Laica Ayo

Putin and Trump meeting during the G20 summit, photo by AFP Press Trump Accepts Putin’s Denial Because hey, ‘nobody really knows’. T he press and the people collectively cringed (who wouldn’t) on Sunday, July 9, when Trump, fresh from meeting Putin over during the G20 summit, announced through his classic weekly tweet storm that he had ‘strongly pressed’ Putin over election meddling rumors, implying he has accepted Putin’s denial of said interference. To anyone with a sense of patriotism or even just simply common sense, this is extremely problematic. For one, it sends the wrong message that the U.S., or at least the US president, is perfectly ‘cool’ with Russia meddling in the 2016 elections, effectively downplaying a massive threat to cyber security and more importantly, democracy – the one thing that’s supposed to make America great. No sanctions whatsoever from a president who’s always been eager to spew out accusations, whether proven or not? All because Putin, with years of impeccable KGB training behind him, looked Trump in the eye while shaking his hand and said ‘I didn’t do it’? Has any thief in the history of stealing ever openly admitted he stole anything anyway, like say, the American people’s right to choose? We don’t think so, either. Besides, ‘strongly pressed’ doesn’t sound quite like ‘sanctioned’. Also, it gives Putin a winning platform in which he can freely lobby his stand on major issues, such as the war in Syria and killing off journalists. According to the Trump administration, one key highlight of the meeting was arriving at a ceasefire agreement over the Syrian war. However, this only serves to further cements the US’ collaborative efforts with Russia. This may sound like good news but what it shows is that the US government is eager to adapt Putin’s approach in Syria, an approach that has resulted to hundreds of casualties, destruction and diminished borders.   Since   the   start   of   his   campaign   and   until   now   when   he’s   already   president,   Trump   has   always   avoided   criticizing   Putin   and   this   affinity   for   letting   Putin’s   statements   go   unchallenged   has   made   Putin’s  global  image  stronger.  One  just  needs  to  look   at  how  Trump   breaches   his   usual   handshake   code   and   reaches   out   to   Putin   first.   Putin,  for  his  part,  is  obviously  revelling  in  all  this.         The disaster, however, doesn’t end there. Trump was so positively hyped over his meeting with Putin that he went so far as to announce, via a tweet no less, that him and Putin even discussed working on cyber security issues together. So what, we’re working with the Mafia now?   Consider that for a moment: Trump, the leader of a democratic country, is so keen on keeping the bro code intact between him and Putin that he is more than willing to just forgive and forget Russia’s brazen move to undermine the very democracy he’s supposed to protect. Now that is an epic turn for the worse if we’ve ever seen one. At the rate he’s going, we might as well disregard multiple evidence presented by US intelligence agencies and say ‘Scratch all that, we’re all friends now, no harm done’. Absurd doesn’t even begin to describe it. Ultimately, the long anticipated meeting between the two most controversial and powerful world leaders has done nothing to improve USA’s declining global status. Quite frankly, with a wishy-washy president at the helm, are we even surprised?