Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) looks at U.S. President Donald Trump during the welcoming ceremony prior to the G20 Summit's Plenary Meeting on November 30, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. News of a second under-reported meeting between Trump and Putin has surfaced. Trump and Putin met in November 2018 at the G20 conference in Argentina despite Trump’s cancellation of the meeting because of Russia’s attack on Ukrainian ships in the sea Azov. Like in a 2017 meeting in Hamburg Trump had no staff with him and confiscated his interpreter’s notes. In this meeting, Trump was not accompanied by either staff or an interpreter, although his wife Melania attended.
Trump apologists surfaced to offer benign explanations for another private meeting. One reason is that because Trump is reluctant to fuel consideration of the possibility that Russian interference made his election illegitimate, he wants to keep his meetings with Putin private. A second explanation is that Trump distrusts both his staff and interpreters, and thus, chose to meet with Putin alone. And a third explanation is that Trump wanted to show trust in Putin and meet with him without aids or his own interpreter.
These explanations ignore the possibility that Trump may have a shady relationship with Putin that he wants to keep from Americans. The benefits Trump has provided to his friend Putin include the following:
Trump apologists surfaced to offer benign explanations for another private meeting. One reason is that because Trump is reluctant to fuel consideration of the possibility that Russian interference made his election illegitimate, he wants to keep his meetings with Putin private. A second explanation is that Trump distrusts both his staff and interpreters, and thus, chose to meet with Putin alone. And a third explanation is that Trump wanted to show trust in Putin and meet with him without aids or his own interpreter.
These explanations ignore the possibility that Trump may have a shady relationship with Putin that he wants to keep from Americans. The benefits Trump has provided to his friend Putin include the following:
- Changed the Republican Party platform to be less supportive of Ukraine;
- Undermined and attacked the U.S. relationships with the western alliance and NATO;
- Threatened to take steps to start a trade war with Europe;
- Rolled back sanction on Russian oligarchs and tried to rollback other sanctions;
- Supported Putin’s seizure of Crimea;
- Refuted the U.S. intelligence community and had not mobilized to defend against future Russian attacks against U.S. elections; and
- Praised and defended Putin.
