After Election Day, President Trump carried with him more than a whiff of excessive coziness with Russia. Dropping National Security Adviser Michael Flynn from the administration Monday night was the biggest step Trump has taken yet to clear the air around him. There’s more the president needs to do on this front.
The Russia stench had many sources. Trump refused, for weeks, to admit Russia had tried to influence the 2016 election, or to call that meddling a problem. His choice of campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was an operative who has worked for the worst elements of the Russian regime. The Trump campaign had quietly killed, without debate, a pro-Ukraine plank in the GOP platform. Trump asserted he had no business dealings with Russia while we know he had some. And picking Flynn, with his own known coziness with Vladimir Putin’s regime, added to the list of widespread concerns.
Since the election, Trump has made some positive steps. Just before the inauguration, he finally pinned the blame for election hacking on Russia. United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, in her first day on the job, hit Moscow hard on Ukraine. Forcing out Flynn, presumably after learning that Flynn didn’t shoot straight about his conversation with Russia’s ambassador, is the most important move in this step-by-step corrective.
The next advisable step would be full disclosure, with paperwork, of all the Trump’s business dealings in Russia. We know he held a beauty pageant there. It would be simple, and clarifying, to make public all his Russia ties.
Trump should also make sure that Manafort comes nowhere near the White House. After Trump fired him as campaign manager, Manafort didn’t exactly go away. If he continues to hang around, so will the Russia stench.
Finally, Trump needs to stop excusing Putin’s bad deeds — recall that Trump waved away the notion that Putin is a murderer — and drop the reluctance we saw in talking straightforwardly about election interference. Next time a Russian misdeed comes out, Trump needs to speak clearly and forcefully against it, and to do so early, without goading by the media.
It’s worrying to have an insufficient explanation about the president’s ties with and warmth toward the despot, Putin. Trump owes it to the country he now leads to continue righting this problem.
