Just one day after 'clarifying' that he did not mean to defend Russia, Trump is right back to defending Russia and even praising its dictator.
Trump is back to defending Russia, stating during a meeting of his Cabinet the absolute lie that Russia is no longer targeting the United States.
Asked by ABC reporter Cecilia Vega whether "Russia is still targeting the U.S.," Trump answered, "No."
Then he launched into a defensive and incoherent rant. "We're doing very well with Russia," he insisted. "There's been no president, ever, as tough as I have been on Russia. All you have to do is look at the numbers, look at what we've done, look at sanctions, look at ambassadors not there, look, unfortunately, at what happened in Syria recently."
Trump didn't explain which numbers or ambassadors prove his supposed toughness.
"And I think President Putin knows that better than anybody," he continued. "Certainly a lot better than the media. 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."
Russia is still targeting the United States.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats made this clear in a recently issued statement, referring to Russia's "ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy."
Less than 24 hours after his clumsy attempt to clean up his attack on American law enforcement while standing next to Vladimir Putin, Trump has again plainly stated where his trust and allegiance lies.
Trump tried and failed to confuse the world — and especially Americans — by claiming that his sucking up to Russia did not occur, and that he simply had made poor word choices.
"I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn’t,'" he said Tuesday. "The sentence should have been, 'I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.' Sort of a double negative."
That was a "clarification" few found persuasive.
And just one day later, his renewed defense of Russia, while sitting in the White House, shows once again where his loyalty lies.
Trump continues to use the American presidency to defend a country that unequivocally attacked American democracy by interfering in the presidential election.
As the beneficiary of those actions, Trump is now content to defend his benefactors, over and over again.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
