Let’s face it: Trump had a rough press conference in Helsinki on Monday. However, this does not excuse hyperbolic responses on the part of the media. On Monday’s edition of Hannity, radio star Mark Levin appeared to offer some historical context.
Levin began with his reaction to the to the media’s coverage of the Trump-Putin summit culminating in a humorous quip about Stormy Daniels:
Well, comparing the president's conference with Putin to Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Kristallnacht, the beginning of the holocaust, calling him a traitor and treasonous. You know, two weeks ago they said he was running Japanese internment camps and Nazi concentration camps, this is the pseudo-media. And now comes to Russia. Now the liberals, the media, the Democrats, some Republicans very upset about Russia. You know, they've had more positions on Russia than Stormy Daniels as far as I'm concerned.
He then proceeded to give a history lesson of past foreign policy blunders with the Soviet Union:
I want you to know something. In 1945 at the Yalta Conference, Franklin Roosevelt sold out half of Europe to Stalin. He repeatedly praised Stalin. Franklin Roosevelt is the hero of the Democrat Party, he of Japanese internment camps too. In Yalta he gave up half of Europe to the Soviet Union. In 1961, JFK met with Khrushchev. JFK told a friend of his that he was rolled over that he came across weak. That it was pretty disastrous. A few weeks later, what did they do?
The Soviets are shipping missiles to Cuba and they are building a wall in Berlin. In 1975, Gerald Ford in Helsinki with Brezhnev, thirty-five other countries, recognized the territorial sovereignty of the Soviet Union which included the captive nations of Eastern Europe. In 1979 Jimmy Carter placed a big wet kiss on Brezhnev’s cheek in Vienna. All this hysteria about this press conference, the President said, "I could have said it better better. "I should have said this" and they act like it's the apocalypse.
He later criticized the Obama Administration for its action, or lack thereof regarding Russian aggression and expansion:
Obama did nothing effective at all to stop the Russians interference in our election. He's the one who ought to be under investigation. No pushback for the invasion of Georgia. No pushback for the annexation of Crimea. No pushback for the invasion of Eastern Ukraine. No pushback from Russia's criminal shoot down of flight MH-117. He capitulated to Russia and Syria. The un-met red lines. His betrayal of Poland and the Czech Republic by seeding to Russia's demand to remove missile defense systems there. He betrayed the Ukraine by refusing to provide them with defensive weapons.
He went on to contrast this with actions that the Trump administration has taken to counter Russian aggression:
Now, contrast that disaster, that utter appeasement to what Trump has done in the 18 months. He's expanded sanctions on Russian companies and apparatchiks. He's beefed up NATO. He's had massive increase in U.S. defense spending no thanks to the liberals, restoring missile defenses to Poland and the Czech Republic. Returning heavy armored divisions to Germany. Pre-positioning armed brigades in the Baltics. Ending arms embargoes on the Ukraine and Georgia that Obama imposed on victims of Russian aggression. Ending the ban of oil exports to try and compete with the Russians when it comes to their oil.
None of this is a reason to make excuses for Trump’s blunders during the press conference in Helsinki. However, Levin correctly pointed out the media’s double standard when it comes to insufficient response to Russian encroachment when a Democrat is in power.
A transcript of the relevant segment is below. Click "expand" to read more:
Hannity
7/17/18
9:38:31 - 9:43:57
MARK LEVIN: You know Sean, what we've learned about the media several of the hosts and guests as we have a lot of psychopaths out there.
SEAN HANNITY: How do you really feel?
LEVIN: Well, comparing the president's conference with Putin to Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Kristallnacht, the beginning of the holocaust, calling him a traitor and treasonous. You know, two weeks ago they said he was running Japanese internment camps and Nazi concentration camps, this is the pseudo-media. And now comes to Russia. Now the liberals, the media, the Democrats, some Republicans very upset about Russia. You know, they've had more positions on Russia than Stormy Daniels as far as I'm concerned. Let me point out some history -- this is very very important. John McCain, God bless him, and others have said what Trump did at that press conference is the worst interaction we've ever had with Russia, the worst diplomatic disaster ever. I want the American people -- forget about the media, I want you to know something. In 1945 at the Yalta Conference, Franklin Roosevelt sold out half of Europe to Stalin. He repeatedly praised Stalin. Franklin Roosevelt is the hero of the Democrat party, he of Japanese internment camps too. In Yalta he gave up half of Europe to the Soviet Union. In 1961, JFK met with Khrushchev. JFK told a friend of his that he was rolled over that he came across weak. That it was pretty disastrous. A few weeks later, what did they do? The soviets are shipping missiles to Cuba and they are building a wall in Berlin. In 1975, Gerald Ford in Helsinki with Brezhnev, thirty-five other countries, recognized the territorial sovereignty of the Soviet Union which included the captive nations of Eastern Europe. In 1979 Jimmy Carter placed a big wet kiss on Brezhnev’s cheek in Vienna. All this hysteria about this press conference, the President said I could have said it better better, I should have said this and they act like it's the apocalypse. It’s not. The left in this country has defended the Rosenbergs, they defended Alger Hiss, they defended Ted Kennedy in 1983 and four when he was colluding with the Kremlin to defeat Reagan. The left, the Democrats, the media in that country oppose SDI, the strategic defense initiative which had as its purpose to defend us against Russian nuclear missiles. they called it "Star Wars" to this day! The left won't fund it. To this day the left wont fund it. To this day the Democrat party opposes it. They opposed Pershing II missiles, to modernize medium-range nuclear missiles which we eventually put into Europe to defeat the Soviet Union. So the left goes back and forth, the Democrats -- if, in fact, Donald Trump had turned to Putin after our private meeting, after setting up this summit and all of a sudden turns to him and says look you little bastard, we know you interfered in our election. They would be attacking Trump today. the way Trump turned to the Germans and NATO, saying hey! You're buying 20% of your natural gas from the Ruskis, you're funding their war machine and then you ask us to subsidize you? The media and the Democrats and the same people went nuts. Some more facts. Obama as president. Obama did nothing effective at all to stop the Russians interference in our election. He's the one who ought to be under investigation. No pushback for the invasion of Georgia. No pushback for the annexation of Crimea. No pushback for the invasion of Eastern Ukraine. No pushback from Russia's criminal shoot down of flight MH-117. He capitulated to Russia and Syria. The un-met red lines. His betrayal of Poland and the Czech Republic by ceding to Russia's demand to remove missile defense systems there. He betrayed the Ukraine by refusing to provide them with defensive weapons. Now, contrast that disaster, that utter appeasement to what Trump has done in the 18 months. He's expanded sanctions on Russian companies and apparatchiks. He's beefed up NATO. He's had massive increase in U.S. defense spending no thanks to the liberals, restoring missile defenses to Poland and the Czech Republic. Returning heavy armored divisions to Germany. Pre-positioning armed brigades in the Baltics. Ending arms embargoes on the Ukraine and Georgia that Obama imposed on victims of Russian aggression. Ending the ban of oil exports to try and compete with the Russians when it comes to their oil. I could go on and on and on on this, these are notes I had typed out on this. All of this hysteria, the fact of the matter is Trump hasn't done a thing to harm America with respect to Russia and Obama did nothing to protect America when it came to Russia, the same attitude Obama had when it came to the Chinese in the South China sea building their phony islands. The north Koreans as they are building their nukes, the Iranians -- he gave them $150 billion dollars and a wet kiss on the lips. So the attacks on Trump, this overwrought, hysterical, insane attack by the media, the Democrats some on the Republican party and some phony conservatives – ok, you're allowed to question the president, just don't go nuts.
