President Trump will be meeting with U.S.’s NATO allies in just a few days and afterward, he is scheduled to fly to Helsinki, Finland for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Of course, the upcoming meeting had the liberal media in a tizzy as many most likely felt the President was meeting with his handler. On NBC’s Meet the Press, the mostly liberal panel was in an utter panic about what damage Trump would do to the U.S. while in a one-on-one meeting with one of America’s greatest foes.
After quoting former conservative George Will chastising the negotiations with North Korea as a “catastrophe” or “disaster”, moderator Chuck Todd was obviously anxious when he asked his panel, “What do we think is going to happen with Vladimir Putin?” It’s interesting that he posed the questions as “we” as if they all shared the same opinion or looking for consensus, go figure.
Todd played a series of clips where Trump spoke glowingly of Putin and Russia and he proceeded to suggest Trump may have been doing what Putin wanted. “NATO allies are already nervous about this meeting and they're already offended that the meeting got planned after the NATO summit, which is exactly the way Vladimir Putin would have wanted it,” he chided.
“Contrast that rhetoric about Russia and Vladimir Putin about the Trump rhetoric when it comes to NATO allies: You need to pay up, you're killing us on trade, etcetera, etcetera,” huffed NBC senior political editor Mark Murray. His “biggest” concern was that the President was headed into the meeting with Putin without ever admitting that the Russians sought to help his campaign at the “expense” if Hillary Clinton’s.
“Is he going to give them Crimea? Is he going to hand them Crimea,” a frantic Todd asked Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute. “But doesn’t it look like they’re setting that up?”
Pletka first replied by emphatically declaring: “God, I hope the Hell not,” but she did argue that all of the President’s advisers would never recommend that to him. “They’re going to write, ‘Do not congratulate,’” Todd mocked to the roaring laughter of the rest of the panel. Pletka also agreed with the President that other members of NATO didn’t spend enough on their defense, “although I don't like his tone and I don't like the contrast.”
Immediately following Pletka, USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page lamented how “Putin comes into this meeting having already succeeded”. “I mean, he has a situation where there is less pressure on Crimea and Syria, their behavior in both places,” she argued. She conveniently omitted how the Trump administration had expelled Russian diplomats from the U.S. and implemented additional sanctions at the behest of Congress.
With the NATO meeting yet to happen, Page divined the future and claimed to have foreseen Trump leaving “a NATO meeting that is divided”. Trump has been “friendlier to him than any U.S. president has been to a Russian since World War II,” she concluded.
Todd wrapped up the program by noting how “it's going to make for quite a week.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC
Meet the Press
July 8, 2018
11:25:23 AM EasternCHUCK TODD: All right. As George Will said, the North Korea summit was a disas—a catastrophe—a disaster, I think. What do we think is going to happen with Vladimir Putin? Let me play President Trump's greatest hits when it comes to Putin.
[A laugh from off camera]
[Clips of Trump praising Putin]
TODD: NATO allies are already nervous about this meeting and they're already offended that the meeting got planned after the NATO summit, which is exactly the way Vladimir Putin would have wanted it.
MARK MURRAY: Contrast that rhetoric about Russia and Vladimir Putin about the Trump rhetoric when it comes to NATO allies: You need to pay up, you're killing us on trade, etcetera etcetera. And there is that kind of split and contrast there that does have a lot of people, at least, at pause. But to me, the biggest story with Trump going and meeting with Putin in Helsinki is Trump’s continued denial about interference in the 2016 elections. Despite, the fact, that other members of Trump’s own team like Mike Pompeo and other people in the national security community, said, “yes, Russia did meddle. They did meddle to benefit your campaign at the expense of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” And the President still doesn't admit that.
TODD: Is he going to give them Crimea? Is he going to hand them Crimea?
DANIELLE PLETKA: God, I hope the Hell not. I really do.
TODD: But doesn’t it look like they’re setting that up?
PLETKA: I don’t know that they’re setting that up. I don't think there's anybody on the President's national security team who is going to recommend this. I think they're explicitly going to say to him, “Mr. President, you cannot be okay with this. Agree to disagree, that’s fine.”
TODD: They’re going to write, “Do not congratulate.”
[Laughter]
EUGENE ROBINSON: Exactly, “Do not congratulate.”
PLETKA: First of all, let's be fair. One thing, we do expect more of our NATO allies than we do of the Russians. It is important to acknowledge that, in fact, our NATO allies don't spend enough on defense, and that they deserve a lot of criticism for this. So, I'm not going to disagree with the President on that, although I don't like his tone and I don't like the contrast.
But the Crimea thing highlights something much more important, which is this awful meeting of the Bernie bros and the Trump people, on this question of eating away at other country's sovereign. [In mocking tone] “Oh, it's fine. What do we care? Crimea, they have a lot of Russians anyway.” Bernie Sanders took that position. President Trump takes that position. I don't understand why it is that the center-right and the center-left are not more forceful on this issue.
SUSAN PAGE: But Putin comes into this meeting having already succeeded, right? I mean, he has a situation where there is less pressure on Crimea and Syria, their behavior in both places. He comes out of a NATO meeting that is divided, and a president who is friendlier to him than any U.S. president has been to a Russian since World War II.
TODD: It's going to make for quite a week.
