The so-called ‘summit’ between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki turned out to be a farce. At the news conference after the summit, Mr Trump showed incredible weakness by backing Mr Putin against his own US intelligence agencies.
To quote Republican Senator John McCain: “It was an absolute political fall-out for Trump to side with Putin against his own intelligence services. The damage inflicted by Trump’s sympathy to Putin’s authoritarian leadership is now difficult to calculate. No prior President in history has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. It was the most disgraceful performance by an American President in memory.”
For most American people, this news conference was a shock and a disappointment to see their President side with Mr Putin when he was supposed to hold Russia responsible for meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.
This was a missed opportunity for Mr Trump. With all his boisterous talk and silly outbursts on Twitter, he was seen by one and all as a very weak President.