By E.J. Dionne Jr.:
Yet the dread Trump inspires is about far more than obnoxious tweets — and, by the way, the media and everyone else will have to figure out when Trumpian tweets are important and when they are distractions from far more urgent matters.
Trump’s disdain for the democratic disposition we like our presidents to embrace was on display when he dressed down CNN’s Jim Acosta at that news conference last week. Trump’s tone, style and sheer rage (whether real or staged) brought to mind authoritarian leaders who brook no dissent.
Speaking of autocrats, Vladimir Putin’s engagement in American politics on Trump’s behalf continued Tuesday when he called reports that Trump had been compromised by Russian intelligence “total nonsense” designed to “undermine the legitimacy” of Trump’s presidency. Putin accused those spreading the information of being “worse than prostitutes,” adding: “They have no moral boundaries.”
You know we are entering a strange time when Putin, many of whose enemies wind up dead, is lecturing Americans about “moral boundaries.” Then again, Putin must have been grateful when Trump told the Times of London recently that he still considers NATO “obsolete.” Wrecking both NATO and the European Union, which Trump also demeaned, are central Putin objectives.
We still do not know exactly what ties Trump and his enterprises have to various Russian interests because he won’t disclose basic financial information, including his tax returns, as his predecessors did.
The Full Story (January 18, 2017)
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