de

del

Eduardo del Buey
Foto: Afp
La Jornada Maya

Martes 24 de julio, 2018

The first time a sitting U.S. president has ever disgraced himself and his office in front of a global audience.

The first time a U.S. president questioned the integrity of his intelligence forces before a global audience, and instead, gave credibility to the lies of a sitting Russian president.

The first time a sitting U.S. president has been accused of treasonous activity by a good number of U.S. citizens from all walks of life.

[b]Why?[/b]

This is the question many are asking around the world.

A few days before, President Trump criticized harshly his NATO allies at a summit in Brussels. He accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of being controlled by Russia claiming that Germany depends on Russia for 70 percent of its gas imports.

Another lie, since Germany imports only 35 percent of its gas from that country. Trump’s performance led the German Foreign Minister to conclude that Europe can no longer depend on the United States as a viable security partner. While some Americans may question Germany’s purchase of any Russian gas, we should keep in mind that this is also a pressure tactic by Trump to get the Germans to replace Russian shipments with more expensive U.S. sources liquid natural gas. He has already used national security as an excuse to levy stiff tariffs against his Canadian and European allies.

He then went to London, where he scathingly described Prime Minister Theresa May as a weak and ineffective leader in a major interview with Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun. Trump then denied ever having said that, although recordings of his interview with the journalist later surfaced.

More lies. Indeed, he lies when getting caught in a lie!

He arrived late for an audience with the Queen, and then proceeded to disrespect her by refusing to greet her according to protocol, and then proceeding to walk ahead of her when they reviewed the honor guard.

The man has no manners, no sense of diplomacy and no sense of decency.

But more than that, he is quickly denigrating the major alliances that have kept the world relatively safe over the past seventy years, and disparaging allies who no longer believe that the U.S. has their best interests at heart.

He is casting his lot with dictators over democratically elected leaders.

Indeed, many would agree that he seeks to emulate the very dictators he praises on a daily basis and, in this, he does pose a danger to U.S. democracy.

For the first time since he came to office, Republican legislators have publicly criticized Trump. They called into question his fawning over Russian President Vladimir Putin at their joint press conference in Helsinki. They criticized his attack on his own law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and in giving Putin the benefit of the doubt and ascribing to him the moral equivalence of the main instruments of U.S. democracy.

Indeed, when asked by a journalist at the joint press conference whether he would tell President Putin that he opposed Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, Trump replied instead with a litany of Hillary Clinton’s misdeeds while in office and attributed the poor relationship between Russia and the U.S. to former President Obama.

He refused to acknowledge that Russia might have played any role in hacking the U.S. electoral computer system or the Democratic National Committee computer system. As well, he fabricated another lie by claiming that Obama gave up the Crimea when, in fact, Putin invaded it.

As he flew home, disgust in the United States came fast and furious with former Central Intelligence Director John Brennan going so far as to claim that Trump had committed an act of treason. House Speaker Paul Ryan lambasted Trump for his performance and for his words, and many other Republicans joined in the criticism.

Rather than apologize to the American people, Trump said that, after reviewing a transcript of his joint press conference with Putin, he had simply misspoken when he said that he didn’t see any reasons why Russia would interfere.

"I don't see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia," Trump told reporters Tuesday. “Just to repeat it, I said ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’. He then added that “there are lots of others out there” undercutting his own acknowledgment before going back again on the issue of Hilary Clinton and her e-mails.

The world is coming to realize that there is something very wrong with President Trump.

Some claim that Russian intelligence has something on the President that enables Putin to control Trump. Indeed, in three years of campaigning and governing, Trump has scathingly criticized all of his allies by name, while refraining to say the least negative thing about his Russian counterpart.

Another school of thought has him living in post-electoral trauma. He has never recovered from the fact that Mrs. Clinton received three million more votes that he did, and constantly reminds audiences at home and abroad about his “huge victory”. Any hint that Russian meddling could have had an impact on the results of the election would place in doubt the validity of his victory and of his presidency.

Whatever the reality is, allies are increasingly reluctant to share intelligence with the man in the White House, since he has demonstrated no judgment in managing sensitive information. By appearing obsequious when standing beside Putin (a former senior KGB agent) at the press conference, his status as a trusted interlocutor with other Western powers would appear to be nil at this point in time.

This is dangerous in a world fraught with challenges and instability. If allies are not on the same page and cannot effectively and discretely share vital intelligence, their ability to address any situation is severely limited.

I believe that Trump represents a danger to U.S. interests, and that his behavior is, at the very least, questionable.

Events of the past week underscore the validity of this observation.

It is well past the time for Republicans to assess the stability and reliability of their president as his actions become increasingly bizarre and dangerous to U.S. interests.

The November mid-term elections are fast approaching, and this can provide the U.S. public with an opportunity to express their doubts about the current leadership.

The sad thing is that Trump’s popularity remains at par among his core base. Nothing he says or does appears to diminish his hold on this sector of the electorate.

There are only two answers to this challenge:

Voters must turn out at the mid-term elections to ensure that their voices are heard and that the senate and congress are held accountable to ensure that they act as checks and balances to better control this President.

Senior republican leaders will have to stand up against Trump over the longer term and force him to change his ways.

It remains to be seen if senior Republican leaders will act or whether they will continue to accept his antics without creating consequences. If the past year is any indication, they likely will not.

And that leaves resolution of this sad situation in the hands of American voters.

[b][email protected][/b]


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