Name:   MartiniMan - Subject:   Schumer-IDIOT Date:   7/17/2018 9:58:07 AM

Wix, I don't disagree with you but Trump could have been more affirmative about what they talked about in private.  Saying he expressed our concerns about Syria and Crimea and the election shenanigans is far different than calling Putin an SOB.  Again, my hope is he was more direct with Putin their private meeting.  However, there is a way to address the issues in a press conference and also improve relations.  The fact remains that the only way to have better relations with Russia is for them to change their behavior and the presser was a missed opportunity for him to publicly say that there are conditions for that improvement in relations.  I am all for engagement with the Russians but we have to do so with the full recognition of who and what Putin is.  I hope and believe that Trump does, but the presser didn't seem to show that and it was not his best day.  We all have them and he needs to do some damage control.

Don't take this criticism as an endorsement of the derangement of the Democrats or the NeverTrumpers.  They have zero credibility with me.  But there is room for legitimate criticism of a missed opportunity and the concern about how seriously Trump takes the threat.  And I am also mindful that Trump has been much harder on Russia than was Obama/Clinton and W, all of whom were derelict in their duty.  I am also mindful of the reset button, the side comment about flexibility by Obama and W's looking into his eyes thing and their utter fecklessness with regard to Russia with the apparent support and applauding of those now going ballistic with Trump.  They likewise have zero credibility with me.  But at the end of the day, I wish Trump hadn't stated he believed Putin over our intelligence agencies.  Putin is a pathological and breathtakingly congenital liar and is a brutal dictator willing to assassinate his political opponents.  He does not deserve our trust.