The Odd Contradiction Between Trump’s Words and Actions
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump’s performance in Finland on Monday — roundly criticized even by many of his allies here at home — was only the latest in a string of rhetorical gestures that critics have interpreted as needlessly fawning in regard to Russia.
At a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump appeared to accept his counterpart’s denial of 2016 U.S. election campaign meddling over the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence agencies.
He backed Putin’s suggestion that independent counsel Robert Mueller let Russian law enforcement officers question Russian agents indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury of hacking into computer systems of Democratic Party officials.
Trump even suggested that Russia could be a good partner on cybersecurity.
Lost in the predictable outrage that followed is a curious paradox when it comes to Russia: While Trump’s words and tweets sound accommodating of Putin, his administration’s actions in many cases have been much tougher than those of his predecessor in the Oval Office, Barack Obama.
“It’s perplexing,” said Robert Kaufman, a public policy professor at Pepperdine University.
Kaufman, author of “Dangerous Doctrine: How Obama’s Grand Strategy Weakened America,” attributed Trump’s rhetorical posture to stubbornness in the face of speculation that he conspired with the Russians during the 2016 campaign. He said Trump conflates Russian interference with his supposed role in it.
The tweets and words from Trump obscure the policies, Kaufman said. Trump’s foreign policy is “better than it sounds,” Kaufman said, paraphrasing a quote sometimes attributed to author Mark Twain about German composer Richard Wagner’s music.
“If you just watched what he did, I’d be 90 percent happy with it,” Kaufman said.
A review of Trump’s policies turns up little that could be viewed as supportive of Russia’s agenda:
- In the wake of election interference, Trump — albeit reluctantly and in the face of veto-proof majorities in both houses of Congress — signed a bill ramping up sanctions against Russia and against many specific Russian oligarchs said to be allies of Putin.
- The Trump administration last year allowed the sale of lethal anti-tank and other much-needed weapons to Ukraine — something Obama refused to do despite repeated pleas from Ukrainian leaders — to beef up defenses against possible further aggression by a country that had invaded and annexed Crimea.
- In June of last year, Trump withdrew from the Paris climate change accords, an environmental pact Russia supported.
- In May, Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Russia’s biggest ally in the Middle East. Russia helped negotiate that deal and strongly supported it.
- Trump has pushed for increased spending on the U.S. military, which clearly is not in Russia’s interests.
- Trump also has supported expanding domestic energy production, a fact the president referenced on Monday. Since energy is by far Russia’s most important industry and high energy prices are vital to Putin’s ability to project power beyond Russia’s borders, it directly contradicts that nation’s interests for the United States to increase energy production.
But experts said Trump undermines that policy heft when he fails to back it up with strong, clear public messaging. Sending mixed signals can lead to miscalculations and even wars, Kaufman said.
“I think you have to be concerned over the long term because words do matter,” he said.
J. Michael Waller, vice president of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, downplayed the significance of some of Trump’s policies. He said the arms sold to Ukraine, for instance, are relatively ineffectual.
Waller, whose think tank often has been supportive of Trump, said the president has been slow to replace Obama-era staffers and other advisers who are not “MAGA [Make America Great Again] type” people. He pointed to Fiona Hill, a veteran of the left-leaning Brookings Institution, who still serves on the National Security Council staff and who accompanied Trump to Finland for the summit.
“We’re going to have an ‘Obama lite’ until that changes,” Waller said.
Waller faulted the president’s entire approach to the summit with Putin. He criticized the president for meeting with Putin alone except for interpreters — without even note takers to document the meeting.
“I did not see Trump taking an ‘America First’ approach on this,” he said. “He allowed Putin and Putin’s team to totally dominate the narrative.”
Waller said the United States has done little to challenge a Russian campaign to significantly upgrade its offensive weapons capabilities. “We have no defense against it,” he said.
Waller said Trump came off as petty and diminished himself by using the forum to talk about his campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton and his electoral college victory.
“You don’t bring domestic politics to a summit and blame them for things Putin did,” he said.
Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told LifeZette that a thaw in Russian-U.S. relations is unlikely in the short term.
“I am expecting a strong pushback from the Democrats and from those Republicans in Washington who are opposed to President Trump’s rapprochement with Moscow,” he said. “In any event, until such time that the Mueller investigation ran out its course and the indictments are presented, I do not think it will be possible to greatly expand the scope of U.S.-Russian relations.”
He added he hopes that “after that, we will be able to move forward, especially if we achieve progress on Ukraine.”
PoliZette senior writer Brendan Kirby can be reached at brendan.kirby@lifezette.com . Follow him on Twitter .
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So, where does the left get this false narrative of trump being weak on Russia?
Oh, it fits their lies about collusion! Got it!
Actions never mattered to BO supporters only words mattered, since they never seemed to care that they were never followed up on, one can only assume they forgot about it shortly after. So you see actions don't matter....only words. Why would it be different for Trump? They say BO was the greatest president ever. What more proof do you need?
Yup, they defended him at all times
Remember this:
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It's an opinion piece and a strongly backed up position at that!
Care to discuss The Trump stand on Russia?
Sure. Care to discuss what actions Trump has authorized to prevent Putin from trying to interfere in the 2018 elections???
You mean like an EO, or some kind of new law? The democrats would never agree to it.
First, you have to define "interference"? Then you will have to explain what difference will it make. It made not a bit of difference in the 2016 election results. It's not Trumps fault that the DNC servers and Hillary's home set up were unsecured and amounted to low hanging ripe fruit...that anyone could hack...and did. There is nothing Trump could do that would stop determined hackers, since he's not an IT guy.
How about the six listed in the article?
It's always a good idea to read the article
They don't address my question. Maybe you should read the article and my question before responding.
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You made the assertion, now prove it .
They answer your question. Sorry you didn't like the answer. I wasn't expecting a real discussion of Trump policies.
And that's a personal attack
Thought it was a question.
No evidence of that, another untrue statement.
Then complain to the website. I am sure they will take your concerns under consideration.
Who cares what he says, the ongoing positive results are all that matters. He keeps hitting winners all over the court.
Every American should care what this POS says, he's an embarrassment to the office of the president. He ain't winning shit.
hes winning as the BIGGEST LOSER
Trump is a wanna be dictator, a master of Orwellian doublespeak. Next stops? Dystopia and Ruin....
Lol, take one aspirin a day for now. You may need further medication after the November election
I wouldn't say that. A weak practitioner at best. Nobody with half a brain has trouble seeing what he is all about, because his vocabulary is so involuntarily transparent. It is beyond his means to master anything but failure.
How many half-brained people consider winning the Presidency failure?
What has Russia really gained fro his Presidency?
Is it possible that the meeting between Trump and Putin could ease the tensions between the two countries.Would the world be a better place if Russia and America stopped using each other as punching bags blaming each other for all that is wrong in the world? Would an approach devoid of hostility and devoid of accusations have a chance of being productive?
Is it wrong to hope and encourage world leaders to work together in a peaceful manner to make the world a safer place? Does the fact that our Congress can't, mean others shouldn't even try?
Why is the Democratic Party which constantly focuses on reducing our military pushing for an increase in hostilities between the U.S. and Russia?
The best why of all. Why is the Democratic Party turning against Obama who campaigned on the positives of being willing to talk to anybody in the hope of finding peaceful solutions?
Even Donald Trump had no plans to win the election. He was as shocked as everyone else. Then as the reality that he would have to actually do the job set in, the panic was evident in his expressions, and his dismay at losing the freedoms he relied on day to day to keep himself entertained. He basically failed at failing to win, thanks to the swarm of deplorables who refused to let him lose like he wanted to. He obviously did not even want the job.
He failed at failing to win and was distraught because he succeeded in winning because a bunch of half brained deplorables was all it took to defeat the opposition.
Now the Party that couldn't defeat a bunch of deplorables insists that they are the ones who should deal with the world for us. (Logical?)
Obama campaigned on better relations before putin invaded Crimea.
Because we actually care about our country.
And....what did Obama do and say about the Crimea invasion? Or the downing of a commercial airliner with a proven RUSSIAN missile?
Where was the outrage and condemnation by all those on the left??
You're referring to the sanctions which Trump wanted to lift? I'm not sure how that helps whatever point you thought you were making.