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As some put it right after #TreasonSummit 1.0 it was if they were colluding standing next to each other in Helsinki. But if there really is still any doubt about the connection between the illegitimate American President and the de facto American President-how can there be?-this should remove it. There was ,rightfully, great furor and outrage after round one of the #TreasonSummit-yesterday there was rare bipartisan consensus in the Senate as they voted 98-0 against the idea that Trump might hand over former Russian Ambassador, Mchael McFaul,-or any other American- to Putin for questioning.
In Helsniki, standing next to a man Trump seems to idolize, he called this a great idea. In the case of McFaul-Obama’s former Ambassador-this is not the first time Putin has threatened him.
In the face of all the outrage and opposition what does Trump do? In perfect synchrony with Andrea Mitchell’s interview with Dan Coates-so perfect you have to wonder if it were deliberate-he announces that there will be a second round for the #TreasonSummit in September in Washington DC. We know how much Trump enjoys talking to the guy who rigged the election for him. Every time they speak it goes way over the initially scheduled time. But only two months later for another playdate?
“Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was doing an Q&A with Andrea Mitchell at the Aspen Security Forum when America learned that President Donald Trump invited Vladimir Putin to the White House.”
“Say that again?” Coats asked when Mitchell read the news.
Say that again.
“She read the report again. Coats laughed uncomfortably.”
“OK, that’s going to be special,” he said.
It may well have not been coincidental, knowing the Manchurian ‘President.’ And apparently Coates performance has started something of a furor in Trumpland.
Meanwhile we still don’t know what they talked about in the first #TreasonSummit. Though a few of the things they did discuss are becoming clear.
1. They talked about Trump handing over Michael McFaul and Bill Bowder.
2. They talked about letting Putin keep Crimea. But but but Trump says he’s tougher on Russia than Obama and if he were ‘President’ at the time Putin would never have annexed Crimea. But now he agreed without anyone on his staff or any written documentation to just let Vlad have it.
3. Of course, first and foremost they discussed-another round for the #TreasonSummit.
4. As a bonus they also came to see eye to eye on.. the U.S. under Trump rolling back security guarantees to Montenegro. Yeah, Montenegro, that’s the true global menace.
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1019588380940697600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1019588380940697600&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flastmenandovermen.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D37102%26action%3Dedit
5. Did the ‘Artemenko Peace Deal’ also come up? Abramson argues that it may well have-and that that deal did go forward in the first place.
PS/ I'd be very interested to know how close to the terms of the so-called "Artemenko Peace Deal" what Putin proposed was, as I maintain that Cohen *did* deliver that envelope to Flynn, and Flynn to Trump, in January 2017. So this may have been a *continuation* of a negotiation.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 20, 2018
In light of this-who knows what else they discussed and in what detail-and for that matter, as Seth Abramson points out, who knows how often they actually do speak?
It is vital that we hear from that interpreter-Congress needs to hear from her ASAP. Yes, it’s true this is unprecedented-but these are unprecedented times. We’ve never seen such a disloyal, not to say treasonous, performance from a U.S. ‘President’ as we saw in Helsinki.
By the way, I appreciate George Will’s recent call to vote for a Democratic Congress on the premise that we need at least one House to serve as a check on him. However, I’m quite confused by Will’s seeming reluctance on bringing the interpreter before Congress and when he says the Constitution gives the Executive great power and scope in conducting foreign policy it’s pretty surprising as the opposite is the case and presumably a ‘constitutionalist conservative’ like him should know that.
While the scope of the Executive has in practice grown very large in foreign affairs this is not because the Constitution gives it but because Congress has chosen over time to abdicate more and more of its role in foreign policy to the President-note the Constitution actually makes Congress the body to enter into treaties with foreign countries. Over time, Congress, for its own reasons has chosen to hand off more and more of its powers to the Executive but this has been a choice and in theory could be taken back-now might be a good time with a dangerous and illegitimate ‘President’ in the WH.
At least one Republican is now calling for the interpreter to testify before Congress.
GOP senator breaks with party, backs Dem demand for interpreter notes from Trump-Putin meetings https://t.co/HeilMkiet7 pic.twitter.com/m4qJHC4BYO
— The Hill (@thehill) July 20, 2018
The Senator in question is Mark Sanford and just like his call for Trump’s tax returns in light of Helsinki he should take it up with Mitch McConnell.
Meanwhile, Lindsay Graham is declaring that no American President-even after Illegitimate ‘President Trump’-will ever got to meet alone with a foreign leader again.
That’s not the moral of the story. The issue with Trump is first why Putin of all world leaders-Putin is the guy who helped him win the election and who has a hold on him-and second that he did it with no advisers in the room and no documented, written record.
In other news, Helsinki did it-Blake Hounshell is no longer a Russian skeptic.
Of course not, Trump’s adoration of Vlad is obvious for al the world to see. And Trump’s fire for Putin continues to burn.
Trump’s Putin fire rages on
“The fallout over the president’s visit with the Russian president is showing no signs of slowing down.”
“Senior U.S. officials were still struggling on Thursday to fully understand exactly what unfolded during Trump’s two hour-plus meeting with Putin on Monday in Helsinki, in which the only other people in the room were a pair of translators.”
“The Russian government appeared to be taking advantage of the secretive meeting, suggesting that Trump and Putin had reached agreements on key issues despite denials from U.S. officials. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Putin made a proposal during the meeting to hold a referendum to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, a plan that the news outlet said Russian diplomats believe Trump is considering.”
“The report dropped yet another volatile issue onto the laps of White House aides, who have struggled for days to answer even simple questions about Trump’s stance on Russia.”
“But the blowback hasn’t deterred Trump.”
“Now, the White House is facing the prospect of another Putin-Trump meeting — this time in Washington. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted Thursday afternoon that Trump asked national security adviser John Bolton to invite Putin to Washington in the fall, adding, “those discussions are already underway.”
Treason in plain sight.
Indeed, even the word treason is finally being used without embarrassment-I personally have been using it for 20 months but it’s finally becoming respectable. As Dan Drezne rightly asks-if this isn’t treason then what is it?
Regarding Congress, as noted above they have a lot of power to roll back the mess Trump is making in foreign policy. As Chuck Schumer said last night there must be no more meetings with Putin until we figure out what went on at the first one. I wonder if Congress could literally direct Trump not to do it.
That’s an interesting Constitutional question. But in any case, this is the time Congress needs to earn its stripes. If-as seems clear-the GOP Congress isn’t interested in holding this faux ‘President’ accountable then they need to be replaced in November if we have any hope of #MakingAmericaLegitimateAgain.