(Cartoon image is by David Horsey in the Los Angeles Times.)Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he's been tough on Russia. In fact, he said he's been tougher on Russia that the other presidents have been. Frankly, that's a ridiculous assertion. Let's look at his actions regarding Russia.
* Trump has still refused to admit that Russia affected our last election -- even though all of our federal law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies have said it is true.
* Trump said he asked Putin about the election meddling -- and believed Putin when he denied it.
* Trump has not ordered government agencies to take action to prevent Russian meddling in future elections.
* Trump tried to remove sanctions applied against Russia almost immediately after taking office (and had to be stopped from doing so by Congress).
* Trump refused to enact new sanctions against Russia passed overwhelmingly by Congress.
* Trump has said he admires the leadership skills of Putin.
* Trump called Putin to congratulate him on his election victory.
* Trump has never said anything even remotely bad about Putin.
* When the government supplied weapons to the Ukraine, Trump told his White House aides and department heads to not talk about it -- so Putin wouldn't be angered.
* Trump made Putin very happy by attacking NATO, and even threatening to leave that organization.
* Trump did kick a few dozen Russians out of the country after Russia tried to kill a former spy in Great Britain. But he only did that after many other countries had acted first. Even then, his action did not really hurt Russia. His State Department has said Russia can replace all of the Russians kicked out of the country. It could be argued that he actually helped Putin there -- because now the CIA and FBI will have to start over trying to figure out which of the new Russians are spies.
It's a joke to think that Trump is tough on Russia. He is actually the weakest president (of either political party) on Russia since Russia became a world power after World War II. He's a Putin appeaser -- and a liar.
I'm still wondering what terrible secret Putin has about Trump -- a secret that has Trump bowing to Putin's wishes.
