un and now Putin.
Let's face it, Liar Trump is the first US President that is a lackey of our greatest enemy. How was the US bamboozled by this man; oh wait, the majority of US voters did not want Liar Trump to be our President. Seems like it is time to change the Constitution so that popular vote wins the White House. This is the most embarrassing administration in my lifetime. Out with Liar Trump!
What Putin engineered in the annexation of Crimea in 2014 was strikingly similar to the Nazis engineering the Sudetenland crisis - and its subsequent annexation in 1938.
What Trump did today was his Neville Chamberlain moment - but worse: Chamberlain acquiesced to Hitler, but he never tried to throw his own country under the bus in doing so.
Trump fails to understand that Putin doesn't need tanks and armies to win these days. He sends in agitators, biker gangs, unmarked soldiers, and whips up ethnic nationalism to his advantage, and to grow his sphere of influence.
Next up. Bosnia.
1
"Republican Patriots: Where are you???”
There ARE no Republican patriots.
Ronald Reagan 1983
"The USSR is an evil empire!"
Donald Trump 2018
" We are an evil empire"
2
It's conclusive.........we have a fake president.
2
Donald Trump is a treasonous blowhard who sold his country out to Russia for the presidency, literally serving the USA to Putin on a platter. We need to proceed with impeachment of this psychopath so we can, hopefully, recoup our losses before the USA is irreparably lost forever. Are the members of Trump's GOP, Fox cronies, et al finally willing to admit the man is mad and must be stopped?
Trump and Putin vs. Friedman, Democrats and Islamist states.
From my frame of reference, Trump is a traitor, and anyone who still supports him IS ALSO A TRAITOR TO our US Government!
It has finally come down to this: one is either with Trump or against him. In the complicated world in which we live there are not many things one can make so bold a statement. Nothing it seems is cut and dry, black or white. Except for Trump.
Trump has made making a choice crystal clear. Trump can not identify good from bad, right from wrong. He looks at devout enemies of ours, enemies whose goal is to destroy US, not as foes, but merely competitors (so typical of businessmen without morals). If one can still find some smidgen of evidence to support Trump (think Rand Paul) then the time has come for Americans to rise up, to push our 50% participation in elections into the stratosphere.
This nation has its back against the wall. Not a wall like the one on the Southern border, but one which puts our very republic in peril. All those who have laid back, unconcerned about the fate of this nation, need to come to the aid of their country. If they don't there is a strong possibility the United States as we have known it for two and a half centuries will cease to exist.
DD
Manhattan
3
Trump’s openness to having Russia give Mueller a hand investigating is the cyber equivalency of asking al-Qaeda to help America prosecute people responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
It's the height of idiocy that a !!POTUS!! chose to raise this idea publicly without condemning it as ridiculous and insulting.
3
How unfair! Where was the NYT when Clinton /Obama were cozy with Russia. Uranium one / 500k speaking engagement/ 150 M donation to Clinton foundation / red line in Syria / gave away Crimea etc.
Trump is right to doubt the intelligence community they are the ones who setting him up and frame him with the phony Russian collusion.
The dems will lose the mid term election as they did the 2016 election
The American people don't believe an iota of what the elites are saying thru the bias and fake news MSM
@AlainH Who are these American people you speak about? Not the almost 2000 who wrote comments to this article. I searched hard to find yours Alain. Almost every other American who wrote in to express their rage feels and expressed just the opposite of you.
I know you believe that all these people are elitist and that the NYTimes is fake and you are a watchdog for teh true American. I respect your patriotism yet this President is an embarrassment while he personally (along with the real wealthy elites) profits.
Isn’t it about time Americans came to terms with the fact that they have a traitor in the Whitehouse?
6
Today President Trump committed treason in front of the world television audience.
Treason.
GOP - ball is in your court.
7
Treason! I watched some of the meeting and Putin seemed the Alfa dog. So Trump is a traitor to Liberal Democracy, our system, that we actuated if not invented. We have now the strongest military and the strongest economy and we have used that power at least in part to develop a rational world order. NATO, WTO, UN instruments of that rationale. Cooperation, balanced trade and national friendship has made this work for us and our partners. We have continued to promote liberal democracy in third world and even China by scolding human rights abuses. The battle is not over.
Russia is a little country with a bunch of nuclear bombs, but an unappealing economy and an authoritarian ruler. It had nothing to contribute to our enterprise but it has been a spoiler for some time now.
So why would our traitor of a president suck up to Putin and Russia while sowing dissent in NATO and EU and encourage Brexit? Pres seems to be doing dirty tricks for Putin our foe, both geopolitically and by hacking our democracy. Why so? Why be such a traitor? Trump must be beholden to Putin in some fashion, likely kept his business afloat. Why else would he not show his taxes? Corruption, Treason!
1
I'm truly frightened for the future of this country. So, we who are frightened, worried, frustrated, feeling angst, must do what we can. Certainly, we must vote holding Trump's political party to blame for doing nothing to protect us from "treasonous" acts of the President.
But, we must do more. We must actively engage in registering voters who will oust those in power, organize with those who will work through the campaigns. We must change the power balance in the Congress this year.
If we don't, we will also be to blame for the direction our land is headed.
Join up with campaigns where you live. Sign up with the opposing party or candidates. One can work for a specific campaign, or for the local or state political party. Do this, now. Please. The stakes have never been higher in our life times.
1
Trump is not going to disrespect Putin. He needs his help to survive the 2018 election. Our only hope here is to overwhelmingly populate the Congress with Democrats. The Republicans have largely ceded their patriotism.
2
To paraphrase Charles Weller: 'Now is the time for all concerned people to come to the aid of their country'. Note the use of "people", connoting that all of us, citizens and citizen hopefuls should now recognize that the tangible future of our republic is in clear and present danger. Enough is enough.
Tom, both your column, the Editorial Board's piece, and "Morning Joe's" TV 'show' this morning suggest "a bridge too far".
When essentially all public discussion, debate, opinion and emotive sway --- from Tom Steyer's new TV ad paean to Paul Revere's ride of alarm (but without mentioning 'Empire' nor 'Revolution'), to Mourning Joe's TV use of Reagan's March '83 "Evil Empire" speech (but Ronnie, aren't they all?), there is a sense of 'piling-on' in the air (and air-waves) --- which, me thinks, has a whiff of that "bridge too far".
After these 10 'least worst voting' cycles to '16, fueling the penultimate awful choice between a mere "Empress-in-waiting" and Emperor Trump, one has to wonder from today's pile-on of the later, whether 'we the American people' are being protected or propagandized toward still an 11th 'least worst voting' cycle between the 'rougher-talking' neocon 'R' Vichy Party and the 'smoother-lying' neoliberal-con 'D' Vichy Party without ever having the real chance to select 'democracy' over 'empire' --- and without being trusted (or educated) with the proposition that our real division is not between these dual-Vichy Parties, all these emotive "identity issues", the scare terms like; fascism, socialism (or worse communism), oligarchy, dictators, economic risks, immigrant invasions, within and between countries --- rather than 'we the people of our world' being given the free choice of voting for or against another round of wars between Empires and classes.
1
In leaving open the possibility that Russia might be innocent, President Trump was merely echoing the official position of the U.S Justice Department. In announcing the Mueller indictments, Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said, “In our justice system, everyone who is charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. It should go without saying that people who are not charged with a crime also are presumed innocent.” For now, the Russian intelligence officers named in the Mueller indictments are presumed innocent; that is the American system.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-rod-j-rosenst...
We may never know for certain what Trump gave away behind closed doors, but it is HIGHLY unlikely that he mentioned the Russian downing of Malaysia Flight 17 four years ago that caused the deaths of 298 innocent people in he skies of Ukraine. It is even less likely that the Russian tyrant would admit his responsibility for this atrocity.
1
My biggest disappointment is the fact that so many in the GOP are choosing Putin and Trump over American interests. Since when did the self-proclaimed party of patriotism, become the party of collusion and deceit? When all is said and done this will be one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the Republic.
1
Astonishingly anti-American... Trump apologizes for the US and shows that when it comes to Russia he has no boundaries (aka red lines or stern policies) for Putin. No other President of any party was this week and apologetic. I remember Obama being roundly criticized for a Syrian red line with chemical weapons.
Hey, Donald, give us some policy we can be proud of. Start being an American President.
Here's my question for Brett Kavanaugh: "If the person who nominated you to be a Justice on the Supreme Court openly states that he believes President Putin over his own Justice Department, why should we trust him with a Supreme Court nomination, no matter how qualified the candidate?"
Support for our Justice Department is a reasonable pre-requisite for the right to pick a Justice on the highest court of the land.
1
Excellent Article. In my 78 years I have never come across an article on a leader, whether it be of a club, company or nation, that shows such lack of commitment, courage and loyalty to the organization he heads.
In my days as a USMC officer responsible for security clearances, Mr. Trump would probably not even got a "confidential" clearance Or if he did, he would have lost it after some of his shenanigans.
Now we know that it a fact that Mr. Trump is unreliable, unpatriotic and puts our nation in danger. He must be impeached.
Hank SemperFi
2
To expect, or even hope, that the Republicans in Congress will do or say anything meaningful to chastise, let alone penalize, Trump for his behavior during his meeting with Putin is at best wishful thinking. Donald Trump as President of the United States is a nightmare, and one the country will not quickly wake up from. Trump excels at one thing only, wreaking havoc. Republicans excel at being unable to prevent this. Donald Trump is the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. The Republicans in Congress are the ship's crew that were unable to save it. America is in mortal danger with virtually little rescue in sight.
1
Neither conspiracy nor incompetence. The leader's goal is to weaken and dismantle various aspects of the state in order to achieve greater power for himself and (supposedly) his supporters. Any organization or person of power that does not do the leader's bidding is potentially a threat.
Trump said that the Russians didn't have anything on him because they would have used it by now. That is totally incorrect. If they used it, it would only damage him and destroy its worth to them. The exact opposite is true: If they have something on him, it is only valuable to them until they use it. This makes me think that they do have something.
See: RevolutionOfReason.com
3
There is plenty of evidence to impeach this president and seemingly much more to come. However, impeachment does not guarantee removal from office. Most Americans want removal through elections. The American people must be convinced that Trump has to be removed. Treason is a good argument. Let the Congress change hands. Let the fury of true investigations rip the facade off this fake president. I think we are at a turning point. God willing, or if the fates allow, this man will be removed in the third year of his presidency.
I am amazed with the whataboutism of some commenters. Bad acts by the US do not equal bad acts by Russia. Such ridiculousness elevates false equivalence, as Trump put it, both sides are at fault, in essence, ignoring the current problem regarding cyber attacks by Russia. I watched the press conference and did not hear President Putin denounce Russia's Intelligence community or take blame. I heard President Trump accept Putin’s denials, when the most recent indictment of individuals in Russian military intelligence provides detailed evidence to the contrary, denounce the US Intelligence Community and the Department of Justice, which was acquiescence - surrender - to Russia, and blame President Obama, Democrats, and the (Mueller) “probe” as cause for current bad relations with Russia when it was Russia’s who attacked the USA. Trump sold us out, We The People and democratic institutions that protect and defend democratic values and the rule of law. Trump is trying to protect and defend himself and, in doing so, allowed Russia to play him for the fool he is. In my view, Trump reaches out for validation of conspiracy theory ideas of a deep state at home from the foreign adversary who helped get him elected. Trump supporters must remove their blinders to the consequences and sycophants in Congress must stop providing excuses that President Trump was merely conducting foreign policy. This was not foreign policy; this was betrayal.
2
That trump acted as a traitorous and treasonous is only logical and par for the course. Why he did so remains to be seen. Nothing shames donnie except one thing, money, the perception that he has made a lot of money on his own. If we could ever see his financials the truth would come out and donnie would be shamed. Any money he has he got by cheating others, scamming others and generally conning anyone he can. Putin holds the key to donnie`s money. Now why won`t the Pubs get serious about investigating the Russian connection to donnie and our elections? Because they have been embezzling our coffers, subverting our rule of law and extorting our elections for decades and are afraid of bright lights and questions to be answered. Treason comes in many forms.
2
Congress must immediately demand the notes and/or compel testimony of the US interpreter present in the Trump/Putin one on one meeting. Congress must exercise its legislative oversight and find out what Trump said and arranged with Putin. Both the House and Senate should pass resolutions censuring Trump for his remarks and his failure to uphold his oath of office. It is time for Republicans to act like patriotic Americans instead of Trump toadies.
7
No more excuses. The time has come. He has to go--NOW!
3
".....and some of your most intimate personal secrets will appear on the front pages of every newspaper in the world."
Isn't that exactly what Mr Putin tells Mr. Trump in private? Not only personal details...but financial as well.
Sadly and shamefully, there's no question that our president is frightened and scared of the Russian autocrat.
1
Trump's "base" is his only concern..he and they perfectly meet the definition of base as an adjective, herewith,
base( adjective)not having moral principles or rules He acted from base motives. See related entries: Immoral Word Origin. Early senses included 'low, short' and 'of inferior quality'; from the latter arose a sense 'low in the social scale', and hence (mid 16th cent.) 'reprehensibly cowardly, selfish, or mean' ...
Clearly trump is an owned asset. If this does not lead to immediate impeachment hearings, EVERY republican, all of whom are complicit, should be removed from office. Where are you America?
Please bring back president Obama until a new election is called. Bernie Sanders and Maxine Waters must go to the WH and remove Trump immediately. With each day he remains in office, the danger of nuclear war increases exponentially
Re the one on one meeting. All four people in that room spoke English; three spoke Russian. The odd man out was at a disadvantage before one word was spoken. No wonder, it could only go down hill from there.
3
When Mueller gets to the bottom of this, this whole thing is going to be simply about money.
Something as banal as Putin directing oligarchs to forgive Trump's debts and/or payoffs to Trump in the way of real estate permits, cryptocurrency or old fashioned bags of money. Remember that Florida estate Trump bought for $41 million and four years later he turned around and sold for close to $100 million to a Russian oligarch?
In what world does that make any sense?
It's easy, understandable and extremely rational to think that Trump is simply a puppet of Putin based upon how obsequious his actions seem. Trump doesn't look at it that way, he's struck a financial deal with Putin and as long as Putin is keeping his end of the bargain, Trump doesn't care how it looks. As a matter of fact, he loves it because everybody's head is exploding right about now trying to make some kind of sense of it.
This is more of an old fashioned heist than it is some kind of newfangled geopolitical axis of evil with Putin and Trump teaming up to take over the world. Putin pays off Trump, and Trump basically lets Putin run wild in Europe and of course offers "help" with the "elections" over here.
Putin and Trump are trolling us while they are robbing the bank, and we are falling for it.
I am still waiting to hear how Putin and/or the Russians are specifically to blame for crime and violence in American cities, for the offshoring of entire US industries bringing destruction of the working class, for the dumbing down of American schools and culture, for the disappearance of ANY sense of community or even family. Do Democrats not see these things as problems, or do they just see demonizing Russians as the best path to victory in 2018 and beyond?
2
@me Do you really believe that Trump's trade wars are going to help solve those problems? All he has done so far is organize a nice fat tax cut for himself and his pals in the top 1 percent and put thousands of working class jobs in peril by starting a needless trade war with the Chinese and practically everybody else.
@Mark Crozier 1. I didn't mention the trade policy or the tax cuts (and i agree with you about the tax cuts). My point was about demonizing Russians, who were our allies during WWII, btw. It just seems strange to me that liberals apparently want to resurrect the Cold War, which was pointless and extremely expensive, imo. 2. Beyond that, isn't there a certain amount of hypocrisy in calling Trump a "traitor" for simply sitting down with Putin without agreeing to anything that might potentially harm Americans, while Obama was never criticized for pushing treaties like TPP, which most agreed would indisputably harm millions of Americans. There's no hypocrisy in that double standard?
Of course Trump sides with Putin. Putin has the tapes.
3
There is only one way to react! Vote the spineless, looking away, Republicans in Congress out of office. Help America be what it aspires to be.
I was completely unsurprised by Donald Trump's behavior in Helsinki., He lived up to my expectation of him as a man and as a leader.
What astonishes me is that Trump supporters are popping up with bizarre, what about-ist defence of his treason, as if Hillary Clinton's possible shoddy handling of classified documents somehow outweighs an American president committing treason against his own country live, on international TV.
Donald Trump must be removed from office. If Republicans do not wish to sully the reputation of their party by impeaching him, Donald Trump should be removed for mental incompetence. For only a traitor or someone bereft of their senses would side with a foreign power against his own country in front of billions of witnesses!
2
Oh, please. Exactly WHAT did the Russians do to undermine the 2016 election? Did a few Russian bots on Twitter cause some lame-brains to shift their votes from Hillary to Trump?
"Trump is simply insanely obsessed with what happened in the last election." Hardly. The obsession is with the Hillary supporters who don't want to acknowledge that their candidate was fatally flawed, she ran a terrible campaign, and she lost. Get over it!
Mr Trump boasted that he and Mr Putin controlled 90% of the world's nuclear weapons.This is really scary.
Will the FBI please seize Mr Trump's black box.
Thank you and goodnight!
ancient Canadian
1
The President of the United States made treasonous comments, while standing next to our enemy, on foreign soil.
Folks, democracy is not a spectator sport. We have "a Republic, if you can keep it."
1. Call and email your Senators and Reps - especially the Republicans. Bombard them.
2. March in the streets, like our friends in London did.
3. And VOTE!
14
Trump's version of wearing Melania's diplomatic Zara jacket. To the both of them, "Yes I care." Some bodies in the congress had better do something other than hide or hang crepe in their rhetoric or I'm really in trouble and so is my democracy.
This is beginning to feel like binge-watching “Occupied.”
As Republican my entire life, I am disgusted by our President. All Americans should be disgusted that he sides with a hostile power over America and Americans. Why is this NOT treason?
10
Poll: A majority of Americans believe selling out the US to Russia is What Jesus Would Do.
The
Trump administration will not spend one penny to stop Russia from hacking the 2018 election. Who are we kidding here they got into 23 states election servers and didn't change any votes Complete garbage. I think trump WAS elected by Russia and the intelligence agencies refuse to say so to keep the peace.
If there is no blue wave there will be war.
1
All Democrats and Independents need to make bumper or other signs that say: "A vote for Republican in Nov is a vote for Communism and Putin."
3
So now we elected a traitor for President. He does not represent the interest of American Citizens, only is own.
Every President who has taken the oath of office has sworn to protect the country and uphold the Constitution.
This guy has done neither. His base has been duped, bamboozled, if the Helsinki summit does not open their eyes, well, “BLESS THEIR HEARTS”
Your part of the problem Sir. You have spent the last 20 years creating myths for the rich to live by around the world.
If we want to know why Trump is totally in over his head with lack of experience you need to go no further then the subtle shade that Putin ( a real master) threw at him during the press conference by saying that Trump was such an inconsequential businessman that he was not even a blip on Putin’s radar when Trump was last in Moscow. Ouch! Trump is a total failure when it comes to nuance so my guess this diminishing of Trump’s stature by Putin flew right by him. If Donald ever digests the shade Putin threw at him, he will go into apoplectic shock! He thought puppet was bad!
If Trump had taken an aggressive posture with Putin while at the summit it might of made us feel a lot better, but big picture, it would have changed nothing about the Putin/Trump dynamic. Putin has zero respect for Trump or his clown car full of Congressional sycophants.
At the Senate hearings last week, Republicans spent an inordinate amount of time questioning the veracity of Peter Strzok’s statements by measuring his “smirks”. If smirking is how the GOP sleuths wish to measure candor, then they know every single thing that came out of Putin’s mouth at the press conference was a lie. So Gowdy and friends when you try to bolster Trump, you are equally complicate in making us the laughingstock of Putin and the world. That soccer ball Putin gave Trump was the icing on the cake of smack downs . He was telling Trump “go play with shiny objects ; leave the denigration of America to a real man.
2
I believe this is where the generals walk into his office and take power from this traitor until we can set up a new PAPER BALLOT ONLY,HAND COUNTED ELECTION.
4
@gene
You don't even need hand counted paper ballots. We fill out ballots that resemble "bubble tests" and feed them ourselves through a Scantron machine as we leave. You see the number of voters go up by one in the little window. Voters' sheets fall into a neat pile in a basket. If there is any question at all, the paper ballots are there for corroboration as well as for random audits.
All the reliability of paper ballots, but none of the wait time of hand counting! Touch screen voting -- easily hacked -- is anathema to me.
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Well, President Donald Trump just stood on a podium in Helsinki and blasted away at American intelligence defending his partner in crime. From the American perspective, Vladimir Putin committed a crime by authorizing a covert attack on the 2016 elections, hoping to nudge the result in favor of the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. Mr. Trump sided with Mr. Putin against the near certain conclusion of American intelligence services of Mr. Putin’s criminality. What is it that “they” say: the friend of my enemy is my enemy?
Mr. Trump, consciously or unconsciously, knowingly or in the self-justifying ignorance of the malignant narcissist, just sprayed America with a hail of bullets from his assault rifle. OK voters, which side are you on?
1
If only the Republicans who are now pretending to be upset stop trying to discredit Muleller and Rosenstein...
1
Nice analogy with Japan attacking Pearl Harbor but let's face it... the Russians are never going to launch a frontal attack on the USA. That would be far too obvious. They know they can be much more successful exploiting the divisions in American politics and society to weaken and debase the greatest democracy the world has ever known. And who is the most divisive character in America today? You guessed it. The Russians have pulled off a brilliant coup -- from inside the palace. Yes, Trump IS the Manchurian candidate and a Trojan horse rolled into one. The Russkis played the long game and got the dirt on Donald Trump way before he ran for office. And now look how much it's paid off for them. Never in their wildest dreams... but the reality can no longer be ignored. Americans, wake up! Your country is now under direct threat. Only you can save it.
3
Another day in America's history that will " live in infamy"
1
Why would Trump see Putin as a thug? Trump surrounds himself with thugs of his own. It is the environment he chooses to live in. Money laundering and the like. Trump is a kindred spirit. Why he chooses to live this way,
in an amoral world marking choices by expediency, is hard to understand. Most people choose not to live like that.
Trump does not think except by his gut reaction. But what he sees in Putin that causes him to idolize the man is beyond understanding.
Allowing a man like this to be in a position of political power is stupid and dangerous.
I have to believe that the US is still an independant country and has not fallen into the
hands of the likes of Putin. But it looks very
dicey. If this is the case the fragility of
democracy in the US is a startling and frightening sight to watch. What is it that
causes this fragility?
2
Stop with the nonsense about having zero evidence of the conspiracy between the trump family crime syndicate/the Treason Caucus and Russian oligarchs — guilty pleas by Flynn, Papadopolous and Gates, as well as the new indictments provide ample evidence of the conspiracy. Follow the money. Who could have guessed that the NRA and CPAC were traitors.
If DT would be a traitor, why not thinking further than that. If he were for example a Russian agent, then he is doing his job brilliantly. He is reshaping the world order in a way Stalin only could have dreamt of. At the same time he is reshaping the US. Left versus right, democrats versus republicans... with Fox News as the propaganda machine. What will his legacy be? A distorted, broken country at the edge of a civil war. A country that no other country in the world will trust ever again.
Yank Trump’s security clearance.
2
What worries me....what was said in that private meeting with no other Americans than Trump, save a translator.....did Trump set up a direct channel to Putin? Are they going to speak regularly now? IS TRUMP GOING TO GET "THE NEW" REPUBLICAN TALKING POINTS FROM PUTIN???? Putin 'The Trump Whisperer'. This is no joke, no conspiracy theory. We need to follow this very very carefully in the future. From Putin's mouth to Trumps ear to Twitter to the Republican Party.
2
If a thriller author had written this a few years ago, his publisher would have thrown him out laughing and told him to never show his face again.
And if Obama had done what Trump just did, he would have found himself a convicted traitor on death row a few weeks later.
Simply amazing how Obama was called a traitor for completely bogus reasons while Trump gets away with openly treasonous acts.
Republicans talk but still do nothing. There should be a 80% majority for removing Trump from the presidency in a matter of days. But not one of them really cares, possibly except the one guy dying from cancer who has nothing to lose.
So now that the Helsinki "Surrender Summit," has come and gone; and even the G.O.P. die hard`s are unable to defend the indefensible; now what? It will be amusing watching the Trump team somehow make lemon aid out of this lemon. If Newt Gingrich (Newt Gingrich!!!) cannot defend Comrade Trump you know how bad it has gotten. So where does the G.O.P. go now? Do they finally put country above partisan politics? Do they defy the demagogue who takes no prisoners in throwing everyone under the bus? Do they finally admit they are fools for not standing up to someone who is totally unfit for office? Do they finally get the backbone to address the ALT-RIGHT & their lunacy? NAW; just kidding.
2
What happened today was discernible and obvious when Trump gave his nomination speech at the RNC with no mention of Russia and sanctions. There were other signs of collusion at that time as well with Manafort and Flynn being the most visible manifestations and there were those suspect DB loans from Russian money. I asked here the question Are Americans This Stupid ? How could we support a party that allows a Russian sympathizer to be its nominee?
Few people realized then that Trump was acting as an agent of Putin.
Well now we see the results. A significant part of the country is ignorant and could care less if this
buffoon throws the USA under the bus in favor of Russia. We also see how the GOP has become a party of enablers who are incapable of saying the words treason or impeachment .
The spectacle today was the most embarrassing anti- US performance by any American leader in my lifetime except for maybe the spectacle several weeks ago in Singapore. We are in a constitutional crisis of epic proportions as GOP strengthens its grip and Trump becomes delusional and violates his oath on a daily basis. Subpoenas to appear before a grand jury and indictments of a sitting president is the only solution.
Sure looks to me like Trump is compromised, at best, or a Russian agent, at worst. If the Republicans don’t demand to see Trump’s taxes now, then I view them to be compromised as well.
This is an abomination!
5
Is there a term for beyond “beyond the pale”?
Trump is a narcissist.
I'll bet that the Clintons made fun of him at one of those galas, thus motivating his campaign.
If he agrees to the Russians having had some involvement in the election's outcome, it will diminish his victory.
He couldn't stand that.
Trump talking about collusion is like Captain Queeg going on about his missing strawberries in the movie, 'The Caine Mutiny'.
1
Trump and his party laid themselves at putin's feet, and thoroughly humiliated US intelligence and America. America never looked weaker in the eyes of the Russians. Putin knows he has placed a puppet in the oval office.His puppet controls the entire republican party. Putin's meddling in the 2016 US election has succeeded for him beyond his wildest dreams. Putin took over crimea and invaded Ukraine and there is nobody to stop him from taking over all the Baltic countries, the former soviet union and eastern Europe. The whole world knows Trump is a mere mercenary and very weak. Privately Putin has total disdain for Trump.
I'm now truly terrified. We are in the hands of a foreign power perhaps, or maybe Trump and Putin are just figuring out how to carve up the world for their oligarch friends. Scarier still is the lack of leadership from Democrats and Republicans. We need marches in the streets. The Brits made us look like sheep with their demonstrations. Change.org, the Women's March...they want you to send emails. And me, what about me? I sit at my computer and read the NY Times while the world order burns...I guess this is how things end...with a whimper.
1
“Vladimir, we’re still good, right? You and me, we’re still good?” [op cit, Tom Friedman's take on what might have transpired during Trump's one-on-one with Putin]
The idea, I think, is that Putin is Trump's, "Godfather." That is, Putin dictates, and Trump obeys, as in the world of organized crime.
But who are the "G-men" [government agents] whom law abiding citizens rely on to track down and round up the bad guys? Is it the FBI? the Special Prosecutor? the Congress?
Who will act, and when?
Friedman quotes the following Trump statement as just the beginning of "treasonous behavior".
“Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”
The key words are "foolishness", "stupidity", and "Rigged Witch Hunt".
But, Trump is right about two-thirds of these words: foolishness and stupidity.
Following its astounding Democratic Revolution of 1991, free Russia reached out in solidarity to the US, offering friendship and peace into the distant future.
Our Establishment decided instead that it was a great time to drive Russia down so that it would take generations to become once more a great power.
So, we shoved NATO up against the Russian border, the equivalent of the Soviets' placing missiles in Cuba, which begat JFK's threat of WWIII.
Thus did we initiate the conflict which has metastasized into the current insanity.
In the words of George F. Kennan, the architect of our policy in the Cold War, Containment, the 1991 overthrow of the USSR was the greatest non-violent revolution in the history of the world.
We turned our backs on the heroic nation that made that revolution, insanely identifying it with the Stalinist clique it had destroyed.
We threw away the chance for our children to live in a peaceful world, all to assure our position as Macho Number One.
As a result, everybody is talking about The Bomb again.
Isn't that about as foolish and stupid as you can get?
Okay we have known for some time that the person who squates in the Oval Office is a narcissist an ignoramous, a racist, a conman and pathological liar a women hater who is using his office to enrich himself and is okay with the GOP as long as he signs the legislation and pursues the policies that a dozen or so multi billionaires demand.
The nation and the world now know that this abomination of a president whose legitimacy has been in doubt is a traitor to the United States and an agent of the Russian Federation and a puppet of its president Vladimire Putin, who treated him like an employee. It is now obvious to anyone who is not a congressional republican that this nation is no longer an independent nation but a
satellite of the Russian Federation and Mr. Putin.
If our 2018 election is successfully hacked and Trump and the GOP will do nothing to prevent it, it is the end of the story for the America that we knew. The alternatives are either revolution or civil war.
There is a quick temporary fix, but it requires 2 or 3 republican senators who are also patriots. The problem if finding 2 or 3 republican patriots in the Senate, to flip the leadership and to be able to block all further Trump nominees from receiving a vote. Thia would be a tremendous slap is the face for Trump and we, the people in massive numbers ,to overcome the built in republican rigging, can clean out these GOP traitors on the ballot.
It should now be crystal clear to those with a functioning brain that Putin is the Grey Eminence behind Trump's throne, as Cheney was for W.
The only difference is obviously that Putin has so much dirt on Trump, be it money-wise and/or tapes, that turns him to putty in Putin's hand.
Trump is a traitor. The Republicans in Congress who do not oppose him are enabling him.
We all knew what Trump was before the Republicans nominated him; they are the culpable party for this episode, from the start until whatever end may come.
I hope there’s something left of our nation’s reputation to salvage.
Vote out the Republicans everywhere. Never let them back into power again.
4
Trump is a Russian asset and everyone who works in his administration should resign TODAY!
Trump has violated both the letter and, especially, the spirit of an oath of office. Whether members of Congress will now take their promises seriously enough to engage in checks and balances remains to be seen. If no action is taken, Team Putin score. Fearing that Trump's words and actions will provoke a constitutional crisis does not excuse failure to act. We need coherence and commitment to U.S..
4
The Constitution of the United States places with the President the responsibility for the faithful execution of the laws. It also assigns to the President the role of commander-in-chief, responsible for defending the country from attacks by foreign adversaries.
Our entire intelligence community has compiled indisputable evidence of Russian interference with the 2016 election with the intent to sow discord within the electorate, to undermine our democracy, and to advance the campaign of Donald Trump.
The Justice Department has indicted dozens of individuals including numerous Russian agents, identified by name and the agency for which they worked, who executed these nefarious plots. Our President has repeatedly tried to undermine and discredit the investigation as a “witch hunt” and places less credence in the remarkable investigative work that has led to the indictments than he does in the denial of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In my view, the President is clearly guilty of obstruction of justice, dereliction of duty, and, quite likely, collusion with a foreign adversary. The obvious question now is this: When do the impeachment hearings begin?
3
I listened to the live broadcast of the press conference and was dumbstruck. I have never felt so betrayed as I have by this president. Impeachment has not been on the top of my political priorities but now it is. And I recommend a "double impeachment" of both Trump and Pence at the same time. What happens then? Well, if this happens after the midterms and the Democrats take back the House and Senate then a Democratic Speaker of the House steps in and we finally have a president who represents the majority of the American voters.
11
Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell should stop playing politics and start defending our country. They should either start the impeachment process, or at the very least stop cooperating with the President until he rebukes President Putin and impose painful punishment on Russia. In addition, the President should direct all national security agencies to increase the defence of our national assets.
9
Another excellent Friedman opinion! What strikes me about the one on one meeting between our Great Negotiator who knows all without reading or needing to listen to experienced, well-educated advisers and the experienced KGB agent turned into billionaire, bare-chest-horseback riding head of Russia is the Republican party silence before this happened. Now, there have been some concerns expressed, notably Senator John McCain, Nebraska's Senator Ben Sasse and a few others. Just recently, a large chorus from the Intelligence Committees spent hours trying to destroy an FBI lawyer who improperly used government e-mail to convey his distaste for Trump and other presidential candidates in 2016, but leaked nothing to the press, thereby not in the least influencing the election. Before that, we had the Benghazi hearings, the repeated smashing of Clinton to find out how this happened, and then the relentless search through her private server and e-mails for leaks of documents that were classified or that could have become classified later. "Lock her up" was the cry on the campaign trail from supporters of Trump. Hillary might have betrayed the country, might have opened us up to spies. So, with all that outrage, why the silence when our President decides to spend hours alone with a trained KGB agent and a few translators. Did our Great Negotiator give away any intelligence secrets or, worse, name operatives acting to find information? Silence about this from the formally vocal.
10
I didn't want to read this column. Why doesn't the Times labels the columns with the author's name?
Depending on where you saw it, Friedman's name is either right above or right below the headline.
What was discussed for TWO HOURS. Mr. T, alone with KGB Putin. We the people have a right to know what our employee, Mr. T, gave away.
6
Everyone is seemingly aghast that our president to 'throw his own country under the bus'.
My question is why?
We all knew what and who Trump was.
As the late great Maya Angelou said, 'When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
But no, we laughed and rationalized the various 'peccadillos' of Trump.
Number one, Trump is a con man, a charlatan.
Number two, he can rival his deceased alcoholic brother in his addiction to money and power.
Number three, he likes to bill himself as a showman.
All of which he showed while on the campaign trail and even more so with his dance as president.
His job was/is to undermine the eyes of the US in the eyes of the world.
This might devaluate the US in terms of money and as a powerful country.
If the US is devalued, that puts China and Russia in #1 and #2 spot.
It also leaves us vulnerable and ineffective in the South Seas and Europe.
We have seen the enemy, and it is the president of the US.
Trump is our Trojan Horse.
Spoken from a sitting on the sidewalk observer.
6
America was attacked by Russia in an unprecedented fashion and today the President of the United States surrendered without any fight whatsoever. The Democratic Party should stand united tomorrow in attempting to impeach Donald Trump. He has committed treason. Forget waiting for Mueller or any kind of foolhardy political calculus with regard to the elections in November. If there ever were a time for moral clarity, it is this very moment. This President must be impeached, tried and, if found guilty, suffer the severest of punishment allowed by law. We must stand forcefully in complete unison against the greatest threat our country has ever faced and we must do it now.
6
And Rick Santorium engaged today in whataboutism--but, but what about Obama giving Iran billions of dollars. Unfortunately he is speaking for the majority of craven Repubs in Congress who will continue to put Party before country.
5
The entire G.O.P has been coopted by Russia. The NRA received russian money. Russian companies based in Florida disseminating real fake news. It is time for a purge of all Republican Politicians from elected office. Many need to do serious prison time.
3
“Republicans can no longer run and hide from that fact...”
How many times have I read similar phrases in the past year? And yet Republicans still find holes to hide in.
6
What to think about this travesty? I'm sorry but for me it's clear.
It's time for American's to turn their back on Trump and, if necessary, start going it alone without a POTUS because in truth he isn't speaking for us, and he clearly doesn't represent or support America. And anyone, ANYONE, on either side of the aisle within the House or Senate who does not rise up over this obsequious prance by Trump before Putin needs to be removed from office. That is, if Trump himself isn't removed first.
I have had, and seen, enough. The man is not my President. I am calling for his removal on grounds that he isn't American and is thus unfit to helm our great country any longer.
John~
American Net'Zen
3
America: you put an untrained, inexperienced real-estate/reality-show t.v. personality in the same ring with a highly trained & experienced former KGB colonel/hood and expected a different outcome?
12
Thank you for writing this “spot on” column. I am outraged and sad on many levels on many things about our President but today just sheer rage that he is placing our country in this precarious position. Totally outrageous that he would put down our intelligence agencies on foreign soil and side with a killer dictator. Also, it is so cringe worthy to hear him speak about emails and Hillary Clinton and servers and Agent Strzok at a podium in Helsinki as President of US but sounding like a gossip monger on a stoop or maybe a green.Where does this go? When does this stop? When do the Republicans stop cowering and call out the traitorous behavior of our president. Again thank you Thomas Friedman for writing this column.
5
The sad thing is that his base, and several layers of the GOP above them, are still supporting him and have actually increased approval of Putin above approval of Trump. He is selling the US down the river, and in the meantime, has built an audience that is massive throughout the planet. And he didn't even have to pay the advertising costs...in fact, he is getting richer through so many loopholes it is disgusting. Stop him, please!
4
Future Historians will find it ironic that the decline in America’s greatness began under a President whose slogan was “Make America Great Again.”
5
@Richard
Make Putin Great Again is more like it.
Yesterday the focus was on a treasonous president. Today the focus should be on Republicans. Are there any Republican patriots?
One must ask that question in sincerity. Since even before Trump received the required electoral votes, Republicans have not acted as Americans. Instead of standing up and honoring their oaths of office to defend the Constitution and the United States, instead of carrying out their responsibility of oversight, instead of calling out the deranged and disgusting behavior of Trump, they have been AWOL.
12
Nice that the media has finally gotten around to considering that Trump might be a Russian asset. Time to also consider that he might, like the supposedly "great communicator" Ronald Reagan, actually be exhibiting a progressing stage of dementia.
7
Bravo, Mr. Friedman! You are right on the mark.
3
Let's avoid the past tense, this ain't about Hillary, she's not president. Right now there is evidence of current and ongoing collusion. Talk about the last election is a diversion, the question is what are Trump-ublicans doing about securing the next elections? That's the question never asked, the headline never written. TrumPutin's goals are to cooperate/collude/obfuscate on Trump's re-election.
3
Donald Trump is the perfect stooge. A man who loves to be the center of attention for attention's sake. Who has no moral compass, is not a passionate patriot, and seems to have a grudge against anyone who ever looked their nose down at him. He has no working knowledge of the past, has a vocabulary limited to a single Tweet, and, even though he has 9 grandchildren, could care less about the future of his own family let alone the USA or the World.
Yes, Donald was perfectly tuned yesterday by the Kremlin to allow Putin to give a world class performance.
7
it's time, to repeat once more, for the press to lay off the trump dump... democrats and their media "lackeys" have wasted far too much time on mindless griping, largely personal attacks (doubters need only look at the nyt op-ed pages) and given far too little to cogent opposition, the sort of grown up policy stuff that breeds trust and votes.
in prior attempts to turn the volume down, the point was made (by this disappointed progressive) that trump, if given some room would spike his own guns, as, sure enough, he has with his clumsy remarks in the putin meeting about russian hacking.
what he's done is magnified by his lack of rhetorical skill (after all obama's, chiding of romney over his concern about russia, echoed by hillary clinton and john kerry was arguably more valuable to putin in helping to take the critical heat and light off him and his cadre of subversives) he will, if left to himself continue to blunder into hasty comments (for example,conflating the mueller collusion inquiry, the "witch hunt" with the russian hacking investigation, rather a counter intelligence operation than a "witch hunt) that will, if simply pointed out and left to ferment, give his base cause for reflection...the continual raging, however, will only keep the base on guard.
despite the newest discovery (and indicment) of yet another russian agent
Trump's first words to Vladimir Putin when finally alone together were,"What can we do to get whole again?"
3
What gets missed in articles and commentaries, unfortunately, is inferential knowledge of Trump’s mental health issues. Inferential because there is even less clinical data on his mental health than there is financial data on his tax returns, but one can infer!
He is a shame-based grandiose personality, which means his narcissistic grandiosity is caused by shame early in his life. So. He has had to puff himself up to cope with strong feelings of inferiority, and he has had to to distort the world to make real his inner beliefs. That is which his condition is called a personality disorder!
4
It's confirmed, vladi owns trump, Lock, stock, and barrel.
Follow the money trail. Now, get rid of him.
4
First they came for the voting machines.
Then they came for the electrical grid.
5
On top of everything else he was delighted to get on board with Putin to send his agents in here to the heart of our intelligence agencies to ransack our self defenses. In return for handing him Browder, a courageous exposer of Putin’s corruption, on a silver platter. To be tortured to death no doubt. After the tearing of children away from their mothers before he left for Europe it’s obvious we are seeing depravity and incompetence fully revealed m, yet still in charge. Aided and abetted by the Republican Party that refuses to check him in any meaningful way. Empty words won’t save us.
5
Please watch this clip from the 2016 Presidential debate in which Clinton tried her best to give us ample warnings about Trump and Russia: https://youtu.be/-qIN1-z_JqQ.
Perhaps this will still have no effect on the ignorant Trump supporters, but if you voted for a third party candidate because you didn’t like Hilary, think about what you did and how it has affected the entire world.
7
Sir, you are not right. President Trupm is right in his position. He has performed his duty perfectly. We all should praise him because his submissivrness to his boss. Don't you expect that your people will talk and work for you? Mr. Trump is a role model for us all. He had done what his boss expects from him.
1
Trump and Putin
vs
FBI, NSA and CIA
???
After reading the detail and precision of the technology “forensics” in Mueller’s second indictment, it is unfathomable that ANYONE would NOT side with the FBI, NSA and CIA.
A shameful embarrassment.
How does this make America great?
6
Why would we want to keep a President who has virtually made the USA a vassal state of Russia? Does he not understand his oath of Office? What did he say behind closed doors with Putin? Where are the Republicans?
5
@Make America Ours Again
The repugnantklan party has tied it's fortunes and designs to hold power to Russia. It's not just Trump going rogue.
So, Republicans and FOX followers, this is what you reap by disregarding the truth and believing the nonsense Trump and Hannity has been spewing.
You have opened Pandora's Box and now you are scared about what you have unleashed. It is too late to go back now. As I have been saying all along, it is getting harder and harder to defend Trump. In the next few weeks, it will be impossible.
5
"Every single Republican lawmaker ... should be asked on the election trail: Are you with Trump and Putin or are you with the C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A.?" We already know the answer - the GOP is for trump. As far as the FBI - Republicans are not with the FBI - especially because they keep exposing Republican complicitness with trump and so they are viciously attacking the FBI and destroying the best the FBI has.
The question is simpler - you are either with America or you are with trump and Putin (and the NRA, a Russian surrogate).
"Republican Patriots: Where are you???" I wish they were Missing In Action, but they have been here all along, all too busy doing Putin's bidding via trump, tearing down our once proud nation and institutions.
"...and some of your most intimate personal secrets will appear on the front pages of every newspaper in the world. Is there any part of that sentence you do not understand?" That sounds more like what Putin may actually have told trump as he cowered in his chair.
Think of the national security implications of a secret behind closed doors meeting between these two masterminds. If only we could water board trump to find out what he really talked about and disclosed to Putin behind closed doors. No worries - trump is a coward - the mere threat would have him singing in no time.
Remember, trump and the GOP need Russian help to get re-elected in 2020.
4
Putin is Trump’s political sponsor, creditor and most powerful role model (not to mention keeper of the peepee tapes) - of course Trump risked treason, and sided with him.
Putin is a ruthless, tyrannical chess grand master on the political scene. Trump is a toddler who has yet to figure out checkers but has one move: turning the board over and declaring victory.
Now that the “special relationship” is on place, expect to see Putin throwing a few sops Trump’s way, as evidence of its benefits: gas deals, Syrian peace… and most importantly the full denuclearization of N Korea late this fall, in time from the mid terms.
Xi already promised Kim protection and will reap the economic rewards of cheap Korean labour and raw materials. Putin will finally put in his pipeline though N Korea to the South (the world’s second largest importer of natural gas, currently buying more expensive shipped US LNG. And both leaders will benefit from improved odds on keeping Trump in office, derailing and polarizing America.
We need the .1% to decide that an intact America to dominate is better than a decimated one, the GOP to reach deep and revive their lost integrity, and the cult to wake up from their Foxinduced stupor. Of course, the fossil .1% probably have their assets and opportunities distributed globally, the GOP may be compromised as Trump is, and the cult may be irreversibly brainwashed.
MASA! (sane)
1
If another foreign power, particularly a terrorist organization, wanted to attack the United States, wouldn't this be the ideal time?
3
I feel like I am in a theater. Could we just stop that non sense who is more " honest, who is second, third and so on ( throwing " bombs" on each other) and start please caring about climate change.
Those are! the real problems of the world!?!
That! is the reason to impeach Trump. His denial of climate change!
.. and if we all can not breath anymore who cares who is president.....?
1
Beyond yesterday's embarrassment, what's truly sickening is how the extremist GOP stays silent. They viciously went after a Democratic president for a so-called "apology tour" yet stay silent when their president sides with a "foe." As much as Trump, they have chosen wealth and party over country and have led the destruction of our democracy.
4
Trump's lust for wealth has made him a stooge for Putin. The man is unfit and dangerous and his utterances today are just plain treasonous.
Every American and elected official must speak out against Trump. Republicans can no longer remain mute. Our country and democratic institutions are in danger. The man in the White House has got to go.
12
I agree Yankee. For Trump to show such cowardice is amazing. All I can say is that the Russians must have pictures. Trump is scared to death of piquing Putin's ire. I don't get it.
3
The circumstantial evidence is so huge a list that it has become clear, convincing and overwhelming that Trump is controlled by Russia, either that he is bound to Russia financially or through blackmail. The roots of Trump's fear of Putin run much, much deeper than a narcissistic refusal to admit that Putin helped elect him.
Congress, the time has come: impeach and convict. Get this traitor out of the White House. And send him to jail. Treason is a very grave crime, you know.
12
I think it’s time for everyone who earns a wage to refile a W2 with the max number of exemptions and thus stop feeding the beast
It is far from the only action needed, but it's time for some bold, patriotic low-level accountant or IRS employee to "leak" the *president's tax returns for the past 10-15 years.
2
Instead of the U.S. and Russia allowing an exchange of their national intelligence officials with the authority to investigate various cases existing in both countries, I think that the more logical and suitable exchange would be to have a swapping of Republican members of Congress, particularly the G.O.P. leadership, with their counterparts in the Russian Parliament.
Republicans could view this as a valuable "internship" to permit McConnell, Ryan, Nunes, Jordan, Gowdy, Meadows, et al to pick up a few tactical and strategic pointers from Putin's supporters ensconced in the Kremlin, while those Trump loyalists remaining in Washington could correspondingly pass on to the visiting Russians their own. It would be a "win-win" for everyone!
2
Tom, your editorial should be on the Front Page of Every Newspaper, Magazine, Radio & TV station throughout the world this morning. It should be sitting on the dining room table of every Republican Politician, every citizen of the US, and hopefully understood by every NORMAL human being on this planet. This should be the Final Straw for Donald Trump. This should be what finally and forever removes him from office!
Would anyone want to bet with me that this doesn’t change a thing with most Republicans and his base? Could that decision be the real end to our Republic? Are any of you in a betting mode?
3
If you were unjustly surveilled during your campaign by your own intelligence services, would you find them credible?
When agencies under your dominion are not providing legitimately requested documents to rightful overseers of the agencies, could you trust them?
Could you separate the inherent bias of investigations against you and your opponent from your current feelings, even if multiple dirty high ranking officials therein have been purged?
Would you as president, allow a special prosecutor dictate your actions as duly elected president by indicting foreign actors just prior to a summit?
@The Truth
Even Faux News, the network that feeds you the propaganda that substitutes for your own thought process, realizes Trump has gone beyond the pale and is selling out America to Putin.
You only wish Trump would act on his Dictatorial urges and summarily shut down any investigations or actions that hold him and his co-conspirators accountable for their perfidious criminal and treasonous actions.
1
Trump is not a victim, the entire country is a victim of his political, financial or personal agenda.
1
Mueller's Team should debrief the interpreter who was at the 1:1 meeting of Trump and Putin. It is in the interest of the American people to know what was said there, especially by Trump.
2
Everything that is said here is true. Putin-Trump 10-0. But as a Dutch Russian expert explained: that is too big a victory. Trump is not going to survive this and putin stands alone again (in 2 years). A victory of 6-4 had been would have been smarter. Putin made the biggest mistake
1
It's not just Trump and the GOP politicians who have not left Congress who are going along with Putin. GOP voters, who once proclaimed "Better dead than red!" saw Trump fawning over Putin all the way back in 2015. They let it slide then. They are letting it slide now. They are to blame for getting us here, and history should treat them as harshly as they deserve.
1
Does anyone in Congress have a spine. Please register and vote... our very existence as a free nation hangs in the balance.
3
Trump can't hold a thought long enough to analyze anything. He just goes on his crazy obsessions which persist despite reality being otherwise. This is a mental state that is based in unreality.And based on fear,perversness and egomania. Why do we have a US President that can"t see reality and lives in an alternative mental universe? Because the Republicans thought they could control and use Trump to their political advantage. Because Russia thought the same way. Because Trumps base is also easily led down the garden path.
This is a situation where the blind is leading the blind over a cliff with others cheering them on.
I have never seen anything as crazy in politics as this and would not have believed it could happen because I would not have believed that a mentally incompetent president could be elected. Well here we are. So what now?
Will the US now become another satellite of Russia? No matter what happens the US must face some hard realities and stop living in a fairy tale world.
1
I am shocked and horrified that, like the Joe McCarthy days of old, many Americans are calling our President a traitor. He may have made a dreadful error of judgment in not calling out Putin on election meddling, but to call our President treasonous is almost insurrectionary. Do not be surprised if some deranged individual makes an attempt on Trump's life. Pray God that does not happen, but even if it does not, we are destroying the fabric of our country and moving, inch by dangerous inch, to destruction of our democracy by delegitimizing our elected leader as a treasonous plant. There is going to be a Democratic President again someday and the same unspeakable charges will be leveled against him/her. Not accepting the legitimacy of elected leaders will lead to destruction of our democracy. If in fact Trump is a traitor in many people's eyes, an armed coup is the next step that I fear would be cheered by many of our citizens. Russian or foreign meddling will never destroy democracy in our country; only Americans can.
@Alex
Trump is a traitor. His actions are not hidden, only rationalized. He has expectorated on his oath of office.
The next step you probably really fear, is that Trump would be removed from office via legitimate due process of impeachment. Not to worry. Your beloved Republican party loyalists will always put party before country. Sleep well quisling.
Today I am a very saddened combat veteran. What did I fight for...a President who is treasonous, has no respect for his own country or its citizens? Then I am angry at the GOP in Congress who have really shown their disdain for their country. If Trump's actions are not "high crimes and misdemeanors", then we are stuck with a GOP that could care less about you and I,and only the 1% getting more tax cuts and eliminating the social contract. Wake up GOP voters.
1
@doughboy I have no hatred for Russia. I have visited Russia numerous times with many Russian friends in Russia and aboard. However, it would be blind to deny Putin being a Russian nationalist, a proto-Fascist, and a de facto dictator. It would be foolish failing to see Russia government as an illiberal democracy that mostly benefit the few. United State is far from perfect but WE have always been a force for true democracy and progress. Today, Donald Trump has cut most of our ties with true democracies while cultivating favors with dictators big and small. It is near impossible to understand the motivation of Donald Trump; however, an immoral man who worships only money and power is capable of anything. It is disturbing if Donald Trump is beholden to Putin as some suggested here. It is much more disturbing if Donald Trump likes Putin because he wants to emulate Putin. For decades, my Russian friends want their country to be more like America. This is the first time that some in America wants us to be more like Russia. There is only one word comes up to mind: treason. An act of treason that betray all our democratic heritage.
3
So, given this, what are we going to do about it? When do we occupy the halls of Congress? take to the streets by the hundreds of thousands throughout the country? Demand that our elected representatives shield Mueller, censure this sick joke of a president, enact further sanctions, and defend our electoral process? What are we going to do?
3
I am going to allow myself to be disgusted and disheartened today. Then, the only thing to do is continue orienting toward November. Despair and cynicism is a cop out.
2
Obviously Trump wants the Russians to get involved in the mid-term elections.
Trump won’t recover.
2
Thank you to the two journalists, members of a free press that must be protected from authoritarianism, for asking pointed questions that forced Trump to reveal his true allegiances.
6
Why do so many people think Russia must “have something on” trump that must be motivating him? That line of thought suggests that trump is basically if sound mind and sound character and is behaving as he does only because Russians are forcing him to do so, that he’s acting out of some form of self defense.
What if it’s not self-defence/- protection, but selfishness? What if trump is motivated by grandiosity and greed alone — not by a threat from Russia, but a treat with Russia? Is that too frightening a possibility?
I always felt that I saw how dishonest Trump was from day one but I must admit, I didn't realize how bad it is till today.
1
"Donald Trump is either an asset of Russian intelligence or really enjoys playing one on TV."
Where have you been? Trump boasted of being a Russian asset at his first, unprecedented, press conference in 2017:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/11/transcript-of-president-elect-donald-j-t...
What's astonishing is not only how brazen he is, but how inept and surreal. But maybe it's exactly those two qualities that still endear him to his "base."
And he already offered to turn over America's cybersecurity defenses to the Russians back on July 9,2017:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/trump-cybersecurity...
So why are we even waiting for the Mueller investigation? it's been the mole's new clothes from day one.
1
Anyone voting Republican in November is as treasonous as Trump who will sell out anyone and anything (most especially American interests) in order to advance his self-adulatory needs. The Republican party quietly reaps the benefits of Trump's presidency without a care in the world over the long-term consequences.
2
I feel like we are talking about a small child with a conduct disorder. The adults talk about the child's problem while the kid waits in a playroom with lots of toys. Can't get the image out of my head !!
1
As stated earlier: The "prez" exhibits the symptoms of PSYCHOLOGICAL SCOTOMA (look it up, please).
Humiliation of the US and the democratic values of the Free World is what we read after the summit and by the end of this week in Europe..
This is frightening - the President of the United States is a threat and did perform treason for open cameras!
It will be interesting to see the followers and support for the president after this - and how should we interpret that?
1
Trump’s press conference conclusively answered one question: does he collude with Russians ? Yes. His scripted performance delivered succor to an active enemy and is prima facia proof of his ongoing treasonous collusion. He is daring the world, all Americans, and most contemptuously, his own party, to do anything about it. Will anyone act?
3
We have been royally duped. Today’s news conference between Trump and Putin was frightening. We have just witnessed a geopolitical inflection point of gigantic importance. I hope I am wrong, but it may turn out to be the modern equivalence to British Prime Minister Chamberlain's 1938 "Peace for our time" comment. I fear, in a few years, that we will pay the price for such ignorance.
2
There is no mystery around Trump's loyalty to Putin. Trump is corrupt; in his personal life, his business life and in his politics. He really makes no real effort to hide it. Trump is simply available to the highest bidder, and the highest bidder is Putin.
3
@Eric Hansen
Bingo! We hae a winner.
1
It has been clear to me since Trump was running for office that he is delusional, significantly mentally ill, as many have said. People who are delusional can still carry coherent conversations and interact fairly normally, but with many weird aspects about them, as we see with Trump. And, their illogical, false statements come through amidst many reasonable statements. Trump is getting worse, he cannot change, his comments come from a mentally ill individual. Invoke the 25th amendment now.
Mostly, I agree with Tom on this. Trump was a disgrace in his remarks about Putin, Russia, etc. in Helsinki, the capital of a peaceful country. There is one statement that I take issue with - Tom's are you with.........? I think both the CIA and the FBI have major egg on their faces and have been unbelievably incompetent in the Russia matters. In one sense, I don't blame Trump for losing faith in them.
As for the rest, it is very hard to believe that Trump is not beholden to the Russians - if for no other reason than the Russian Oligarchs financed him after no others would and with the more than tacit approval of Czar Vladimir himself.
1
Today’s Times editorial says--- “The president lays himself at Vladimir Putin’s feet.”
“It’s a mystery why Trump is unwilling to call out Russian perfidy. He has no trouble throwing his weight around when he is in the company of America’s European allies, attacking them as deadbeats and the European Union as a “foe,” or when he excoriates the news media as “enemies of the people.” Put him next to Mr. Putin and other dictators, and he turns to putty.”
That sums it up. Strange that someone so egotistical, so domineering and power-mad would turn to putty. He shows admiration and respect for dictators vs contempt and disrespect for leaders of other democracies.
Psychologists should analyze the video of that Helsinki news conference. It’s his twisted personality that enables his treasonous behavior. The US president is "simply, insanely, obsessed" ---with something.
Let’s see how Trump now reacts to the scathing criticism by even many Republican officials all over the media. Meanwhile, the world trembles.
2
Trump is looking long-term when he no longer president. He is thinking of the hotel and other buildings branded with his name in big gold letters in Moscow. He is looking after his own interests first, second, and third. You can’t insult the guy (Putin) that can make that happen can you?
Trump uses the most duplicitous rhetoric I have ever heard from a president. His use of Hillary Clinton red herrings belies something that is much more deeply troubling. What is it? I am extremely concerned what answer to this question implies. Why doesn't someone ...anyone, in Washington do something concrete about this after this display of allegiance by our president to the president of the entity trying to undermine our government?
1
Russian interference helped Trump get elected. Why should
Trump have a problem with this? Nobody seems to under-
stand why Trump loves Putin.
Russia's hacking of the DNC servers was a serious crime. But their hacking of our nation's power grid is worse, and we're not talking about it enough. Russia could wreak havoc on the United States at a moment's notice. No missiles. A mouse click.
The situation is far worse than we are talking about.
1
Putin trumps Trump. Interesting how much a little dirt will cover up. High crimes and misdemeanors have now been surpassed; even so impeachment is not in the cards until spine is injected into the Senate and House in November.
Lincoln was once interrupted when the British ambassador entered a room where Abe was preparing for a reception. When the startled ambassador saw Lincoln polishing his boots, he said "Mr. president, in our country we don't polish our own boots." Lincoln's response was "Whose boots do you polish?" We know whose boots Trump polishes.
4
Until now I along with many have felt that Putin has Trump by the short-hairs. But I am wondering if his [Putin] long game is ultimately to "gift" Americans by giving up Trump at his most bonkers moment. After all, what can Trump really do for Russia given the current level of discourse in the country. So Putin contacts U S officials and confirms the Steele dossier and becomes our friend -sans Trump.
Sounds crazy? Of course it does. But have you watched cable news lately? Not so crazy, maybe.
So, what's new? Free and fair elections in this democracy are not part of the Republican playbook and haven't been since Richard Nixon and his despicable crew engaged in criminal conduct to undermine our electoral process. And it continues with the Republican 50 state effort to undermine electoral participation with phony arguments about potential fraud and restrictive legislative proposals the purpose of which is to undermine minority group participation. Who needs Putin when we have Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Thomas and now, Kavanaugh.
2
The person who leaks Trump’s tax returns will be a national hero. Trump’s successor will pardon that hero. We could set up a Go Fund Me page to provide the guy with lifetime security. How about it?
(“Russia if you’re listening . . ,”)
3
What President Trump did and said in Helsinki today when meeting with President Putin was a shocking, shameless display of narcissistic cowardice. I am deeply disturbed by Trump's behavior toward our allies and enemies abroad. I am particularly disgusted by Trump's sycophantic overtures toward Russia and Putin and his repudiation of the findings of our country's fine men and women in the intelligence services that have made it clear that Russia attacked us in 2016 and continues to attack us today.
We have been the beacon of light for liberty, justice and democratic ideals for over 75 years. Russia is not our friend and their government is an affront to our democratic ideals and constitutional republic. They attack us with impunity, making us seem weak and unsure of ourselves. When will the Trump administration and Congress defend us from these attacks?
Time will tell whether Trump's past, current and future behaviors have risen to treasonous levels (as opposed to merely incompetent, insecure and self-serving). At a minimum, President Trump is doing great harm to our foreign policy, our standing in the world, the rule of law, our institutions and our democratic ideals. I worry that he is also doing damage to our Constitution.
2
"My fellow Americans, we are in trouble and we have some big decisions to make today."
Today? How about, decades ago? This situation has been in the making for forty years, ever since the oligarchs of America decided to launch their cultural takeover. At some point, the Russian oligarchs threw themselves into the mix. To put it in general terms, Trump himself is literally the marriage of the two groups. Let's not forget, he's an oligarch himself - propped up with laundered Russian cash.
With any luck, there might be some self-destructive infighting over turf between the two not-so-invisible entities. But these beasts need to be slain urgently. The only choice is to vote in the Democrats in November (if a free election is still achievable) and then begin work on dismantling oligarchical control wherever it may be, in order to save what's left of this democracy - beginning as soon as Herr Trump is impeached.
2
The president is compromised by either a foreign power or compromised by his own ignorance. The Republican Party has been radicalized unable to step out fo line with the compromised leader. What now?
This is not about Mueller or possible indictments. The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that the Russians interfered with the 2016 election to benefit Trump, following the Intelligence Community Assessment. Trump publicly repudiates this and backs Putin's denial. Doesn't this disturb you just a little bit
http://election.result.pk/pppp-pakistan-peoples-party-parliamentarians-82/
1
If there is a time for demonstrations against this treasonous President, it is now. We need to constantly put this in front and center for all to see especially the GOP.
Constant pressure is the only way to bring this to a head.
I was afraid right after the Presidential election but now I am terrified.
2
"Betrayal of every single American citizen"? Really? That is overly dramatic. And also not true. It is only a "betrayal" of those American citizens who hate Russia and Putin as passionately as Mr. Friedman (and most of US media) apparently does. Admittedly, there are few of those around, but that number seems to be severely overestimated by Mr. Friedman (and most of US media). Obviously, this whole Russia-hating schtick was not such a sure vote-getter as Hillary Clinton thought it would be. Instead of learning that lesson, the American Deep State and its sycophant commentariat decided to double-down on Russophobia. But guess what - Americans are not hating Russia and Putin any more for that. Nor should they. The more the degree of that already quite obscene Russia-bashing is raised, the more ridiculous and crazy it looks to a normal person. Thank you, Mr. Putin, for putting spotlight on those crazies and also for saving America from a presidency by their favourite candidate. That is if you had anything to do with that, as we are still waiting on any actual eveidence, beyond their own word.
You have stated the facts plainly and persuasively. Tom. The choice before us now that the President definitively has revealed himself to be a traitor is binary. It has come to this: either you are for America or you are for Russia. Every member of Congress should be asked to declare themselves as one or the other. Our way of life, form of government and reputation all hang on the answers they will give. Those who believe in our democracy and our country know that there is only one right answer. Those who continue to support this President after today are complicit in his despicable behavior. Either he goes or we cease to be the greatest democracy in human history.
I grew up in an old-school political family in the Rust Belt - gallons of coffee and thunderheads of cigarette smoke (it was that era) far into the night. The low points stick with me: the resistible rise of Barry Goldwater, the lies of Nixon, the smooth stupidities of Reagan. Trump's tenure, however, is the lowest of the low.
Trump has nothing, and I mean nothing, to give America - and an arsenal packed with ways of hurting it. Moreover, he uses them with impunity. Trump has hacked at American credibility and wellbeing so thoroughly that it has (for me at least) become impossible to imagine any other America. Just as Putin wanted, Trump is grinding everything positive about the country into the dust, in a mad, cynical, possibly desperate attempt to save invested billions, his 'ethical reputation' (as the compromising film, if there is one, must be appalling) and the reputations of his family members. That makes it very easy for Putin to ramp up his vile moral-equivalence rhetoric.
My long-held tendency when facing some political outrage is to protest and pressure representatives. Yet just as with Brexit (which we know now is interlinked with Trump's rise), the popular response rarely rises above a bun fight. Many seem mesmerised.
Environmental and civil rights protests of yore made some kind of a difference over time, albeit at great cost to a number of protesters. It's that time again, in my view. I hope people take to the streets and crank up the pressure on Congress.
1
The accumulation of damage to our institutions is nearly complete, leaving the United States of America on the verge of unraveling. Congress needs to step up, today, or risk the country's unimaginable collapse. We are beyond the question of whether or not there is evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians. Now, the question is who is colluding with Trump! As Trump declares outright war on this country, Congress needs to decide if it will defend and preserve it.
2
The "performance" of trump is exactly what was to have been expected by even a casual observer. The reactions to this are also perfectly predictable. I also assume that, in November, the reactions of the Russpublican base and those of tens of millions of previous non-voters will also prove to have been equally predictable: a shrug and a yawn and the continuation of complicity of a supine Congress.
I hope most sincerely that I am wrong.
This isn't a bad account of the present situation, but it would have been better if Mr. Friedman had included Dan Coats comment from two days ago that "all the red lights are flashing, just like before 9/11" -- we are _seriously_ at risk right now. Many people don't understand that the FBI/NSA/CIA --as widely reported last summer -- think Russia has successfully infiltrated our energy grid and much much more. We aren't safe.
We should all blame the US voters who refuse to admit that Trump helps Russia while hurting the US. The same voters who refuse to admit that the tax cut is almost entirely for the richest 10% of US citizens. The same voters who refuse to admit that the US has long had huge tariffs on most imported dairy goods and a 25% "chicken tax" on pickup trucks imported into the US, and lots of other longstanding tariffs that balance the ones by foreign countries. THE US VOTERS THAT IGNORE SIMPLE FACTS AND SUPPORT TRUMP ARE TO BLAME. I pray they will come to their senses.
1
When things get too distressingly serious, my brain looks for an escape hatch. The Trump and Putin act in Helsinki hadn’t gone on long before I found myself wondering what other duo they reminded me of.
A definite case can be made for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, though you‘d have to add canned laughter and keep it coming.
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy might be a more apt comparison. However, Bergen tended to move his lips and yet Charlie gave a convincing impression of human intelligence.
Donald Trump defies the ventriloquist’s best efforts. Even Putin must be exasperated by the way he gives away their relationship. Apparently Trump is so terrified of the revelations that are bearing down on him, he can’t think of anything but staying in Putin’s good graces. And so he drops the script and plays straight to his master.
One begins to wonder if Trump isn’t trying to lay the groundwork for a life in exile.
1
One other thing has become abundantly clear: Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders must have known the Russians were helping Trump get elected before he was informed of the FBI's investigation.
Journalists, I hope you're looking into it.
Trump’s actions and the lack of repudiation from his party indicates something deeply insidious. Back when Russia was communist, it was reviled for its socialism; its theoretical advocacy that people should be equal, education and healthcare be free and of a high standard, and that the state prospered as a collective utopia. It was the administration of the ideology that finished Soviet communism, not its mantra. Many states which consider themselves capitalist and free market offer, at least, universal healthcare and education as an obligation to their society.
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia embraced fascism in all but name. Here, a completely new affinity connects western elites to eastern tyranny. Russia now represents an exclusive, self serving, oligarchy that western elites lust for. Trump, as their figurehead, attempts to provide it. He, prior to holding office, was mired in Russian business dealings which eventually completely owned him. He dragged those dealings into the White House with his unlikely win. As a result, essentially Putin runs America because American elites see an opportunity to enrich themselves massively while not providing any compassion through social institutions to the lower echelons of society, and the President dances to a balalaika tune. The GOP, as the party of wealth, still has lofty aspirations for the ascent of American fascism. This is the grave danger the US faces: a treasonous plot of establishmental scale.
2
Mr. Mueller: Please release all the findings you have thus far to help an American public still confused over why their president would act in this manner and side with a foreign dictator. Only an informed citizenry can make the strongest plea for its elected representatives to do their constitutional duty, since they seem willing to allow national security to be sublimated to partisan politics.
The only treat they would respond to is taking their money away since they can only place them in secure locations like property in London or St. Tropez. Seize the wast fortunes that Putin and his friends has placed in the West, money stolen from the Russian people, and then we send the message to the Russian people that they will get the money back with the invested profit the day they have a leadership that represents the best interest of the Russian people.
1
the Republicans will not discard trump until they get one more billionaire tax cut and social security eliminated.
1
Trump has always reminded me of Victor Yanukovych of The Ukraine (Paul Manafort, Russian puppet, sentencing of Yulia Tymoshenko, excesses, etc). He has to play nice with Putin because when the American people run him out (like the Ukrainians did with Yanukovych), Trump will need a place to go.
We can't keep comparing what is going on now to anything that happened in America's past. This is the world we live in now.
3
NIXON TELLS SOVIETS THE US HAS NO PLANS TO WIN THE VIETNAM WAR: February 21,1969
TRUMP HAS A LONG WAY TO GO TO BEAT NIXON:
Nixon sends Kissinger to meet the Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin, just one month after Nixon was in office. They met in "Secret",and Kissinger told him that we had no plan to win the Vietnam War. And much more. "Forty Years War" Page 36
At the first back-channel meeting, held four days later, Kissinger told the ambassador some reassuring and some startling things. Kissinger announced Nixon’s willingness to acknowledge that the Soviet border states belonged to the USSR’s sphere of influence, implying that America would not come to the rescue if another Czechoslovakia should try to break away—a drastic reversal of decades of U.S. policy. Conservatives would have howled in anger and betrayal had this become public. But,as Dobrynin’s reports reveal, Kissinger had even more startling news for the Soviets: The United States, Kissinger said, would no longer look fora “military solution” in Vietnam; they “would have no objection if, after[a Vietnam peace] agreement is reached, events in Vietnam were to take their own ‘purely Vietnamese’ course and thereafter develop ‘in keeping with the historical traditions and experience of the Vietnamese people.’”Dobrynin took that phrasing to mean that U.S. forces would not intervene if, after hostilities ended, South Vietnam should go Communist.It was extraordinary:
2
Tom, there are no comment columns next to today's main Editorial, Brooks column, and Michelle Goldberg's column so I fille this in your comment column, just for the record.
Michelle Goldberg Headline:
Trump Shows the World He’s Putin’s Lackey
Maybe the president is exactly as compromised as he looks.
Michelle Goldberg's closing lines:
"There’s a useful lesson here in evaluating Trump’s behavior. Sometimes things are exactly as bad as they appear. "
In other words, the only possible explanation for Trump's carrying out his Plot Against America is that Putin has material on Trump that if revealed might finally get at least two Republican senators to revolt against Trump in the only soon-to-be accessible way, vote down his Supreme Court choice.
By the time impeachment might be possible Trump will have ruined America and that means he will take down even the last remaining bastions of democracy in Europe, even Sweden.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
2
I was born in the US and still hold American citizenship. I am passionately committed to the Bill of Rights, the doctrine of Separation of Powers and the oversight function of an elected body sworn to uphold and defend those principles. I see no such commitment from Donald Trump or the elected members of the GOP. Democracy is never easy. It's messy and complicated; it's a process and not an event. Since he first announced his absurd candidacy, Trump has been an agent of chaos throwing wild punches at every aspect of the Democratic process. On 16 July he landed one and achieved a TKO against his own government and those who voted for him. Most of his supporters are as insensible of the significance of the harm he inflicts as he is. But today I hope every one of them feels betrayed because that is what Trump has done. He has betrayed every principle that defines America's sovereignty as a nation of laws, a Constitutional Democracy. He is the personification of a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO AMERICA'S VERY EXISTENCE. It is time to act to defend the Oath of Office he has violated.
2
I am grateful that the press is standing up for the people of the US. But shouldn't someone be checking Trump? Shouldn't someone official be yelling loudly that he does not represent us? Does he get to do this without any endorsement of his position other than he was elected by the minority of voters? I don't recall another president who acted so independently in reversing long-standing relationships between the US and our friends in the world.
it seems that every time Mr. Friedman writes a column concerning politics, he does it with an one-should-have-done-like-this sentence. imagining should-have-been-better world is simple, and easy. and you would know also that is not that simple, not that easy, and way more complicated, hard to be summed up with the above sentence.
The logic seems clear: If Russia influenced, then no real president. Trump has no choice but to deny allegations of Russian meddling.
A=Putin got Trump elected. B=Trump is not a legitimate president. If A, then B.
If Putin successfully influenced the 2016 election, then Trump cheated and was not elected according to the rules. Acknowledging Russing meddling would undermine his own presidential legitimacy.
Trump jumped from the frying pan of POSSIBLE collusion into the fire of a DEFINITE public display of servility. Oath of office? What's that?
1
It is time for the republican leadership to do what Goldwater and company did during Watergate: go to the president and say that the gig us up--time to resign.
I was raised in a Republican household and I was sickened at the performance yesterday in Helsinki. He is clearly so compromised that he will serve Russia and not the US; the damage he did in Europe last week was horrific and yesterday was the coup de grace.
Basta.
3
Trump displayed a shocking level of ignorance and an equal measure of arrogance in Helsinki. Not knowing is one thing, but not caring about what you don't know can be fatal.
But Trump as the Manchurian candidate? I don't think so. Despite his display, the mainstream media could use this as an opportunity to fully examine all the issues that were raised.
While most commentators are apoplectic about Trump's lack of faith in his intelligence agencies, I say not so fast.
After all, these are the same agencies that gave us the "slam dunk" on WMD's which has left over a million people dead and two countries destroyed.
Then there's the Libyan debacle. There was no massacre about to take place and the US led UN resolution was a total fabrication supported by "our intelligence agencies."
And let's not forget our former NSA chief committing perjury in his Congressional testimony about NSA spying on Americans.
Despite all that, could they be right about the hacking? Maybe, but let's examine the evidence before jumping to conclusions.
The last time we failed to do that was 17 years ago and it led to a war that is still going on.
It’s a Putin win against the US president, they say. Stunning, shocking, insulting to America. I am a senior who lived thru the Cold War when our adversarial relations with the Soviets were totally dominant in all our politics.
I never would have believed the Trump presidency would be possible on all counts. Now his abject kow tow to Putin, and insults to his own country, make it even more surreal. We are in a nightmare.
I devoutly hope to see a future president elected, one who is the opposite of Trump in character, who will reverse the destruction he is wreaking, and put us on a new road. One who will support the EU and Nato as past leaders have.
So that I can be sure to see this happen, I’m actually going to start a new health plan for longer life! Will eat my vegetables and exercise more---so I can be sure to live long enough to see a president who is the opposite of Trump in personality and character and ethics.
I'm motivated. I'm off to the gym.
1
I’m hard pressed to think we will ever fully recover from the
heinous calculated mistakes trump has made thus far...we have
not stumbled, but we have fallen completely off the cliff with no
net....
1
If it wasn't apparent before, it is now apparent, that Trump's base applauds the Russian hack of the Democratic Party. Trump's Helsinki show perfectly mirrors the mentality of his base. Hatred of liberals drives Republican politics.
Stunned by Trump's words. More stunned by Republican's response. Hard to imagine how deep this goes. God save America.
2
I think that the reason Republicans don't speak up is because they used the stolen emails and analytics in their campaigns. We will see.
3
@Neighborm -- Ageed. 17 U.S. intel agencies found evidence of Russian influence on the Trump victory and tampering in the 2016 election. Russian-paid bloggers released fake stories on social media dissing Clinton, downloaded voter rolls in key states, and used millions of bots to target voters. How did they know who to target? Team Trump paid Brad Pascale's firm $91 million to target states with paid advertisements, social media messages, and other cyber tools, reported Slate. "The campaign was sophisticated and carried out on a vast scale, running as many as 50,000 Facebook ads a day to establish which ones resonated best with voters. It also paid for 'dark posts' that were publicly invisible and showed up in a voter's news feed." Very similar in operation to Russia's GRU org posing as "Guccifer". Trump consigliere Roger Stone bragged of being in contact with Guccifer prior to the election. Did they have help from Team Trump? Pascale's organization? ...Mercer's Cambridge Analytics? Sadly, we have an insecure voting system vulnerable to computerized electronic vote theft and a GOP bent on keeping in power and people from voting them out.
1
Tom,
Please read the news because there is plenty of “solid proof” that the Trump Campaign colluded with the Russians. The Russians repeatedly reached out to many members of the Trump campaign and each and every time the campaign replied with “if it’s what you say I love it” or some version thereof. Manafort ran the campaign, was deeply indebted (billions) to oligarchs at the time, offered those Russian gangsters regular meetings to update them on the campaign, and steered the GOP platform towards pro-Russia policies. The evidence of collusion is there. The evidence of the motivation to collude is in the Steele dossier (none of which has been refuted). The evidence of the cover up is obvious, just ask Jim Comey, Lester Holt, or read Trump’s false statements about Russia meetings being about adoptions.
Unfortunately, US laws only apply when lawfulness benefits the ruling party. You know, like in Russia.
Best,
Jeremy
1
I believe it will eventually be shown that, as Anthony Bourdain apparently said in his last interview, trump is not in it because of negligence or a personality problem, he's in it for the money. That has been obvious since the campaign. He will sell anything he can to the Russians and back out and resign when he has nothing more to sell or else too many people are on to him. Trump is a grifter and he's making the biggest money scam in the history of the world, as he'd characterize it himself. What he sells to the Russians we may not know until it's too late. I would assume it includes the nuclear codes, whatever that means. He did try to get the voter information out of every state in the union so I have assumed that it was meant to be part of the sale. The news on that front has been silent for quite a while.
1
Trump's behavior with Putin reeks of desperation. Trump is poorly informed but not ignorant of his own interests. The easiest thing in the world would have been to condemn election interference, mildly chastise Putin and move on to some other summit deliverable related to Syria or nuclear weapons.
Instead, Trump went for full prostration at the feet of Vladimir. He didn't look convincing and he didn't sound convincing. He was utterly defensive when returning to his 'great election victory,' Hilary's missing emails, and the DNC server. It was a weak school yard excuse worthy of bully caught in the act.
What makes Trump's behavior even more inexcusable are reports his staff had ample briefing materials to cover all the potential issues expected at the summit. But Trump chose to golf and then literally called an audible to appear treasonous rather than presidential.
Trump clearly has something to hide and fears the Mueller investigation more than anything else. The pace of indictments is picking up and he feels the noose tightening. A meticulously documented Mueller report could be dropped at any time.
Republican leaders don't have much time to waste. My advice is to have a come to Jesus intervention to get him out of office soon. He can resign and Pence can pardon him and his family for all federal crimes. They should be on their own for any state crimes.
All further judicial nominees should be on hold until after the midterm elections, so the people can speak first.
2
The Russian military officers hacked into election boards at the level of individual states, secretaries of state, and election technology companies. Consider that there was an attack by a foreign military force on the essential infrastructure of the election apparatus of the United States. Then examine why a U.S. President would not defend his own country from a foreign state sponsored attack. And for Trump supporters in Congress and elsewhere, ask yourselves why Trump wants you to risk your reputations and patriotism by repeating witch hunt stories to discredit the U.S. justice and intelligence services.
1
The 'emperor' has no clothing... but is anyone watching? Judging from some of the comments, it appears not. In the McCarthy Era people were indicted for much less. This is an astonishing and freighting reversal, when our institutions and agencies are those being indicted and judge false.
2
Trump's disloyalty is undeniable. It is time.
1
As one psychologist put it in these comments a few weeks ago:
"It is difficult for a rational person to understand a narcissist." (I paraphrase).
What we know here is that Trump's every thought and action are taken in his perceived self-interest.
This means his ego does not allow him to believe that his election was influenced by anything other than the electorate's admiration for him.
Trump is therefor compelled to twist what rational people see as treasonous behavior into a true version of the the facts.
What is troubling and dangerous for our democracy is that his talent for showmanship, and his willingness to use his power as president to bribe Republicans, (with things like tax cuts), enables so many people to support hm.
One must wonder what harm he must do that will finally convince us to remove him from office.
2
Prior to this I was of the opinion that impeaching and removing trump from office would just make him a martyr to his base. Now I feel that for the security of the country, he must be removed.
2
Where are Republicans, you ask? They are cowering in fear of the exposure of emails and financial records that were stolen from the RNC. Now that we know, because of Maria Butina’s indictment, that Republicans were targeted through the NRA for the purpose of creating a backchannel, we know exactly what those emails and financial records will show. And now we know what that strange visit recently to Moscow by a group of Republicans was about... The entire Republican Party is as compromised as Trump.
2
@Frau Greta - Excellent analysis and spot on. Putin is not stupid and surely in his plan to hack the 2016 election and all that's led up to it -- he would want goods on the Republicans too. I've researched it and the claim made by anonymous unnamed sources was the Russian hackers didn't penetrate very far into the RNC servers. The GOP has experienced other breaches including Sens. Graham and McCain's emails.
1
Much of the money for the last decade that has made its way into the Trump family, and organization is from banks and oligarchs close to Putin. So, besides being born a sociopath, DT is indebted to Putin to keep his real estate holdings afloat, simple as that, really. Kind of like being in debt to the mob, as that would tend to have a stranglehold on one, too. This was all known before he even ran for election. Anyone that is still under DT's spell, is in my opinion, a very lost soul!
2
They're asking us publicly to hand over Mr. Browder, instead of just trying to off him with a WMD.
We still have a turkey we need to get back, though.
1
"Collusion" is a very nebulous and narrowly applied legal term term embraced by the Trump-team and carried forward by the GOP.
Its use is meant to gaslight the very palpable possibility that criminal activity involving Trump and his team occurred and perhaps is still occurring. Any objectively honest purveyor of what we know can feel such - BASED ON FACTS WE KNOW PUBLICLY.
Collusion legally probably not - but the crimes of "conspiracy" and "recruitment" even in the limited public view seem to be surfacing.
Mueller and his team are certainly not on a witch-hunt and anyone that really believes they are is delusional.
One should expect the POTUS to know the vital seriousness and importance of the investigation and give it the public and executive support it should have.
Our current big mistake POTUS cannot because if the investigation continues he knows eventually he'll be seen for the low-life he really is even by his base!
Mueller has a lot of work to do to make a viable court case. That is not witch-hunting nor wasting time! His work will be below our radar.
That is just the nature of big important cases. Good Prosecutors like Mueller act cautiously and meticulously to nail the really slippery slimey bad guys!
Donny is scared to his bones.
1
Trump cannot acknowledge Russia's actions without questioning the legitimacy of his own presidency. To do so would force Trump to admit he may not deserve to be president. That is not part of his dna. Thus, he cannot relent. Ironically, the more he protests, the more he undermines himself and exposes the disingenuous behavior of others.
1
Tom, you are absolutely correct - Republican "Patriots", where are you?! At this stage, we must demand Mr. Trump's tax returns. Administration officials who have not spoken out against Mr. Trump's outrageous "performance" today are complicit. Have some courage! - Stand up & speak out on behalf of the American people. What's the worst that will happen - Trump fires you?
On the hopeful side, the Mariia Batina news from Mr. Mueller's team. Please let it lead Mr. Mueller right to the NRA's door.
1
MY worry is that the first thing Trump said to Putin in their private one-on-one meeting was actually:
"Vladimir, we're still on for November, right?"
3
The whole summit between Trump and Putin amounted to collusion. Putin treated Trump as a dupe, and Trump eagerly played the part.
1
With each administration and every new day there are challenges which rise up and threaten our safety and comfort.
Terrorists fly planes into buildings, killing about 3,000 of us. Killer storms like Katrina and Maria ravage our lands and kill thousands more. We lose thousands of our soldiers in foreign wars in fear of non-existent WMDs. Epidemics rise up from AIDS to Zika and claim more citizens young and old.
But who would see a disaster borne from the very center of our government? This is not a force of nature or an external threat. This is the political equivalent of a glioblastoma, the brain tumor which took Sen. Edward Kennedy and soon likely Sen. McCain. Just as many brain tumors do, we are seeing convulsions and loss of primary control of vision, speech and movement.
And we are left with the same question I first encountered in my first college lecture. In philosophy 101, the professor said, "I have this ax and I swing it into a stone repeatedly. After how many swings does it cease being an ax?"
Mr. Trump has recasted this question. After how many Trumpian swings at the heart of the country do we cease to be a country after all? Is there no salvation from this heart rot?
1
Maybe Mitch McConnell can convince our feckless President not to engage in any more diplomacy on account of it being election year somewhere in the country for the next three years.
1
We know the Trump Treason. What are we going to do about it?
Where are the Republicans on this? How are we going to remove Trump from office?
Please quit talking just about how bad Trump is and talk about what we can do about it. Every day that passes without removing him from the Office of the President makes America more vulnerable to foreign attack.
Why won't Republicans do the right thing?
2