Criticism grows as Trump embraces Putin

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Europe

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The American and Russian president met for about two hours at the Finnish Presidential Palace in Helsinki. Both leaders acknowledged the need to improve relations and addressed a range of issues, including the Iranian nuclear deal, Syria’s civil war, and the US presidential election.

“I think the United States has been foolish,” President Donald Trump said. “We should have had this dialogue a long time ago. The United States now has stepped forward, along with Russia, and we’re getting together.”

The relationship between the two countries is in tatters following the president’s own intelligence agencies’ findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.

Despite the fact that Trump and Putin decided to put these disputes, as well as the ghosts of the Cold War behind, there are a lot of people in the United States who said this meeting should not have even taken place.

Former CIA Director John Brennan openly criticized Trump’s news conference with Putin, calling the president’s performance “nothing short of treasonous.”

Sharp criticism by Republicans and lobbyists also continues to grow.

Joel Rubin, the president of the Washington Strategy Group, a US security consulting and lobbying firm, said that after Trump attacked the country’s closest allies at the NATO meeting, he now embraces Russia, which has made Americans wonder whether or not the president is standing for his own people.

July 16, 2018: American President Donald Trump (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) during the press conference after meeting in the Presidential Palace in Helsinki./ VCG Photo

“It was shameful,” Rubin said, “It was a counterproductive meeting, but it is good that it took place because now, right there for all the world to see, we understand what Donald Trump as president is doing with Russia, which is he’s essentially allowing Russia to dictate American foreign policy.”

The United States has been ensuring the security of and protecting allies on the eastern flank of Europe. Rubin added that Putin never got a chance to successfully undermine and weaken the European confidence in American security guarantees until President Trump questioned the country’s commitments to its allies. Right now, Putin might be winning on that score.

Given President Trump’s recent performance at the NATO summit and his previous words against the EU, European countries are well prepared this time, according to Maxime Larive, a research associate at the EU Center of Excellence at the University of Miami.

“I think they really got a sense that at this point, the president of the United States is quite serious in trying to divide the European Union,” Larive said, “They’re going to control the relationship. There is a distinction that’s being made between the United States and the president of the United States.”

Alexander Nekrassov, a former adviser to the Russian government, disagreed with Rubin, blaming the current disputes on media organizations. He said American journalists have cast a negative light on Trump’s relationship with Russia, and they are expecting to hear something bad about it.

July 16, 2018: American President Donald Trump (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) during the press conference after meeting in the Presidential Palace in Helsinki./ VCG Photo

“We could see the aggression in their questions,” Nekrassov said. “I could feel that they were angry that something didn’t happen that they were expecting to happen.”

Nekrassov said the summit was a good platform for both leaders to get together and know each other better. Since there was nothing practically decided at the summit, nobody would get hurt by it.

However, Rubin responded that Russia invaded their democracy, which is an unbeatable truth, and it is continuing to engage right now.

“The question about the legitimacy of the election is not about the legitimacy of Donald Trump,” Rubin said. “It’s clear that we have to separate that. The question is about the legitimacy of American democracy. We need to talk about the sanctity of American elections first, and the other questions come at a different time.”

At the press conference, Putin denied that Russia tried to interfere in US elections, but Lester Munson, the vice president with BGR Group, said the president was not telling the truth.

He added that the sensible thing President Trump should do is to be concerned about Russia, not let go of the issue entirely.

“The longer he goes down this path of denying Russia attacks on our electoral system, the more silly he seems,” Munson said.

The Heat with Anand Naidoo is a 30-minute political talk show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 7:00 a.m. BJT and 7:00 p.m. Eastern in the United States.