With the announcement by President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to come to America and visit with Trump at the White House early next year, one has to wonder just how the national media, predominantly liberal and anti-Trump, will cover the story.
Shepherd Smith, the liberal anchor for Fox News, probably offered a preview when he raised questions about the visit, claiming, “The Russians are attacking us right now.”
Bolton told reporters in Georgia early Friday that, while the scheduling has not yet been worked out, Putin would be invited to visit “after the first of the year.”
“We have invited President Putin to Washington after the first of the year for, basically, a full day of consultations,” adding, “What the scheduling of that is we don’t quite know yet.”
Bolton’s invitation to Putin was initiated by Trump, who told Bolton to invite Putin to come to the United States following the summit between the two nation’s leaders in July in Helsinki, Finland. Trump referred to that meeting with Putin as a “great success,” but many American political leaders, even some Republicans, were exceptionally critical of Trump’s laudatory words about Putin.
It has become a “given” among much of the Democratic Party, its allies in the mainstream media, and even among establishment Republicans that Putin and the Russians are enemies of the United States. This view, of course, fits in nicely with the persistent narrative that the Russians “helped” Trump win the 2016 presidential election over Hillary Clinton, and that Trump colluded with Putin in this alleged effort. Trump has consistently denied any such collusion, as has Putin, and thus far, no evidence has surfaced that there was any collusion.
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The situation created by the enemies of the Trump administration is that he cannot even conduct normal diplomatic relations with the Russians without them reacting that he is “cozying up to a dictator.”
This is odd, but such hypocrisy is not surprising. This will not mark the first time that the Russian strong man has visited a president at the White House. Putin twice visited the Bush White House — once following the 9/11 attacks on America, when Putin met with President George W. Bush in November 2001. Putin and Bush met a second time in September 2005.
At the time, Bush appeared ecstatic about the meeting, saying, “This is a new day in the long history of Russian-American relations, a day of progress and a day of hope.” Bush even assured Americans that Putin was a man of honor. How did Bush know that? Because, Bush said, he had looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul.
Lest one think such admiration for Putin was just a “Republican thing,” the next President, Barack Obama, was even caught on an open microphone assuring Putin that once he was safely reelected in 2012, he would have more “flexibility.” Obama told then-President Dmitry Medvedev, “On all these issues, but particularly missile defence, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.” Medvedev replied, “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space,” to which Obama said, “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
Of course, when Medvedev was president, the real power was still held by Vladimir Putin, and Medvedev accordingly assured Obama that he would pass the message on to Putin.
And who can forget Obama’s secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and her infamous “Russian re-set button?”
Trump and Putin will actually meet before next year. They are expected to meet in Paris on November 11, the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the first World War.
Despite all of this, it is probable that, unless Trump smacks Putin upside the head and maybe even spits on his shoe, the American media can be expected to respond to any normal diplomatic pleasantries between the two men as yet another sign of “collusion.”
It was not always so, of course. During the iciest periods of the Cold War, the media actually praised American presidents who met with Soviet dictators. President Franklin Roosevelt was the first American president to meet with a Soviet ruler when he met with the mass murderer Joseph Stalin. Not surprising, the media then thought that meeting with Stalin was great. And FDR certainly “colluded” with Stalin to surrender eastern Europe to the communist orbit. Later, Dwight Eisenhower met with Soviet dictator Nikita Krushchev. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter all met with such strong men, including Kruschev, Kosygin, and Brezhnev.
When Ronald Reagan failed to meet with a succession of Soviet dictators — Brezhnev, Chernenko, and Andropov — he was actually criticized. Reagan protested that he had not met with any of them because “they keep dying on me.” Finally, Reagan did meet with Mikhail Gorbachev, which made the liberal media happy that radio commentator Rush Limbaugh accused them of having “Gorbasms.”
Putin is no Sunday School teacher, and he should not be regarded as a “friend” of either the United States or liberty. But one would think that the same media that praised other Russian leaders would have no problem with Vladimir Putin. But then again, American relations with Russia are an expendable option for the enemies of Donald Trump, if destroying such relations can somehow be used to advance the Left’s agenda.
Image: kremlin.ru
