Why Would You Want Putin as a Friend?

 

Leaving aside the question as to whether there was actual collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election, it is undisputed that candidate Trump was eager for a friendship between our two nations. The most recent accounts of the president seeking out more one-on-one time with Putin at the G-20 dinner – using only a Russian translator – is the latest evidence that this enthusiasm is undiminished.

Mr. Trump has offered scores of comments about Vladimir Putin over the past four years, many times leaning over backwards to doubt whether Putin was really guilty of assassinating reporters and opposition figures. Had Putin “been found guilty,” Trump demanded? On many occasions, Trump gushed that Putin was “very nice” to him, and praised the dictator’s “strength.” On May 5, 2016, he told Fox News’s Bret Baier that “I know Russia well. I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago – Miss Universe contest – which is a big, incredible event, and incredible success … And you know what? They want to be friendly with the United States. Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got [along] with somebody?”

Perhaps this is a generalized wish for international peace. But if so, why didn’t Trump show similar benevolence toward China? Instead, throughout the 2016 cycle, he repeatedly promised to label China a currency manipulator and threatened to impose high tariffs on Chinese imports.

You have to overlook a lot to imagine that Russia’s intentions toward the United States and the west are benign.

Consider that Russia has blocked eight United Nations resolutions condemning Syria’s use of chemical weapons. Russia was tasked, in an agreement the Obama administration blundered into, with overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile. As recently as April, 2017, Bashar Assad gassed civilians with Russian connivance. In 2016, General Phil Breedlove, Supreme NATO allied commander for Europe, testified before Congress that not only was Russia not targeting ISIS (a favorite fantasy of Putin fans in the US), but it was intentionally bombing hospitals and other civilian targets in Syria to frighten more refugees into fleeing the country and swamping Europe. Thus, has Russia “weaponized” the creation of refugees to destabilize Europe.

Anything that undermines the legitimacy of free and democratic nations in the west is guaranteed to get Russian support. Putin sows distrust and chaos, and has shown himself willing to use “disinformation” – an old Soviet technique – as well as financial support for extremists of both left and right. Russia supports rightists like the Jobbik party in Hungary and the National Front in France, as well as left wing parties like Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece.

The Russians have stood solidly behind their ally, Iran, even selling the Islamic Republic sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missiles in 2016 which would make any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities by Israel or the US much more militarily risky.

On state-run media in Russia, the west, and particularly the United States, is portrayed as corrupt, hostile to Russia, expansionist, and treacherous. The Russian television channel RT, which used to be called Russia Today but elected to drop the truth in advertising, traffics in conspiracy theories. The 9/11 attacks, it implies, were actually the work of the U.S. government. The Malaysian civilian aircraft shot down over Ukraine (which a Dutch-led investigation found was downed by Russians) was actually targeted by another mysterious plane. The United States, according to RT, is losing its democracy as a corporate elite takes over the country. The CIA is responsible for undermining Ukraine, and so forth. The ceaseless propaganda is having an effect. The percentage of Russians who have a “bad” or “very bad” opinion of the United States has risen from 34 percent in 2012 to 60 percent today.

The west’s intelligence services are also favorite bugbears of Russian media. As Paul Gregory recounts, “virtually every truckers’ strike, miners’ protest, or critical Facebook posting” is a CIA, US State Department, or Germany BND operation.”

Above all, Putin’s aim is to undermine our trust in one another and in the possibility of knowing the truth. As he told RT journalists in 2015, the Kremlin’s goal is to break what he calls the “Anglo-Saxon monopoly on global information streams.” He pollutes western traditional media with lies and laces social media with suspicion and hatred.

It makes you wonder: Why we would want good relations with such a figure?

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  1. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    • #1
  2. Guruforhire Inactive
    Guruforhire
    @Guruforhire

    Mona Charen: On state-run media in Russia, the west, and particularly the United States, is portrayed as corrupt, hostile to Russia, expansionist, and treacherous.

    I know its propaganda, but this is unassailable.

    • #2
  3. Trinity Waters Member
    Trinity Waters
    @

    Mona Charen: It makes you wonder: Why we would want good relations with such a figure?

    What’s the alternative?  Forbid any contact, pull our spies out and ignore Russia?  Engagement on less than ideal terms is better than that.  Otherwise, we only talk to people we like?  Diplomacy of any sort depends at a minimum on conversation.  But maybe that’s not the point of your question?   Trump wants to converse with the Russians under some civil framework, so Trump is evil, stupid, whatever?

    • #3
  4. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Russia is what Russia has always been, an authoritarian state with dreams of grandeur and no clear idea how to get there. But it a formidable military adversary and a nuclear one at that. It’s not that America needs her as a friend, but she doesn’t necessarily need her as an enemy, either. But that didn’t stop Clinton White House staffer Paul Begala from going on live TV a couple of days ago and call on Trump “to bomb Russia.”

    The problem here is that you have a president who is as close to an independent as one that has ever occupied the office. But unlike the unifying, romantic figures seen in movies and on television, his independence is brutally destructive. He has no favors to call in from his own party and the opposition party sees the Russian mischief as an opportunity to spread mischief of their own. If Putin’s ultimate goal was to weaken the next president and cast dispersions on the legitimacy of our government he couldn’t have found better friends in the Democratic Party and in the NeverTrumpers in the punditry class on the right.

    • #4
  5. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Trinity Waters (View Comment):

    Mona Charen: It makes you wonder: Why we would want good relations with such a figure?

    What’s the alternative? Forbid any contact, pull our spies out and ignore Russia? Engagement on less than ideal terms is better than that. Otherwise, we only talk to people we like? Diplomacy of any sort depends at a minimum on conversation. But maybe that’s not the point of your question? Trump wants to converse with the Russians under some civil framework, so Trump is evil, stupid, whatever?

    Were we friends with the Soviet Union? We maintained talks, negotiations, and all sorts of diplomatic contact with them throughout the Cold War, but as a mater of government policy we always knew where they stood in relation to us. They were not friends, not even rivals, but a dangerous and treacherous enemy that would take advantage of any weakness they perceived.

    Trump has in his personal statements not shown any appreciation for this fact. Obama didn’t show it either and look how the Russians took advantage of him. Trump is already coming in and having to sort out Obama’s mess. Further compounding the problem by attempting another “reset” seems like madness to me. The world is not big enough for Putinism and Democratic Liberty, one will have to give way. Putin knows this and works diligently to quash it where ever he can. And in our laziness we are not putting up much of a fight.

    • #5
  6. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    EJHill (View Comment):

    If Putin’s ultimate goal was to weaken the next president and cast dispersions on the legitimacy of our government he couldn’t have found better friends in the Democratic Party and in the NeverTrumpers in the punditry class on the right.

    Let a thousand “likes” bloom.

    • #6
  7. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    GW was friendly with Putin too. He was more knowledgeable, but even today talks about Putin like a buddy. He was friendlier than Trump with the Sauds, who as Steyn argues are guilty of almost everything ISIS is abhorred for.

    It’s business as usual in DC.

    • #7
  8. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    If Putin’s ultimate goal was to weaken the next president and cast dispersions on the legitimacy of our government he couldn’t have found better friends in the Democratic Party and in the NeverTrumpers in the punditry class on the right.

    Let a thousand “likes” bloom.

    We’ll have to have some mention of ham-handed moves by the Administration before I can make it 1001 but two out of three ain’t bad..

     

    • #8
  9. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    Doesn’t he have horses?

    I remember there was always that kid in grade school whose parents were divorced and he had hundreds of Nintendo games… maybe Putin is that kid.

    • #9
  10. BD1 Member
    BD1
    @

    If conservative elites had ever actually taken Republican voters seriously when they said they wanted the immigration laws enforced, Trump would still be hosting “The Apprentice”.

    • #10
  11. JcTPatriot Member
    JcTPatriot
    @

    My answer to your entire column, Mona.

    https://twitter.com/RaheemKassam/status/887499908441399296

    • #11
  12. Charles Mark Member
    Charles Mark
    @CharlesMark

    Mona Charen

    On state-run media in Russia, the west, and particularly the United States, is portrayed as corrupt, hostile to Russia, expansionist, and treacherous. The Russian television channel RT, which used to be called Russia Today but elected to drop the truth in advertising, traffics in conspiracy theories. The 9/11 attacks, it implies, were actually the work of the U.S. government. The Malaysian civilian aircraft shot down over Ukraine (which a Dutch-led investigation found was downed by Russians) was actually targeted by another mysterious plane. The United States, according to RT, is losing its democracy as a corporate elite takes over the country. The CIA is responsible for undermining Ukraine, and so forth. The ceaseless propaganda is having an effect. The percentage of Russians who have a “bad” or “very bad” opinion of the United States has risen from 34 percent in 2012 to 60 percent today.

    None of these views are outside the contemporary mainstream, certainly not in Western Europe.

     

    • #12
  13. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    It is in both our country’s and Russia’s best interests to get off on the right foot, that’s why. Neither wants war, but Russia has been preparing for war since Obama, readying millions, testing worst case scenarios, imagining the unthinkable.  GW Bush did the same. Putin respected Bush, because he was a hawk. Putin pulled back from Georgia. The Russians respect confidence and strength, they laugh at weakness. If you look at the relationship between Russia and Reagan, and Russia and Obama….well…you get the idea.

    China is a currency manipulator. We buy cheap goods.  Trade is not fair.  Trump is a successful business man. He understands China, and he wants to understand Russia. Of course, in his Poland speech, he indirectly challenged Putin, by talking about alternative fuel sources, so Europe, especially Eastern Europe has more than one choice.

    Russian pride hasn’t changed much in a long time. A nuclear exchange is not an option. Let’s see what can be worked out.

    • #13
  14. Scott Wilmot Member
    Scott Wilmot
    @ScottWilmot

    Mona Charen: On May 5, 2016, he told Fox News’s Bret Baier that “I know Russia well. I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago – Miss Universe contest – which is a big, incredible event, and incredible success … And you know what? They want to be friendly with the United States. Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got [along] with somebody?”

    Maybe he doesn’t want Putin as a friend – maybe it is actually Russia as you quote here.

    Let me go out on a limb and guess that your article here next week will be about Trump and Russia – yawn. Most of us outside the beltway don’t care about this Mona.

    Here is a tip: buy a Ford F-150 and travel outside the beltway and talk to us here in flyover country.

    • #14
  15. Arizona Patriot Member
    Arizona Patriot
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Why would I want good relations with Putin’s Russia?  Well, maybe because good relations would reduce the risk of nuclear war with a nation that has a gigantic nuclear arsenal.  Maybe because it would reduce the risk of energy blackmail directed against our European allies.  Maybe because it would help avoid Security Council vetoes.  Maybe because Russia could be helpful in strong-arming rogue regimes like Syria and Iran.

    I seem to remember an interview with Condoleezza Rice about talking to Putin after the 9/11 attacks, explaining that we were increasing our security alert level, and getting a response that the Russians were decreasing theirs.  There was a decent relationship at the time, and it helped avoid the possibility that the US defense escalation would spin out of control and lead to disaster between us and the Russians.  Never forget that gigantic nuclear arsenal.

    So yeah, there are plenty of reasons to want good relations with Putin’s Russia.

    The question is why anyone would ever expect good relations with Putin’s Russia.  The answer there, I guess, is that even though Putin is quite the terrible guy, his nation has interests that may align with ours.  There may be opportunities to improve things, and when you’re doing diplomacy, you have to talk nice about the other side sometimes.

    Which leads me to remember a Churchill quote: “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.”

    Did I really just suggest that President Trump is acting like Churchill?  I didn’t really expect that, but the the shoe does seem to fit.

     

    • #15
  16. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Scott Wilmot (View Comment):

    Mona Charen: On May 5, 2016, he told Fox News’s Bret Baier that “I know Russia well. I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago – Miss Universe contest – which is a big, incredible event, and incredible success … And you know what? They want to be friendly with the United States. Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got [along] with somebody?”

    Maybe he doesn’t want Putin as a friend – maybe it is actually Russia as you quote here.

    Let me go out on a limb and guess that your article here next week will be about Trump and Russia – yawn. Most of us outside the beltway don’t care about this Mona.

    Here is a tip: buy a Ford F-150 and travel outside the beltway and talk to us here in flyover country.

    Hang on Scott – rumor has it the media is venturing off to the mysterious flyover areas to find out why people voted for Trump – it’s still a dilemma.

    • #16
  17. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    Vlad schmad, he is what he is and he has his agendas.

    You work so hard to undermine the presidency.   Do you not think good things can come from this administration?

    After Trump we are going to get a socialist in the white house.  Nothing good will come of that but the NTs won’t be mirror looking then, just whining.

    • #17
  18. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Vladimir Putin is one of the handful of extraordinarily powerful men in the world. My suspicion is that Donald Trump enjoys the prestige that comes with being in a peer relationship with men of that power and stature, and sees no point in burning bridges unnecessarily — and certainly not for reasons of an ideology which he barely possesses.

    My policy with President Trump is to praise the good choices he makes, criticize the poor ones, and largely ignore what he says. That seems a good policy in this case, as regards Russia.

    Bombing the Syrian airbase was a good move. Offering an anti-missile system to Poland was a good move. Encouraging a U.S. presence in the European natural gas market, to compete with Russia, is a good thing.

    What he says is often inane or incorrect, and worth ignoring. But I’m generally happy with his foreign policy choices to date.

    • #18
  19. The Cloaked Gaijin Member
    The Cloaked Gaijin
    @TheCloakedGaijin

    Я думаю, что следующая колонка Мона будет опубликована на русском языке.

    • #19
  20. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Just yesterday J.G. reminded us that the citizen class doesn’t give a crap about Russia.

    • #20
  21. James Of England Inactive
    James Of England
    @JamesOfEngland

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):
    GW was friendly with Putin too. He was more knowledgeable, but even today talks about Putin like a buddy. He was friendlier than Trump with the Sauds, who as Steyn argues are guilty of almost everything ISIS is abhorred for.

    It’s business as usual in DC.

    I believe that since his Presidency, Bush has consistently claimed that he started out with high hopes for Russian relations, but that Putin was changed by high oil prices. He’s talked variously about the relationship being contentious and a disappointment.

    For the most part, Russia didn’t kick its worst abuses into high gear until quite late in 2008. The difference between Bush and Trump in their relationships with Putin is that Putin has changed, so the appropriate response has changed. Whether it’s his efforts to sabotage democracy in Europe and America, his cybercrime, his terrorism, his support for Syrian genocide, or his invasions of other countries, Putin has worked hard to transform himself into a figure that matches the classic trope of a primary enemy of civilization (the cybercrime, admittedly, marks him out as separate from previous office holders).

    • #21
  22. James Of England Inactive
    James Of England
    @JamesOfEngland

    Charles Mark (View Comment):

    Mona Charen:

    On state-run media in Russia, the west, and particularly the United States, is portrayed as corrupt, hostile to Russia, expansionist, and treacherous. The Russian television channel RT, which used to be called Russia Today but elected to drop the truth in advertising, traffics in conspiracy theories. The 9/11 attacks, it implies, were actually the work of the U.S. government. The Malaysian civilian aircraft shot down over Ukraine (which a Dutch-led investigation found was downed by Russians) was actually targeted by another mysterious plane. The United States, according to RT, is losing its democracy as a corporate elite takes over the country. The CIA is responsible for undermining Ukraine, and so forth. The ceaseless propaganda is having an effect. The percentage of Russians who have a “bad” or “very bad” opinion of the United States has risen from 34 percent in 2012 to 60 percent today.

    None of these views are outside the contemporary mainstream, certainly not in Western Europe.

    Putin’s propaganda is non-trivial in this respect in Europe as well as in the US; more successful, although possibly less important.

    • #22
  23. James Of England Inactive
    James Of England
    @JamesOfEngland

    Guruforhire (View Comment):

    Mona Charen: On state-run media in Russia, the west, and particularly the United States, is portrayed as corrupt, hostile to Russia, expansionist, and treacherous.

    I know its propaganda, but this is unassailable.

    The US is less corrupt than most of the world, not more so. As Drew notes, the American people are mostly not particularly interested in Russia and the elites are mostly currently interested on a partisan basis. There has been enough interest to pass sanctions, but those sanctions don’t cost the US much.

    The US is not expansionist. Where Russia invades its neighbors in order to rule them, the US works hard to make sure that when it topples governments, the people rule.

    America isn’t the world’s most consistent ally, but it’s nowhere near as terrible as the Kremlin makes it out to be. The most frequently cited example of perfidy is Iraq, where the US was constantly understood to be just about to withdraw, with peaks in 2004, 2006-7, and 2009, but it stayed until Al Qaeda was defeated. It was slow to respond when ISIS invaded, but ultimately bellied up to provide the moderate level of support  that the Iraqis needed to beat them back. 14 years after the invasion and troops are leaving again, but the terrorists know that if Iraq needs the US (particularly if the Kurds need the US), the US will return. Korea has had massive levels of support on an unfailing basis for 67 years. There have been some shameful failures to stick with allies (1973 Vietnam being the most obvious, but also 1984 Lebanon), but you won’t find many allies with a comparable level of success to the United States.

    With most of this stuff, there are legitimate complaints to make, but the scale matters. In both the US and North Korea, the police sometimes shoot citizens, but that doesn’t make comparisons legitimate (much the same can be said of Saudi and ISIS, contra Steyn).

    • #23
  24. OldDan Rhody Member
    OldDan Rhody
    @OldDanRhody

    I’m just here to read the comments.

    • #24
  25. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    The long and the short of it is that for Mona, Putin is cossacks and pogroms.

    • #25
  26. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Ms Charen, I don’t know what you and your fellow travelers on the right think you’re going to accomplish with this constant drumbeat of  negativity. Whatever it is, I know only that it’s bad for this country. He wasn’t my guy either, but I got over it and got on board and I wish you’d all either do the same or at least stop making common cause with the Democrats. Shame on you. Everyone is sick of hearing it.

    • #26
  27. Ario IronStar Inactive
    Ario IronStar
    @ArioIronStar

    Valiuth (View Comment):

    Trinity Waters (View Comment):

    Mona Charen: It makes you wonder: Why we would want good relations with such a figure?

    What’s the alternative? Forbid any contact, pull our spies out and ignore Russia? Engagement on less than ideal terms is better than that. Otherwise, we only talk to people we like? Diplomacy of any sort depends at a minimum on conversation. But maybe that’s not the point of your question? Trump wants to converse with the Russians under some civil framework, so Trump is evil, stupid, whatever?

    Were we friends with the Soviet Union? We maintained talks, negotiations, and all sorts of diplomatic contact with them throughout the Cold War, but as a mater of government policy we always knew where they stood in relation to us. They were not friends, not even rivals, but a dangerous and treacherous enemy that would take advantage of any weakness they perceived.

    Trump has in his personal statements not shown any appreciation for this fact. Obama didn’t show it either and look how the Russians took advantage of him. Trump is already coming in and having to sort out Obama’s mess. Further compounding the problem by attempting another “reset” seems like madness to me. The world is not big enough for Putinism and Democratic Liberty, one will have to give way. Putin knows this and works diligently to quash it where ever he can. And in our laziness we are not putting up much of a fight.

    The comparison to the Soviet Union is inapt.  Russia, including Putin, no longer espouses an ideology nor an intransigent opposition incompatible with liberal republicanism.  Strongman Putin (who is, like it or not, more acceptable to his own population, and thus more legitimate, than most authoritarian leaders we must deal with) needs to be dealt with as a self-interested, authoritarian strongman, like many African, Middle Eastern, and South American leaders.  Even the Chinese CP, despite their more overt ideological opposition, resembles this; but for this characteristic, the CCP should probably be considered as more sinister than Putin (they are just as ruthless and deadly.)  I am agnostic as to whether Trump’s actions and nous align with this view.

    It is, practically speaking, the likes of Iran who most resemble the old Soviet Union.  But despite the Iran-Russia cooperation of convenience, one should not mistake this for anything other than momentary cynical calculation.  We need to treat it accordingly.  As I said, I don’t know if Trump is doing that.

    I’m pretty sure, though, that Mona has no clue.

    • #27
  28. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Valiuth make a good point. Russia has always spied, tried to take its neighbors, deals with ugly dictators – Kennedy dealt with it, so did Reagan and Thatcher. Russia spreading fake news, trying to cause confusion in our last election – is that really new? Because many headlines regarding Hillary and Co. misdeeds turned out to be true, and the voters voted her out.   Obama whispered to Putin off Mike to wait until he was re-elected. Was all the foreign money, investments, uranium deals by the Clintons investigated to the extent of Trump’s investigation? There were hearings on everything, Ben Ghazi, the IRS, and all they did was plead the 5th.  Comey said Trump was not under investigation.  Tax payers money is being used for more and more open ended “Russian” collusion investigations, while those in the Senate and Congress are stalling on getting important things done. Russia is a problem that Trump will handle in his own way.

    • #28
  29. Arizona Patriot Member
    Arizona Patriot
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Ario IronStar (View Comment):
    The comparison to the Soviet Union is inapt. Russia, including Putin, no longer espouses an ideology nor an intransigent opposition incompatible with liberal republicanism. Strongman Putin (who is, like it or not, more acceptable to his own population, and thus more legitimate, than most authoritarian leaders we must deal with) needs to be dealt with as a self-interested, authoritarian strongman, like many African, Middle Eastern, and South American leaders. Even the Chinese CP, despite their more overt ideological opposition, resembles this; but for this characteristic, the CCP should probably be considered as more sinister than Putin (they are just as ruthless and deadly.) I am agnostic as to whether Trump’s actions and nous align with this view.

    It is, practically speaking, the likes of Iran who most resemble the old Soviet Union. But despite the Iran-Russia cooperation of convenience, one should not mistake this for anything other than momentary cynical calculation. We need to treat it accordingly. As I said, I don’t know if Trump is doing that.

    I’m pretty sure, though, that Mona has no clue.

    I disagree, but not a lot.  I think that Putin’s Russia has an imperialist agenda and is incompatible with liberal republicanism.  It is less dangerous than the USSR, as it is aimed at regional rather than global domination.  I don’t think that this is because Putin is any better than the old Soviet leaders, but because Russia is significantly smaller and less powerful.  The USSR lost a significant empire in 1989-90, including the Warsaw Pact nations and other outposts like Cuba, and the Baltic states.  The remaining constituent republics of the old USSR, like Ukraine, Belorussia, and Kazakhstan, became nominally independent but were dominated by Russia.

    Russia’s recent bad actions have been focused on further setbacks in Russian domination of the former Soviet Republics, most notably in Ukraine, and also in the Caucasus.

    I can see things from the Russian point of view, without agreeing with them.  Russia is a large and powerful nation, and all such nations are going to want influence over their neighbors, if only for self-protection.  But we’re not supposed to talk about spheres of influence any more, which seems to me to be ignoring reality.

    This is really making me think about Russian motivations, and I’m going to have to consider it further.  I think that there may be a parallel between Russia and Rome, in that they may have both built an empire as a result of essentially defensive thinking.  That is, both may have sought to dominate their neighbors in order to gain strategic depth against possible attack.  The Russian history of repeated major invasions (most notably by Mongols, then Napoleonic France, then Germany twice) makes this paranoia understandable, and perhaps not really even paranoia.  It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.

     

    • #29
  30. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    This was the first thing that occurred to me when I read the title because he’s the head of a criminal enterprise.  Why would President Trump do anything else?  Unlike Bush and Obama, who may have thought they could trust the guy, it’s just part of the deal.

    • #30
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