The negative reactions to President Trump’s meeting with Vlad Putin have an utterly hysterical and nonsensical tenor to them. I am not going to repeat them here but what occurs to me is that those “Holier than Thou” brigade members would prefer a nuclear war than give any credit to President Trump for anything.
The attacks on the Trump/Putin meeting started as soon as it was announced, and escalated with each passing day. The crescendo was reached when the ultimate “Holier than Thou” card was played by Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. He filed an indictment against Russian election meddlers the day before the President was to meet with Putin.
After the closed-door meeting, Trump and Putin held a press conference. Apparently, to satisfy the “Holier than Thou” brigade, Trump was supposed to treat Putin uncivilly even though the avowed purpose of the entire event was to try to calm down the rhetoric and see if there were some areas of agreement. (Under such circumstances, you don’t curse your opponent or shake your fist in his face, you try to reason with him and hand out some limited measures of praise.)
The biggest complaint against President Trump is that he undermined the American intelligence organizations. Actually, he did do so – but he was focusing on Obama’s weaponized intelligence organizations and later clarified that was his intent. He has a rather significant point as those Obama organizations were instrumental in the collection and distribution of information intended to undermine the Trump campaign and presidency.
Don’t get me wrong here. I spent most of my career in the DoD dealing with the Soviet and then Russian enemy. The CIA and DIA had, and still have, an agenda that treats Russia as an enemy. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to try to ratchet down a situation where mistakes could lead to much wider conflict and war. (Better a soccer ball than a nuclear warhead).
By the way, spying, stealing, and other forms of influence are practiced worldwide, and our intelligence apparatus is quite sophisticated in that regard. During my career, I helped the CIA and DIA. I also ran into Russians trying to play spy games. The NATO countries, Israel and Japan were ever present in trying to ”acquire” American technology information. Probably the worst of this latter bunch was France who was notorious for stealing and then selling obtained information to the highest bidder. (One of my associates hated the French and refused to meet with them or help them in any way. He had had some rather negative experiences with them during WW2.)
The “holier than thou” brigade wasn’t overly concerned about the Obama years, and he made more than a few international mistakes with Libya, Syria, ISIS and Iran among the worst. Yet he was treated rather differentially, something that has not occurred and likely will not occur during a Trump Presidency. His “Make America Great Again” agenda is like a red cape to a bull. Does the “holier than thou” brigade want to make America less than great? Apparently so.
I am glad that President Trump met with Putin. His meeting with Kim Jong Un, also widely condemned and ridiculed, has had a number of benefits for America and her Pacific allies. Maybe the same will occur with Putin. Only time will tell.
Addendum: There is no comparison between Putin and Stalin. Putin is a KGB thug whose purpose is to “make Russia great again”. Stalin, on the other hand, is the second greatest mass murderer in modern history having killed over 50 million Russian and East block subjects during his reign. Only Mao, who is credited with over 70 million dead Chinese subjects, outranks him for genocidal slaughter.
