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LAST UPDATE | 18 Jul 2018
DONALD TRUMP HAS claimed that no US president has been as “tough” as him on Russia as he sought to squelch criticism over his failure to confront Vladimir Putin at the Helsinki summit over election meddling.
But the US leader – who was criticised yesterday for his convoluted efforts to explain away his comments about the Russian president – again courted controversy when he appeared to suggest Moscow was no longer a threat.
“We’re doing very well, probably as well as anybody has ever done with Russia,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting at the White House. “Look at what we’ve done. Look at sanctions.”
“And I think President Putin knows that better than anybody,” Trump said.
“He understands it, and he’s not happy about it.
“And he shouldn’t be happy about it because there’s never been a president as tough on Russia as I have been.”
But when asked if Russia was still targeting the United States, Trump clearly appeared to reply “no” – an assertion that would contradict the assessment of US intelligence chief Dan Coats, who said on Monday that Russia was involved in “ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy”.
That forced a tortured clarification of his remarks for the second day in a row.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, in the face of repeated questioning from reporters, insisted that Trump was saying “no” to further questions from reporters and not replying to the query about Russia.
She said the threat to the US electoral system “still exists, which is why we are taking steps to prevent it”.
Subpoena the interpreter?
Democrats and some members of Trump’s own Republican party have criticised him for accepting at face value Putin’s denial that Russia interfered in the 2016 vote to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The US intelligence community has repeatedly said the contrary.
Democratic lawmakers meanwhile pushed for Congress to subpoena Trump’s summit interpreter to find out what transpired during his private meeting with Putin.
The two leaders held two hours of closed-door talks with no one else present but the interpreters.
Democrats say the woman who translated for Trump – and the notes she likely took – could provide critical information about the meeting.
“We want the interpreter to come before the committee. We want to see the notes,” Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told MSNBC.
“We’re going to have a massive effort to try to get to what happened.”
Senator Bob Corker, a Republican who chairs the committee, said he understands the request and was “looking into precedent” to see if it was viable.
The White House is likely to block the move, arguing that the president is not required to reveal private conversations and that an aide, such as a translator, should not be compelled to do so.
Asked if a recording of the meeting existed, Sanders said: “I’m not aware of one.”
Earlier today, Trump took to Twitter to insist that the summit had been a success, citing the “many positive things” he expects to come from the meeting.
“While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success,” Trump tweeted ahead of the cabinet meeting.
“So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki,” Trump said.
“Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this,” he said. “It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!”
‘Double negative’
Faced with outrage at home, Trump said yesterday that he accepted the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had meddled in the election.
He also offered a convoluted explanation of his assertion that he could not see “any reason” why Russia would interfere, claiming he misspoke.
“In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t',” Trump said.
“The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’ Sort of a double negative,” he added.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign has increasingly put pressure on the White House.
The president has dubbed it a “witch hunt”, and repeatedly denied any collusion.
But the investigation is progressing, as evidenced by the indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence agents on Friday – timing that was embarrassing ahead of the summit.
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Pretty much all the media and all the politicians despise Trump plus all the easily led……#Winning
@Derek Durkin: Agreed, all media and politicians despise Trump and his easily led support.
@James Brady: those easily led Trump supporting snowflakes.
@Derek Durkin: do you agree with Trumps foreign policy and if you do can you kindly enlighten the rest of us mere idiots what it is.
@Derek Durkin: it’s a bit of a double standard from the US media plus democrats. They were all rather quiet when President Obama whispered to Medvedev that it was his last election and after that he’d be more flexible, collusion surely not, not from the great statesman.
@Vote4Pedro: but but but obama did this and Hilary clinton did this.why not judge trump as an individual and stop excusing his actions .
@Terry McSweeney: Obama is seemingly waiting to hear why it was his fault for what Trump said ….
@Vote4Pedro: So that makes it all ok then
@Derek Durkin:
The irony of a Trump supporter accusing everyone else of being easily led must have gone right over your head!
@Vote4Pedro: you still claiming that Obama was the worst president of the last 30 years :-)
I’d rather be suffering with the fake ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ than being a deluded Trump fan…poor pets..
Imagine having such a meaningless life that you care even one iota about a president of a foreign country
@Tony Gordon: He’s been a bit hard on the rest of us as well, never mind Russia.
@Derek Durkin: maybe he should stop telling lies and people might like him…not
@King Billy: imagine having a life so full of meaning that the ravings of the man in control of more nuclear weapons than the rest of the world put together is of grave concern
@Derek Durkin: LIES. hey! Let’s just lie! Why not!
@King Billy: not just leader of another country but leader of the free world. And causing global waves with all the flip flopping and wrecking historic global relationships. And making a dogs dinner of a face to face with Putin. And bailing out on human rights responsibilities. We should all have at least a small bit of interest in the developments
Ring ring, Luke, Luke…..it’s Vader here, sorry things go a bit confused yesterday onboard the death star, what I really mean to say ‘I am NOT your father’
@Tony Gordon: Lol…v good Tony
@Mick Murphy: wish I could take the credit…meme on FB
Trump derangement syndrome might more accurately describe the man himself
@Ian McNally: Be a bit unnecessary though don’t you think? Wouldn’t you find it odd if you went to the doctor and got diagnosed with McNally flu?
@Liam Doyle: theres plenty of ailments named after specific people
@Ian McNally: Trump Derangement Syndrome is going to get me a week off work from sickness.
That is why the war hawk, John McCain pushed for Montenegro’s accession into NATO. War with Russia!
US-Russian relations are at an all time low point since the end of the cold-war. Dialogue between the leaders of the worlds nuclear superpowers should be welcomed for the worlds sake. Amazing how unproven allegations have completely destroyed the relationship between both countries.
@Conor Treacy:
>US-Russian relations are at an all time low point since the end of the cold-war.
wrong actually. US-Russian relations are at an all time low since KGB Vlad decided to reboot the USSR
@Conor Treacy:
Try picking up a map – Serbia, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine are all between Montenegro and Russia!
@Conor Treacy: Montenegro wished to assert its right to independence like all the FY republics. Russia and Serbia are old allies and Montenegro is Serbia’s access to the sea. You can see why Montenegro needs to be in Nato or else it will be the next Crimea.
@Conor Treacy: war hawk! Hmm. Me thinks you need to study McCains history and thoughts before you make idiotic allegations
@Conor Treacy: For you to think McCain as a hawk is sad. He has been to war and know it and has stated while strong against aggression War is always the very last choice.
He’s right.
@Decko Kelly: I “would say “he is very intellegent or do I mean I ” wouldnt say”
@Decko Kelly: are you sure you don’t mean he’s not right.
So easy misspeak these days.
A lot of the problems with Trump, it seems to me, is that he says whatever he thinks the audience in front of him wishes to hear. He doesn’t seem to take into a/c that anything he says will be reported, analysed and often twisted. Experienced politicians act the opposite often giving long speechs but so carefully worded they actually say very little. Trump supporters find this honesty refreshing and it is something politicians will have to reflect on if they don’t want this type of thing to repeat. Trump talked badly about May before meeting her and then was sweetness in person. He was friendly with Putin and didn’t ask the tough questions a US president should and when away from him a day later rows back. I worry about the future if he refuses to take some directions.
I would like to as Trump who has said the US should go to War with Russia. What I have seen is many people saying that Trump should hold Putin to account. Under Putin Russia has invaded and annexed territory belonging to 2 neighbouring countries. Is fighting a undeclared War on a neighbours Territory, has shot down a civilian Airliner and refused to accept responsibility, has kidnapped Uniformed Personel from a NATO country, has used Nerve Agent on its own citizens and the the citizens of a NATO country, has been proven to have interfered in the elections and referenda of Western Countries, has supported a regime that has used Banned Chemical Weapons against its own civilian population. And has acted as a Mafia State.
@Mick Jordan: And what have the US & UK gotten up to in that time? We’ve had constant war in a variety of countries, with the common theme amongst them all that they posed no material threat to any western states, for coming on 20 years now. We have hundreds of thousands of dead, millions of displaced as a result. With Iran now in the crosshairs we’re looking good for a silver jubilee of unnecessary, imperialistic invasions of sovereign states who offered no threat and little resistance. Yes, Russia needs to be held to account, as does the US, as do the Brits. I don’t think the US is in a position to adopt the moral ground on anyone or anything save perhaps for ebola considering their recent misadventures though.
@Liam Doyle: Has the Western Allies annexed anyone’s territory lately? Have the Western Allies refused point blankly to accept responsibility for shooting down a Civilan Airliner full of innocent people? Have the Western Allies used Chemical Weapons in Russia? Has Russia claimed the Western Allies interfered in their elections?
@Mick Jordan: Are you for real. The US could be held accountable for a 1000 times that
@Mick Jordan: The US shot down an Iran Air airbus , they are in Syria without the invite of the Syrian Government, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Supplying weapons to Arab countries to slaughter other arabs, supports Israels murder of Palestinians, Destroyed Lybia, and on and on and on
@Mick Jordan: The western allies toppled governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya for selfish gains in the last few years. They tried to do likewise in Syria, are currently supporting efforts to do similar in Yemen, and are lining Iran up for similar treatment. Incidentally, the US has during this same period also been found to be spying on its own citizens, private citizens of other countries, leaders of other, allied countries, en masse. Is Russia taking direct control of two small regions on its own borders with large ethnic Russian populations worse than this just because you can use the word the annex in relation to these contemptible acts? The idea that the western allies are the good and honourable ones in all of this is beyond laughable.
@Mark Gough: And they took responsibility for it. The are in Iraq and Afghanistan at the behest of both governments. The sell weapons to Arab Countries as does Russia and China so your point is? Libya was and internal revolt supported by French and British military Aircraft. Russia also sells weapons to Isreal and over 1/3 of new Isreali settlers are from Russia.
@Liam Doyle: Iraq. Saddam had attacked without provocation his neighbour in Kuwait and continued to be a threat to the stability of the region including using banned Chemical Warfare against the Kurdish people. Afghanistan, was aiding and abetting a group that attacked the US killing 2 Thousand civilians and continued to abet the same group after this attack. Syria was an uprising by the majority Sunni population against the repression of the Iranian/Russian backed Shia minority government of the Assad dynasty. Is the illegal annexation of a sovereign nations territory wrong? Yes it is.
@Liam Doyle: Is “taking direct control of” newspeak for an illegal expansionist landgrab? You phrased that pretty delicately.
@ihcalaM: Not newspeak, but it’s not really an annexation if you don’t take direct control and I didn’t want to repeat a word in a sentence. Point was that although the western interventions may not meet the definition of annexation, because direct control was not established, their deeds were worse.
@Mick Jordan: That Saddam thing happened in 1991, and it was still justification in 2004? More al-Qaeda seem to have been holed up, and many remain holed up, in Pakistan than Afghanistan yet Pakistan has remained largely unscathed by the Americans. And do you consider the response proportionate? How many IRA men were shielded in the Republic during the Provo campaign? Our government ministers even ran guns up to them. Would the UK have been justified in carpet bombing us in response? If you honestly believe that about Syria we’ll just skip that one altogether, but I notice you just skipped Libya altoether too.
You’re defending the indefensible.
@Liam Doyle: And I would question the U.S ‘s relations with Pakistan. And did the State proactively protect the IRA? I dont believe they did. One only has to ask those that were jailed in Portlaoise Prison for that answer.
@Liam Doyle: Kinda depends what Western deeds you’re talking about.
Helping to murder the democratically elected leader of a country in a bloody coup is absolutely as bad as if not worse than an annexation, but taking down a dictator like Saddam and implementing a federal government (with terrible planning, granted) isn’t even in the same ballpark as stealing the territory of sovereign neighbours through covert warfare and propaganda.
This isn’t black and white history we’re dealing with here.
@ihcalaM: The comparative numbers of innocent dead in achieving each goal is pretty black and white though, and it makes for stark reading. Do you view America’s interference in the governmental structures of Iraq, by any means necessary as it turned out, to have been an entirely altruistic pursuit, with the singular goal of spreading freedom and democracy to the poor oppressed people of Iraq? Did anyone in Iraq even ask them for freedom and democracy?
@Liam Doyle:
Whatever about Iraq, Syria and Libya, the Taliban can hardly be described as the legitimate government in Afghanistan, and the government in Yemen was ousted by Iranian-backed rebels – the Saudis are backing the Yemeni government (not defending their actions btw, just putting some geopolitical context on it).
@Liam Doyle: “The comparative numbers of innocent dead in achieving each goal is pretty black and white though”
It absolutely isn’t. Death tolls during and after Iraq II for example are pretty far from black and white when you take into account the number who were dying consistently under Saddam and were soon to die when his regime inevitably collapsed anyway – releasing Sunni v. Shia anger Saddam himself had helped to ferment. And this is the same guy who could’ve started yet another war at any time in a fit of rage, sacrificing civilians on a scale dwarfing the Gulf Wars (see Iran vs. Iraq for reference).
“Do you view America’s interference in the governmental structures of Iraq [...] to have been an entirely altruistic pursuit”
Absolutely not, in fact it was closer to the opposite. The Iraqi people were an afterthought in the mind of Bush and co. which was made clear by the post-invasion strategy (i.e. none). Doesn’t mean Saddam didn’t have to go. He did. He absolutely did. And he should’ve been gone after Desert Storm only Bush Senior decided not to, condemning the Iraqi people to another decade of Saddam. Selfish intent and mismanagement from the US didn’t change the necessity of regime change in Iraq.
“Did anyone in Iraq even ask them for freedom and democracy?”
The communities that were brutalised by him the most were screaming for it, actually – any Iraqi Kurd would’ve told you all about it if you were willing to listen (and they were sure the Mukhabarat weren’t listening in).
Whereas in Baghdad it was kind of difficult to ask for freedom and democracy when asking politely for such a thing would get you and your family disappeared. Perspective is important.
@ihcalaM: The comparable death tolls between Iraq, Afghanistan et al. relative to Crimea/Ukraine and South Ossetia aren’t black and white? We have very different views on the regime change wars so I’ll just leave that, but the numbers stack up pretty clearly.
@Liam Doyle: Obviously the numbers are drastically different – but it’s not a black and white issue, and I gave a pretty comprehensive example of why they aren’t above.
In Iraq and Afghanistan mass civilian casualties were a reality whether the US intervened or not, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein weren’t exactly humanitarian in their approach to opposition.
So death tolls are hardly the best metric to consider when we’re talking about an Iraq where Saddam was slaughtering thousands in a day if he felt like it (which he often did), or, say, a Libya where Gaddafi would kill hundreds of unarmed protesters if they got too uppity on any particular day.
The places where the US have intervened recently were humanitarian hellholes in terms of civilian death in the first place, thus a straight up comparison of how many people Russia killed when taking over Crimea and how many people the US killed taking over Baghdad is going to be fairly useless in a moral sense. They were completely different situations.
@ihcalaM: Highest estimates put it about 10k offed a year under Sadaam, which absolutely is horrific. Half a million dead in the invasion. And has anything improved for them? And the same carry on country by country in the region ever since. It’s absolutely horrific, it has no end in sight, and we’ve become so desensitised to it we can civilly discuss which indiscriminate slaughter of the innocents was more or less justified/horrific.
@Liam Doyle: Let’s say 10k a year under Saddam – but 500,000 civilians and 500,000 soldiers killed in his war with Iran and hundreds of thousands more killed because of his invasion of Kuwait. Thousands dead in Iraqi Kurdistan in a day if he decided to try out a cocktail of nerve agents on unsuspecting innocents.
The guy was unhinged, mass civilian death was his specialty. Leaving a guy like that in power to make his next move? Gives me shivers – seriously.
I completely agree with the desensitisation point – huge death tolls like that have become just a stat in our brains at this stage. It’s always hard not to view it as a numbers game like some kind of cold utilitarian, but I try not to. I just know instinctively that having a man as unstable and capricious as Saddam Hussein in control of a country the size of Iraq was not a good idea for anybody in the region, and his history had shown that. Neither was invading without a serious plan, but that’s what happens when the UN sit on their hands and let the Americans wreck the gaff. A total disaster any way you look at it.
If Putin says it’s true then i believe it.
@Martello Mulligan: If the CIA says it I believe it….
@brendan fitzsimons: but Putin doesn’t…
Someone should investigate if Trump has any ties to the USA at this stage..
Helsinki Syndrome. Similar to Stockholm Syndrome but it only takes 5 minutes to get it.
Trump is confirming himself as a fantasist more and more with everything he says lately
That’s ok. He’ll mean the opposite tomorrow
The election is over. Move on. All the Democrats and “liberals” keep shouting about is Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump is correct in saying that Russian interference in the 2016 was not dealt with at the time by the Obama administration.
People want a de-escalation of tensions between countries like Russia and the US. Peace in places like Syria would also be nice.
Move on….
@Low Energy Jeb: The one person who hasn’t moved on from the election is Trump. And his supporters aren’t too far behind.
@Low Energy Jeb: and we all saw the press session after the Surrender Summit when even Republicans and Fox correspondents were outraged by the wet noodle fake president disgracing his country
@Low Energy Jeb: you’re all just so scared of what you might find that you’re willing to throw democracy under the bus rather that investigate election interference.
@Martello Mulligan: That’s not true. The Democrats and the “liberals” have questioned the legitimacy of the Trump Administration from the minute the election result was announced. Clinton refusing to concede on the night was only the start. Trump responds to the nonsense.
If you disagree with Trump’s policies,that fair enough. But its time to move on from the nonsense Russia interference crap.
@Dave O Keeffe: Dave, it is accepted that Russia interfered in the US election. So what? Mueller was asked to investigate collusion as a primary aim. There is no evidence whatsoever of collusion.
Do you want me to believe that all the tools of US intelligence didn’t pick up collusion in the run up to the election? Quite a few of the Trump campaign were operating under FISA watch. Do you think that the FBI top management would not have leaked this?
Mueller is charging people for crimes that say nothing about collusion. He also has almost unlimited powers of subpoena. Still nothing.
It’s nonsense. 2 and a half years of investigations and nothing only Russian interference…Big deal…
@Low Energy Jeb: many Americans see Trump’s behavior in Helsinki as collusion. Manafort and Flynn are Trump’s hires and he needs to be held accountable – either he’s incompetent or he’s up to some skulduggery – so Mueller needs to get to the bottom of it. Even if the Mueller probe was all just political payback (and it’s not) you’ve got to admit nobody ever deserved it more than Trump. He made everything personal and campaigned in the gutter against all his opponents in both primary and general election campaigns. He set the tone but as usual we find the bully can’t take it when he’s given a dose of his own medicine.
@Low Energy Jeb:
Just because Trump may not personally have know what was going on doesn’t mean there wasn’t collusion between his team (including the Don’s own son-in-law) and Russia.
Why did they lie to the FBI about their contact with Russians if it was all legitimate and above board?
@Low Energy Jeb: “The election is over. Move on”
Tell that to Twitler.. He’s still doing rallies FFS.
@Low Energy Jeb: that’s bull. Mueller was appointed to investigate Russian interference and anything that he finds as a result. You’ve been watching too much Fox News my dear bo(y/t). Christopher Wray (Trump appointed head of the FBI) even says it’s not a witch hunt and that he knows Mueller to be an honest guy and a straight shooter.
Please! He practically hopped into Putins lap and started purring like the big ginger flea motel that he is.
Looking like more incompetence.
Where’s the man who would be me to defend the media genius of our age?
He seems to be miles ahead of his wooden opponents he sure knows how to make the entire world be totally about him. No mistake is bad enough, nothing he does hurts him, unbelievable.
@Austin Rock:
That’s because his supporters are morons. One of the few true things Trump ever said was that he could shoot a passer-by and his base would still support him.
Has anyone actually been watching the congressional investigation into the Mueller investigation?
@Shane Dignam: which one?
@Dave O Keeffe: the one starring Rod ‘the rat’ Rosenstein.
@Shane Dignam: wouldn’t he a part of any investigation undertaken by the government? Being the 2nd in command at the DOJ? So I’ll ask once more, which one?
@Dave O Keeffe: House Judiciary Committee
@Dave O Keeffe: Just wondering if you’ve been watching and what’s your take. No need to be getting all narky.
@Shane Dignam: they’re a series of oversight hearings on the actions of the FBI and DOJ surrounding the 2016 election. Not an investigation into the Mueller probe. What do I make of it? Bloody hilarious. Mitch McConnell will never be called before it even though…. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/24/580171396/biden-mcconnell-refused-to-sign-bipartisan-statement-on-russian-interference
Here’s the thing, the European defence force has second biggest defence force in the world, only China bigger..and not same level resourced.. time to build on UK and French nuclear arsenal in Europe.. cannot rely on the U.S. anymore. They could elect Krusty the clown next.. ( maybe a good choice! ).. once a substantial nuclear armourery in place and Europe being biggest economy in the world with 500 million people then Russia and Trump can F off..
Norway could do the nuclear job on it’s own never mind Germany. Norwegians have a reserve of a Trillion euros..
@John Bathe: There is no European defence force. If there was a European defence force it wouldn’t be the biggest in the world. The EU is not the biggest economy in the world. But France and Britain do have nukes, which is super and all.
@Liam Doyle: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Security_and_Defence_Policy
1.8 million active personnel
The EU economy is second only to China but add in non EU European countries then bigger than China.. Leaving Norway’s vast wealth out of the equation…
@Liam Doyle: bigger economy than U.S. or Russia and bigger armed forces than both so why not build nuclear weapons? Why should we be so stupid not to defend ourselves? You actually think we should sit around doing nothing and rely on Trump to save us… Wow… Naive..explain why Europe should not stand up to defend ourselves in a volatile world..build weapons and F off both of these.. we can’t not defend our way of life..
@John Bathe: I don’t understand where these economic figures are coming from. We are not second to China, the EU economy is significantly larger than the Chinese. But we’re not bigger than the US either, which has been the largest economy in the world for a long time. I know the EU is catching up and all, but I keep seeing us described as the largest economy and the largest market, and I don’t understand where either of these notions emerged from.
@John Bathe: It is all about quality now counting 250,000 Bulgarians armed with WWII soviet equipment is not going to be much use against the 29,000 Russian nukes
@Liam Doyle: https://www.google.ie/amp/www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/08/09/few-see-eu-as-worlds-top-economic-power-despite-its-relative-might/%3famp=1
The EU plus non EU countries largest economy….
population 500 million.. far larger than Russia.. so why can’t we enlarge our nuclear deterrent.. are we dirt poor or something ??
@Austin Rock: Europe population 500 million. Russia 150 million… So naturally we have more armed forces and can increase.. also Bulgaria only contributes 30,000 to the combined force.. German troops, French, italian, Spanish etc and let’s not forget the Finn’s… Destroyed hundreds of thousands of Russian army in 1939.. check numbers before replying. So should Liam Doyle…so do we defend ourselves our wet our pants and hope Trump saves us from Russia? Are you against Europe defending itself for some reason ??
@Liam Doyle: so we are a massive economy….. Norway is the richest country in the world by the way..China ahead slightly in national reserves but Norway tiny population owns 1.3% percent of the entire shares of all companies in the world… So answer.. should we defend ourselves against Russia or not… Just roll over to a poorer country with one third our population…? Why… Cowards or something ?? The Germans?
@Liam Doyle
US is number one economy in the world and China is number two – based on current trajectory will overtake the US to become number one by 2030 , i suspect that people just dont compar like for like , if you pick EU then you need to compare with Asia etc – so ordinarily the global index compares the different individual countries – Germany is 4th and France 7th etc –
:https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/022415/worlds-top-10-economies.asp
@Dave Hammond: Yes, that list includes individual EU members as economies rather than the bloc as an individual economy, sensibly so I would say. But the people making the claim state that the EU as a bloc is the largest economy, which isn’t true even if you take the aggregate figure among the various markets and compare to the US.
Story goes that there is a man locked up in a gulag in Siberia thaf looks very like … you know who
I wouldn’t trust DT to wash my car unsupervised. Big problem is he is the American people… they voted him in and he speaks for them.
Trump is a bully and as a bully he lives in a fantasy, he tries to get others to join him in that fantasy because it makes him feel he is controlling those who believe his lies. He is in my view a malicious liar.
We don’t need to be tough on Russia because they haven’t done anything but have been accused of many things without proof, Russia is a scapegoat for so many reasons.
But does Trump remember history and the McCarthyism madness that took over the US?
Pee pee Trump,
he didn’t take a dump.
But Vlad took a vid,
Now he’ll do as he’s bid.
Fake news, it works both ways baby. I’d call you Mr. President but you don’t deserve the respect.
@SPQH: He’s ruined the office of the POTUS forever now…
When is someone going to extinguish this clown show?
Having the worlds two most powerful leaders talking together is not a bad thing should have been done sooner. Great pity that it’s Trump doing the talking.
@Seán Dillon:
On principle yes, but I wonder if they said the same thing about other western leaders talkinv to Hitler in the 1930s? Appeasement doesn’t always work.
have your say