Day 426: Trump Ignores National Security Team, Congratulates Putin on Sham Victory

He also failed to condemn the poisoning of a former Russian spy.

Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday and had at least one very specific, can’t-miss, all-caps instruction from his national security advisers: DO NOT CONGRATULATE.

As in, don’t congratulate Putin on winning an obvious sham election, as numerous videos showing ballot-stuffing and blatant shenanigans circulate. Don’t give Putin credit for something that was rigged from the start as his top rivals were all barred from appearing on the ballot.

What did Trump do? He immediately congratulated Putin, of course.

For Trump, this follows a familiar pattern.

Trump’s applause of Putin’s victory was in line with other congratulatory calls he has made, including to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for winning a much-disputed referendum that increased his already autocratic powers, and to China’s President Xi Jinping for his “extraordinary elevation” after Xi last month engineered the Communist Party’s elimination of presidential term limits.

“I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday,” Trump said in a closed-door speech to Republican donors at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida several weeks ago, a recording of which was obtained by CNN.

It’s unclear whether Trump even bothered to read the simple notecards from his national security team before his call with Putin. Whether he read them and ignored them or simply ignored even reading them, they’re virtually a total waste of time for people who spend their lives figuring out ways to protect the U.S.

Trump also failed to bring up the alleged poisoning of a former Russian spy in England earlier this month. Britain is asking its allies to denounce the attack on their soil, for which Russia has denied involvement. While the U.S. has issued a joint statement with the U.K., France and Germany condemning the attack, Trump had Putin on the phone with a chance to confront him directly and said nothing. The conversation with Putin will join a laundry list of moments that Trump cowered around other world leaders.

426 days in, 1036 to go

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