ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TRUMP HAND GRENADE
Yesterday donald trump lobbed a hand grenade into american domestic politics – and the resulting explosion will have far reaching consequences. at that news conference in Helsinki, following a two-hour summit with russian premier Vladimir Putin behind closed doors, the Us President declared that he did not believe his own intelligence sources when they told him that Moscow interfered in the 2016 american elections.
‘President Putin says it’s not russia. I don’t see any reason why it should be,’ trump said. even by the standards of a man who regularly causes diplomatic earthquakes with a single tweet, this was an extraordinary stance – publicly disagreeing with his own heads of intelligence.
rather than listen to the CIa and the FBI, he is dismissing their claims and accepting the word of the man who leads america’s most powerful global rival.
In the states, trump critics have reacted with apoplexy. the speaker of the Us House of representatives Paul ryan, a republican like Mr trump, issued a stern warning that the President ‘ must appreciate that russia is not our ally’.
and John Brennan, the former head of the CIa under President Obama, went further, calling for the President to be impeached – the process by which a sitting President can be removed from power – on the grounds that his statement had been nothing short of treasonous. ‘ Not only were trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin,’ he tweeted.
the impact of trump’s statement is all the greater because of the highhanded and provocative way he has treated his allies in recent days.
He has sneered at Nato, belittled some of its leaders, and spoken of the european Union as an adversary. In Britain, he gave an interview criticising Prime Minister theresa May – which he subsequently dismissed as ‘fake news’.
His emollient manner towards russia could not have been in sharper contrast. He was, quite simply, all sweetness and light – smiles, simpers and even a wink – towards Vladimir Putin, who at times seemed barely able to conceal his amusement.
trump’s motive appears to be injured pride. He feels that his intelligence chiefs are disputing the legitimacy of his surprise election victory in November 2016. In fact, there appears to be no evidence of actual vote-tampering or rigged counts. What trump’s critics say, including his sacked FBI chief James Comey, is that russia attempted to manipulate public opinion – for example by setting up hundreds of bogus twitter and Facebook accounts to spread misinformation.
When an american journalist challenged Mr Putin yesterday to admit that he had wanted to see trump in the White House and had ordered a campaign of interference to achieve this, the russian leader pointedly answered only the first part of the question. Of course, he said, he wanted former front-runner Hillary Clinton to lose the election. We have no reason to doubt that: as secretary of state under Obama, Clinton had taken a tough line against Moscow. It is striking that Mr Putin did not take the opportunity to directly deny charges of interference.
BUt
there are persistent whispers that trump’s pleas for rapprochement with russia – at a time when most democratic countries, including Britain, are sharply critical of Moscow in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea and the Novichok attack in salisbury – are fuelled by something more sinister. reports that the russians have explosive material that could be used to blackmail the President have been around for years. MI6 agent Christopher steele reputedly compiled a dossier, seen by Barack Obama, and allegedly implicating trump in debased sexual acts with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel in 2013, when he was present for the Miss Universe contest.
all these lurid claims and accusations are bound to resurface, along with wider calls for impeachment. this comes in the run-up to the Us midterm elections in November, and may well have the effect of paralysing the entire political establishment as democrats battle to secure trump’s removal and the President seeks to defend himself, leaving the republicans in general disarray.
Whether by accident or design, donald trump’s statements have created a domestic crisis in the Usa. He may not be Mr Putin’s agent but the russians will nonetheless be grateful to him.