Donald J. Trump and Vladimir Putin
at Russia-U.S. Summit in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018: Shutterstock

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Try to imagine the reaction inside the Hoover building at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue as arguably the most corrupt and incompetent president in American history openly committed treason on foreign soil in Helsinki, Finland on Monday.

If anyone other than Attorney General Jeff Sessions of Alabama was in charge at the United States Department of Justice, F.B.I. agents would have been waiting to greet Donald Trump when Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base to escort the poor narcissist into custody to be held without bail in a padded cell until the American intelligence community and top law enforcement officials could figure out what just happened when Trump met in private with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

What may be more shocking than what Trump said is how it is being reported, with every formerly credible news outlet in the land wondering what dirt Putin has on Trump. The coverage did seem to turn dark and hostile, but why is it still considered some mystery that Trump Organization LLC owes hundreds of millions of dollars to Deutsche Bank and the Russian mob? The bank has already been caught red handed in a money laundering operation.

Anybody with a computer, an internet connection and half a brain can figure this out.

Is Donald Trump’s Dark Russian Secret Hiding in Deutsche Bank’s Vaults?

Trump’s Russian Laundromat: How to use Trump Tower and other luxury high-rises to clean dirty money, run an international crime syndicate, and propel a failed real estate developer into the White House.

I mean there’s already a book published about it.

Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win

Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein must have lost their breakfast when Trump maligned their indictments with very specific charges of Russian spying, hacking and interfering, meddling, ratfucking the 2016 presidential election to damage the campaign of Hillary Clinton and sow discord and confusion in the U.S. voting population — in front of the world while standing beside the dictator who is clearly no friend of the United States or democracy.

I mean Trump even called Russia a “foe” in an interview with Jeff Glor of CBS News prior to the private two-hour meeting with only interpreters present. Aiding and abetting an enemy of the United States is a high crime according to any interpretation of the Constitution and clear grounds for impeachment.

Did Putin bug the meeting? Did the F.B.I.? Enquiring minds want to know what was said.

It had to go something like this, not like the prepared statement Trump partially read after the meeting before going off script and rehashing the election and taking off on a crazy rant about Hillary Clinton’s emails and server, which nobody in the press asked about. At least the New York Times reported it as an “evasion” and “misdirection,” but surely they know what dirt Putin has on Trump.

TRUMP: “So, Vlad, are we good now? No more debt?”

PUTIN: “Yes, Mr. President, you have more than made up for the loans we arranged that saved your business from failure back when no American bank would loan you money.”

TRUMP: “Now, about that tape. The world does not need to see me engaged in a golden shower with your fantastic Russian prostitutes. It was the best sex of my life, I must say, but the world can never see that. I will make sure your country gets back in business with the G7. It should be the G8, as I said recently in Canada.”

PUTIN: “Yes, Donald, here’s the original and all the copies — except for the one I keep in my personal safe. It’s my favorite porn video of all time. I will keep that one just in case.”

TRUMP: “You are such a tough negotiator, Vlad. I admire you so much. I have much to learn from you. Do you have any advice on how I can get rid of all these fake news reporters who insist on criticizing me relentlessly? I mean there was no collusion, you know, no collusion. It’s all fake news.”

PUTIN: “I could tell you how we do it in Russia, Mr. President, but I would have to kill you, ha, ha, ha, ha…”

The most honorable man left in America, Republican Senator John McCain, may be on his death bed in Arizona. But he issued the most cogent statement in the immediate aftermath of the Helsinki press conference.

“Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory,” McCain said. “The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate … The summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.”

“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant,” McCain added.

Poor Nancy Pelosi, who is under threat of a challenge to her position as House Minority Leader, seemed not to grasp what happened.

“President Trump’s weakness in front of Putin was embarrassing, and proves that the Russians have something on the President, personally, financially or politically,” she said in a statement.

If she doesn’t know by now what they have on him, perhaps it is time for her to step aside for younger leadership of the Democratic Party.

Even Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is not running for reelection, said: “The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally. There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals.”

The F.B.I. must have something on Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who actually took on the president and stood up for the investigation.

“The Russians are not our friends and I entirely believe the assessment of our intelligence community,” McConnell said, speaking to reporters after Trump’s sad and pathetic performance.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s response was predictable: “In the history of our country, Americans have never seen a president of the United States support an adversary in the way Trump supported President Putin.”

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said on Twitter: “President Trump just attacked our intelligence agencies and law enforcement for doing their jobs while standing next to a dictator who intervened in our election to help elect Trump. Putin will take this as a green light to interfere in 2018, and it is. Cowardly and shameful.”

But there was Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, also on Twitter: “Missed opportunity by President Trump to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling and deliver a strong warning … This answer by President Trump will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves. He took the word of the KGB over the men and women of the CIA.”

And there was Republican Senator Jeff Flake on Twitter: “I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression. This is shameful.”

Yes it was shameful, embarrassing, cowardly, weak, naive, stupid — and treasonous.

What do you think the French would do to a president who behaved in this way? The political right in America likes to talk about the glory of days gone by. I wonder how they would feel about bringing back the guillotine? Off with his head.

If we can’t get Congress to do its job and bring articles of impeachment against Trump and have a trial in the Senate, convict him and remove him from office, perhaps the attorneys general in Maryland and D.C. can get a conviction of Donald Trump for his wide-ranging business entanglements that clearly violate the U.S. Constitution emoluments clauses against accepting gifts and engaging in private financial transactions with foreign governments.

Federal Lawsuit Alleges Trump Violates Constitution’s Emoluments Clauses

For all Trump’s big talk of putting America first and making America great again, his performance in Helsinki just did far more to put Russia first and make Russia great again. He did nothing but potentially mortal damage to American values and ideals. He has to fucking go. The sooner the better for American democracy and the fate of the world.