During President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press conference in Helsinki, the U.S. president was asked to publicly warn Putin to never intervene in a U.S. election again. Trump declined to do so. Instead, he went on and on about FBI servers and brought up, again, the subject of Hillary Clinton’s emails. In failing to call out Putin or even acknowledge the well-established fact of election interference, Trump undermined American democracy on the world stage.
Although Trump might be convinced by Putin’s smooth words, it is no secret that Putin tried to meddle in the American elections. Indeed, in January 2017, U.S. intelligence had already concluded that Russia tried to influence elections.
[Opinion: Trump caves to Putin]
Adding support to existing allegations. On Friday, special counsel Robert Muller, whose investigation received more criticism during the press conference than Putin, announced that 12 Russian military officials had been indicted for crimes pertaining to the 2016 election including hacking into Democratic emails and servers. Russian hackers also had access to the website of a state election board and voter information as well as a company that provided voter verification software.
This was more than enough for Republicans and Democrats to call on Trump to cancel the summit with Putin. That’s because senators and representatives on both sides of the aisle realize what Trump seems determined to fight against: Democracy only works if elections are free and fair.
As Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tweeted, the summit was a “missed opportunity by President Trump to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling and deliver a strong warning regarding future elections.”
In doing so Trump also failed to uphold the legitimacy of American elections. As he denied Russian interference not only did the president send a message that he was willing to ignore facts but that he thought that the U.S. government should not be investigating Russian meddling, calling the probe “ridiculous.”
As midterm elections loom, elections must be seen as legitimate. If the president refuses to even acknowledge meddling and instead defends Putin, the president of the foreign power behind that meddling, that further destabilizes American democracy. For Putin, such destabilization of Russia’s biggest rival is the greatest gift and U.S. president could give and Trump did so with a smile.
[Also read: John McCain rips Trump: ‘One of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory’]
