During his campaign for the Presidency, Donald Trump bragged that he would have a great relationship with Vladimir Putin and Russia. Yesterday, Putin announced a new nuclear-capable missile that would be impervious to any U.S. missile defense system.
Wow! What a great job, DJT. Not only do you have North Korea's Rocket Man threatening the U.S. with nuclear weapons, now you have Russia doing the same thing! Great job!
Guess you're finding out that being President of the United States is just a little bit different than being the p-----y groping star of a reality TV show or the ogling owner of the Miss Universe pageant. What you do and what you say actually has real consequences -- in fact, it's so consequential that it could affect the future of the world.
In this latest announcement, Putin said Russia had successfully tested nuclear-propulsion engines that would allow nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and underwater drones to travel for virtually unlimited distances and evade traditional defenses.
Moreover, Putin warned that Moscow would consider a nuclear attack, of any size, on one of its allies to be an attack on Russia and that would lead to an immediate response. Putin did not say which countries he considers allies.
What a friend you have in Putin, Donald! As the old saying goes, with friends like that, who needs enemies?
Thing is, right now Trump is under intense investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller for his, and his campaign's, ties to Russia and how that might have fixed the election to unexpectedly send Trump to the White House.
There's no doubt Russia did meddle in that election, using fake social media postings to turn voters towards Trump and away from Democrat Hillary Clinton and perhaps actually changing votes. (Remember when Trump said the election would be rigged?} It probably was -- in his favor.
Now, the same thing is in danger of happening in the upcoming mid-term elections. In fact, In mid-February, leading US intelligence officials warned that Russia intends to interfere in those elections.
“There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations,” Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, said during the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual worldwide-threats hearing.
Just this week, Adm. Michael Rogers, who leads US Cyber Command, told lawmakers that Trump has not directed him to strike Russia’s cyber operations, meaning that Putin has yet to see any serious repercussions for his country’s actions. Worse, there are almost no substantive measures in place to prevent Russia from meddling in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.
I guess Trump really does want to have a great relationship with Putin and Russia. How's that strategy working, Mr. President?