Vladimir Putin issues veiled warning to Donald Trump, who quickly complies like a puppet
Monday, Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters that there was no scheduled phone call between President Donald Trump and newly reelected Russian President Vladimir Putin. The White House said that it is “not surprised by the outcome” of Sunday’s election. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian reporters Tuesday that he hadn’t considered Trump’s silence an “unfriendly move,” suggesting perhaps Trump’s schedule didn’t allow it, even suspecting he may call later.
With U.S.-Russia relations at a longtime low, Peskov said, “Putin remains open for normalizing relations with our American partners where it is in our interests.” Hours later, reports from Russia confirmed President Trump did in fact call the leader of our nation’s greatest adversary to personally relay his congratulations (link). The two presidents discussed cooperation on strategic stability, arms control, fighting terrorism, and holding a summit meeting. Later, the White House put out a press release confirming Russian reports, quoting President Trump saying, “It was a very good call.”
The same afternoon, the Senate Intelligence Committee held a press conference to discuss protecting upcoming elections from further Russian attacks. A reporter asked the committee for their thoughts on the President contacting President Putin. After the members collected themselves from literally laughing out loud, Virginia Senator Mark Warner replied, “That’s awful election security.”
Although Trump’s call to Putin doesn’t come as a surprise, nonetheless it paints a disturbing picture. Last Thursday, the Department Homeland Security and the FBI issued an alert confirming Russia had increased their attacks on the United States. Hackers are currently targeting vital agencies of our power grid to a surprising degree, including copying information that could be used to gain access to the computer systems that control power plants. Russia is notorious for such attacks in Ukraine. This news comes on the heels of Russia’s chemical weapons attack in the United Kingdom.
EU Foreign Ministers and the head of NATO have strongly condemned the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Britain and offered London “solidarity” over the attack. Reports have emerged that Russian actors helped Cambridge Analytica and Facebook steal 50 million identities, used in a psychological warfare campaign to influence voters in the 2016 election. Meanwhile, the president continues his efforts to sabotage the special counsel’s investigation, using social media to disparage the FBI, while not uttering a single negative connotation about the man behind the attacks on the West.
Gina Bradbury is a freelance writer with 20 years experience working in both the federal government and private sector. She is active in grassroots advocacy for progressive policy.