PD Editorial: A US president sides with Russia

Vladimir Putin faced some pointed questions Monday about Russian meddling in the American presidential election two years ago.

Unfortunately - but not surprisingly - those questions weren't asked by President Donald Trump.

Instead of challenging the Russian autocrat, Trump pointed fingers at Democrats, attacked journalists and repudiated the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies and his own Cabinet members.

Trump said nothing about Russia's aggression in Eastern Europe, its complicity with Syria's barbarous leaders or the death of a British woman who handled a nerve agent used in assassinations by Russian agents.

He gave Putin the benefit of the doubt on the question of election interference and called the ongoing investigation “a disaster for our country.”

The disaster was the president's performance Monday in Helsinki.

It was left to journalists from Reuters and the Associated Press to ask Putin whether Russia would extradite a dozen intelligence officers charged with election hacking, why Americans should believe his denials and whether Russia has compromising information about the American president.

Putin didn't give direct answers, though he offered one revelation: He said he favored Trump in 2016, undercutting the president's oft-repeated claim that the Russians opposed his election, fearing he would be tougher on them than Hillary Clinton.

Nothing said during Monday's joint news conference in Helsinki or the indictments delivered by special counsel Robert Mueller has proven collusion between Russia and Trump or anyone associated with his campaign.

But the president's stubborn refusal to acknowledge Russian meddling in 2016 - or to unequivocally warn Putin that interference in future elections won't be tolerated - is antithetical to American interests and values, and it leaves us at risk.

Just ask Trump's fellow Republicans:

House Speaker Paul Ryan said “there is no question that Russia interfered in our election and continues attempts to undermine democracy here and around the world.”

Sen. John McCain called it “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in recent memory,” adding that Trump “made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press.”

Even the director of national intelligence - a Trump appointee - pushed back against the president's comments.

“The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the president and policymakers,” intelligence director Dan Coats said in a statement issued shortly after Monday's summit concluded. “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.”

Three days earlier, after Mueller secured hacking indictments against 12 Russian intelligence officers, Coats said, “The warning lights are blinking red,” adding “the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.”

From the start of Barack Obama's presidency, Republicans and their allies accused him - unfairly and inaccurately - of traveling around the world apologizing for America's strength and extending a hand to our foes.

That line of criticism didn't originate with Obama's critics. Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who rose to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Reagan administration, coined the phrase “blame America first” in her speech at the Republican National Convention in 1984.

On Monday, it was Trump, the “America first” president, playing the supplicant to a U.S. adversary. He meekly accepted Putin's denials over the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies and many of his own top advisers.

So much for “America first.”

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