President Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki had low expectations. Only days after special counsel Robert Mueller announced the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for meddling in the 2016 presidential election, there was already a dark cloud hovering over the summit.
Somehow, it went worse than expected.
Instead of openly confronting Putin during the press conference, Trump managed to criticize the United States, putting part of the blame on America for the current state of U.S.-Russian relations.
[Related: ‘Shameful’: Senate Republicans blast Trump after he blamed US for soured Russian relationship]
“I hold both countries responsible,” Trump said, answering a question from Reuters’ Jeff Mason. “I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. We should’ve had this dialogue a long time ago, a long time, frankly, before I got to office. And I think we’re all to blame.”
The president’s tone seemed incredibly apologetic in front of America’s biggest geopolitical foe. His remarks were inarticulate, if not, straight up asinine. It’s a tremendous display of weakness on the part of Trump.
However, when you juxtapose Trump’s performance in Helsinki with his trips to Brussels for the NATO summit and his visit to the United Kingdom, it looks even worse.
When face to face with our allies, Trump showed the toughness that was absent in his appearance with Putin. He accused Germany of being a captive of Russia with respect to their energy imports. He said the European Union is “a foe” because of what they’re doing to the U.S. on trade. And finally, in front of British Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump said that former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would make a great prime minister.
Trump likes to say things off the cuff and what’s really on his mind, and his base really values that quality about him. But when it comes to diplomacy, his words have the effect of turning off our allies and elevating our enemies.
