After his much-publicized two-and-a-quarter-hour meeting early this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Germany, President Trump chatted informally with the Russian leader for up to an additional hour later the same day.Trump and his choir of apologists are saying "nothing happened" and "oh, it was just normal after-dinner conversation with the other G-20 leaders."
The second meeting, undisclosed at the time, took place at a dinner for G-20 leaders, a senior administration official said. At some point during the meal, Trump left his own seat to occupy a chair next to Putin. Trump approached alone, and Putin was attended only by his official interpreter.
Which is bullshit. Anyone who has been to a party knows the difference between circulation around and chatting up other people versus parking your ass in a chair and having a solo conversation with another person for a solid hour. Joe Scarborough is right: Assume the worst.
The latter is either you're trying to do a business deal or get in their pants. And with no other American as a party to the conversation, not even an interpreter, Trump and Putin are free to put out whatever lies they choose. For you know that if Putin's translator leaks anything, that person will soon catch a bullet from a Makarov.
I have abstained from commenting on your posts since the election, as I am a conservative, and even though I was not a Trump supporter, I did vote for him. I know your feelings, and don't wish to come to your blog and cause a bunch of trouble in your own back yard. However, in this instance, I do feel like I can speak without being unfair. This speaking during the summit informally is to me something that is neither an unknown thing nor something that should be a news story worthy of reporting on. When the major nations get together to speak, and then sit down for a meal, and the leaders of two of the top nations pair off to chat, not in secret, but in the open, it is not a scandal, but simply a part of what the whole thing is about. Trump does have a lot of baggage, and has done things that I fault him for, but not every thing he does is worthy of criticism. And some of the things that congress does wrong deserve the finger pointed at congress, not at the president. As I said, I was not for Trump, and actually came around to liking Bernie Sanders, not because of his policies, but because of the fact that he was the most honorable person, from what I saw.
ReplyDeleteI wrote to Carl Levin, Senator from MI, about guns before. He answered my question, and even though I disagreed with him, I was impressed that he didn't send me a form letter. I wrote him back and told him that he had my respect, and also my support for his being willing to stand up for what he believed in, and for being an upfront person for not hiding from his principles. That is all I want in my representatives in D.C. I want an honest politician, who will fight for what they believe in, and will tell me why they believe what they believe it. Now this is why I have at times read your blog, but not commented here. You are honest, but not afraid to state your beliefs. What more can people ask? I respect that, and I wish you all the best, and hope you can at least understand where I come from, and support my perspective, if not my side. And in the end, we are both American patriots.
I read that he was saying that he and Putin discussed adoption policy.
ReplyDeleteWhich, if true, does not help him, as "adoption policy" refers to the adoption ban Putin imposed as retaliation for the Magnitsky Act, meaning they were discussing lifting the sanctions it imposed.
-Doug in Oakland