If only one positive feature of the meeting of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin can be proclaimed it is that Donald Trump has proven beyond doubt that he is incapable of hiding his admiration and jealousy of this murderous tyrant. The MAGA millions who have revered and adored Trump for his seeming successes in “making America great again” and his deal-making ability, have just witnessed a complete and utter debasement of the “most powerful leader in the world.”
No bragging rights or actualized deals were announced. Trump’s fawning and deference to Putin was the major issue, and all other analysis was about how irregular the entire summit was from an historical perspective. When you have remained consistently supportive of a president, even in the face of irrefutable evidence of criminal and civil violations that you have not personally witnessed, it can be ascribed to fake news and deep state conspiracies. But a televised summit, transmitted on every news outlet, cannot be ignored or brushed off as inconsequential. Especially as the entire world witnessed this humiliating spectacle of Trump affectionately embracing Putin and being subjected to a history lesson rather than an agreement to end the war with Ukraine.
Trump could have recovered his flagging status and polling of his MAGA base, despite the Epstein scandal, if he had shown some backbone and consistency in his threats to Putin that he made prior to the meeting. This dog and pony show was a gift to Putin and hopefully to Democrats who can recapture what was inspiring about the United States, at town hall meetings, congressional speeches and most importantly supporting candidates with authentic concern about democracy, equal rights, the rule of law, and the arc of justice.
Betty Ussach-Schwartz
Southampton