A POTUS proposal to bring back Putin to the organization of rich democracies was treated like poop by the majority of G7 leaders. Why does Trump continue to insist on defending Putin?
During a meal meeting, which may have caused some indigestion among them, Trump may have precipitated a food fight after a rebuff by the German chancellor, and the President of the European Council, for his desire to invite Putin to the next G7 summit, to be held in the United States.
Russia was dropped from the then G8 in 2014 following over a dozen years of inclusion in a response to its annexation of Crimea and the promotion of civil war in eastern Ukraine. Putin's goal appears to be to delegitimize the democratic model. Why are Trump's actions in service of that goal during an international forum?
Trump portrays G-7 as a lovefest, papering over differences https://apnews.com/568961a192964b849529746567b56a85
Real negotiating skills reject giving something for nothing, so why did Trump say that Putin must be included in the forum? Most of the other leaders argued that Russia does not meet their standards because the G7 represents democracies. Trump's defense Putin at the G-7 was even more fervent in private than in public. Trump Went to the Mat for Putin at the G-7 Summit http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/trump-putin-russia-g7-summit.htm…
POTUS44 would have never said President Putin outsmarted President Bush at an international forum. That #Russia took Crimea away from #USA is preposterous. To frame the dispute over Crimea as Putin vs Obama is ridiculous and truly wacky.
Trump used the global stage of the G-7 conference to assert former President Barack Obama was “outsmarted” and embarrassed by Russian President Vladimir Putin https://politi.co/2zp5i02 https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/26/trump-putin-obama-g7-1475439
Fox pushed back on Trumps's assertion. ‘Not true’: Fox News’ Shep Smith hammers Trump for claiming Putin outsmarted Obama - https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/not-true-fox-news-shep-smith-hammers-t…
Then to add insult to injury, Trump decided to promote the idea of using his South Florida resort as a venue. That one crossed the line even further. 'Hell, No!': Trump Finally Goes Too Far, not only for Democrats but even for Republicans also.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/rick-santorum-donald-trump-hell-no-080012494…
https://www.newsweek.com/top-senate-democrats-warn-trump-against-inviti…
Image - AP
