Make protests count at the ballot box

If you’re appalled at the current state of politics, the only recourse is to show up to the polls in November.

“Disgraceful.” “Regrettable.” “Treasonous.” “The most serious mistake of his presidency.”

It did not take long for the reaction to explode after President Donald Trump’s unprecedented summit with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin in which the commander-in-chief decided to side with the Russians over his own intelligence agencies and law enforcement experts.

Yes, that was the president of the United States, the leader of the free world, the man who would “Make America Great Again,” apparently deciding that his own intelligence services are not so great, insisting that he had talked to Putin about the now months-long cauldron surrounding Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.

Trump said Putin told him he didn’t do it. Case closed.

At the end his post-summit press conference with the Russian leader, Trump was asked directly if he would, at that moment and on that stage, rebuke Russia for its meddling and demand they not do it again.

The president chose not to. Instead he blinked.

He made nice with a man who even those in his own party believe is in direct opposition to the fundamentals of freedom this country was based on.

Not only did he shed doubt on U.S. intelligence agencies, President Trump seemed to point a finger of blame at his own country in connection with the Russian attacks on U.S. elections.

We’ve seen this act before, when put on the spot, Trump straddling the fence, trying to appease both sides. How bad was it? Former CIA Director John Brennan did not mince words, calling it “nothing short of treasonous.”

Trump’s bow to the Russian boss sparked an unprecedented response from his own director of National Intelligence. Dan Coats did not even bother to run his statement through the normal White House channels after the president’s disastrous appearance, instead saying flatly he did not agree with his boss.

“The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the president and policymakers,” Coats said. “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”

A few hours earlier, his boss told a world audience this:

“My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it’s Russia,” Trump said at the news conference. “I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

Twenty-hours later, the president said he misspoke and again insisted he accepted the findings of the intelligence community.

This is Trump, who seems to not have grasped that he is no longer hosting a TV reality show. This is not about popularity or ratings or getting people to say nice things. This is about being the leader of the free world.

For their part, Republicans now must come to grip with what they have wrought. On a national level, their party is Trump’s party. They watched for the most part in silence for the past two years as Trump drove the train. Tuesday it went off a cliff. Finally, some Republicans spoke.

In a few months, the voters will.

The time for talk is over. It’s not going to change the diehards who will follow Trump to the ends of the Earth, or at least to the bottom of the cliff. They will rail against the ‘Deep State’ that is conspiring to bring Trump down, along with our democracy.

The only action left for voters is to show up at the voting booth.

That means a lot more than the 20 percent of voters who deigned to exercise their franchise in last May’s primary election.

Come November, voters in Pennsylvania will elect members of Congress as well as a United States senator and governor.

This is not a partisan call to vote Democratic. This is a call to get involved. If you were appalled at what we witnessed in Helsinki Tuesday, there is only one real place where your voice will be heard. That is in the voting booth. See you in November.