President Trump’s recent European tour created an uproar from the anti-Trumpers that has surpassed election night 2016. The outcry, over comments to Putin, has not previously been seen or imagined in recent history.
One member of the deranged left, Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) asked for a coup d’état in his tweet:
“Where are our military folks? The Commander in Chief is in the hands of our enemy!”
Since this is the same guy that wants to give disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok a Purple Heart, I doubt it if he was calling for a rescue attempt.
The “Trump is Putin’s puppet” catchphrase has turned into an out-of-control blaze, the origins of which go back to the 2016 debates: “(Trump is) willing to sign up for his (Putin’s) wish list, break up NATO and do whatever he wants to do”
More recently Donna Brazile leaped on to the overcrowded “Trump is Putin’s puppet” bandwagon, which is pretty rich because she too was recently accused by the Russian colluding Hillary team of the same.
Hillary’s debate comment brings to mind a question: What would a Putin Puppet actually do? The reverse of that question is also worth a look: What actions would a president take, which would be against the puppeteer’s wishes?
Let’s consider the latter first, which should speak volumes compared to Trump’s unfortunate word choices:
* Weapons to Ukraine — “the (Trump) administration approved the sale of Model M107A1 sniper systems and associated equipment to the country at a value of $41.5 million” This action was contrary to the original GOP Platform.
* Syrian Missile Attack – On April 5, 2016 U.S. and allied forces launched 59 Tomahawk missiles against Syrian air operations and supporting infrastructure, Quoting former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: “Syria has not given up its chemical weapons stockpile. Clearly, Russia has failed in its responsibility to deliver on that commitment” (supervise the surrender of chemical weapons)
* German-Russian NordStream 2 Pipeline– At the NATO meetings prior to Helsinki Trump declared that Germany was “totally controlled by Russia.”  Angela Merkel, was not pleased. Liberals hate to hear the truth, slightly exaggerated though it may be. Trump was criticized for his harsh words, yet similar words were used by both former Secretary of State Kerry and Vice President Biden, both of whom opposed NordStream II
* Increased Energy Focus – In December of 2016, the Trump Energy plan was laid out, a plain that would increase the export of various energy resources, including natural gas, potentially cutting in to Russian exports to Germany.  Many of these plans have been implemented resulting in a positive impact for the country.

In consideration of the above actions by President Trump, would any serious person attempt to make the argument that they all met with the approval of Vlad the Puppeteer?
The flipside of the equation would be, if a sitting politician was secretly acting for the interests of Russia, what actions would he take? Consider:

* Helping the Ukrainians – “As a U.S. seNATOr, Barack Obama won $48 million in federal funding to help Ukraine destroy thousands of tons of guns and ammunition – weapons which are now unavailable to the Ukrainian army as it faces down Russian President Vladimir Putin,” per the Daily Mail.
* Helping the Ukrainians II – But the above is not to imply, that President Obama was not willing to help the Ukrainians. Quoting from the Hill: “The United States delivered 300,000 meals ready to eat to the Ukrainian military… following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.”
* Stopping Assad – President Obama showed his mettle when he stated that there was a “Red line” that could not be crossed regarding Syria, or did he?  When that line was crossed, Obama took no action, to the surprise of almost no one. What was not clear was why. Later the answer was revealed by the Wall Street Journal’s Jay Soloman: “When the president announced his plans to attack [the Assad regime] and then pulled back, it was exactly the period in time when American negotiators were meeting with Iranian negotiators secretly in Oman to get the nuclear agreement. US and Iranian officials have both told me that they were basically communicating that if the US starts hitting President Assad’s forces, Iran’s closest Arab ally … these talks cannot conclude.”
Brokering the nuclear deal with Iran, prioritized over standing up to Putin’s friend; Bashar al-Assad. Which brings us to:
* Iranian Nuclear Deal – Joshua Keating writing for Slate: “Russia sees its Iranian ally’s growing regional clout as a challenge to U.S. and Saudi dominance of the Middle East—particularly in Syria, where Moscow and Tehran are the leading remaining backers of internationally isolated President Bashar al-Assad.”
* Helping Iran II – As Russia was brokering Iranian arm sales Iran was fighting on Putin’s behalf. Obviously Iran needed an influx of cash. Fortunately, a helping hand from Obama was extended: Iran has received more than $10 billion in cash, gold bullion and assets from the Obama administration since 2013… The payments were made primarily to keep Iran at the negotiating table, to ensure that American hostages were freed and finally, to secure and keep the July 2015 nuclear deal in place.
In addition to the above President Obama took actions that must have also further pleased Vladimir Putin, after all, President Trump had “more flexibility.” Some of these other actions included placing limits on fracking, blocking oil and gas pipelines such as Keystone XL,  and reducing U.S. military capabilities.
The idea that Trump is being manipulated by Putin is now a fixture in the minds of the Democrats and the Trump haters. It is indeed unfortunate that Trump’s ill-chosen words speak louder than the actions he has taken against Putin.
It is also unfortunate that too many people are willing to overlook the actions of President Obama, which were a true appeasement of the Russian dictator.
In plain terms the proper words for what the Democrats are doing today to destroy the Trump administration are: projection and sedition.

Dennis Lund is a mechanical engineer who lived in Benicia for more than 20 years.

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