If President Trump had simply, publicly stated in Finland, “I pressed Putin on it. The election meddling happened under my predecessor’s watch and no votes were changed. If it happens in the future, there will be a price to pay,” the entire Helsinki kerfuffle could have been avoided, regardless of what was said by the two world leaders behind closed doors. It was certainly a missed opportunity for Trump, and as such, he has had to clarify his position on multiple occasions since the ill-fated press conference.
In spite of all the current furor, Trump will ultimately rebound, as he always does, from this misstep for two reasons.
First, when he makes a political miscalculation, you can usually count on his opponents becoming so unhinged and blinded by their hatred for the president that the White House is able to flip the script so that the bullseye is no longer on Trump’s back, but affixed squarely on his detractors.
This time is no different. Within 96 hours of Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, John Brennan, a former Obama-era CIA director, labeled the president’s actions as “nothing short of treasonous;” Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., seemed to promote a military coup to remove Trump from office; and former Watergate prosecutor and Carter aide Jill Wine-Banks compared the president’s comments to the Sept. 11 attacks, Pearl Harbor, and Kristallnacht. You can’t make this stuff up. These hyperbolic responses make Trump’s initial statements seem almost quaint by comparison. Further, the folks uttering these words are well-known public figures, not exactly your run-of-the-mill loons from the darkest corners of the Internet.
Second, luckily for Trump, there is a difference between words and actions. Action-wise, Trump has been tougher on Russia than former President Barack Obama or even perhaps former President George W. Bush. From the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats following the poisoning in Britain, to the countless sanctions levied on Russia, to the sale of anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, to increased U.S. oil production, to calls for more NATO defense spending, Trump has been extremely tough on Russia. To say otherwise just isn’t true.
The challenge for Trump is to drive home the second point and the fact that actions speak louder than words, because polling indicates that the public is largely unaware of the actions he has taken towards Russia in an effort to thwart Putin’s many transgressions. If Trump and his allies are successful on this front, the Trump-Putin summit will be but a faint memory by the all-important 2018 midterm elections.
Beyond the immediate media hyperventilation and political hysteria, it is important for Trump to right the ship for the long term. Trump was elected to do deals for the public, both domestically and on the international stage, and if that “wheeler and dealer” perception is tarnished, it could doom his 2020 re-election bid.
Ford O’Connell (@FordOConnell) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is chairman of CivicForumPAC, an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, and worked on Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. He authored the book Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook for Republican Recovery.
