Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

The Surrender Summit

So—can you hear me now?

Ever since President Trump stood side-by-side with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and told the world on live television that he trusts the word of the man who directed a long-term and still-ongoing attack against the United States over the combined word of the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, the National Security Agency, Justice Department, the House Intelligence Committee, and the Senate Intelligence Committee, it’s suddenly dawning on people: Gee—maybe there’s something really, really wrong with Donald Trump. Putin—the former KGB agent and murderous thug who has had scores of people who disagree with him assassinated—strongly denied that Russia had anything to do with attacking our elections, so Trump simply took him at his word. I mean, he said that he asked him and everything. (Think, for a moment, of FDR asking Japanese prime minister Tojo if he was behind Pearl Harbor; think of Dubya asking Osama Bin Laden if he was responsible for 9/11.) No, Trump said: Blame it all on that server. Or Hillary. Or the previous president, who could have done something about this but didn’t. Not that Russia had anything to do with it, he meant.

Let’s forget the pathetic spectacle of the following day when, on the insistence of his own White House staff, he thought he could get a do-over on the whole selling-the-country-down-the-river thing by simply reading the script that his speechwriters had prepared for him. In the sort of comically ridiculous walk-back attempt that you’d expect from a toddler trying convince you that he didn’t, in fact, steal the cookie from the cook-cookie jar, Trump blamed the whole thing on one word: He didn’t mean to say “would”—he meant to say “wouldn’t.” It hanges the whole meaning, you see. (never mind basically the entirety of the rest of Trump’s answers to questions from two members of the press in Helsinki, in which he continually deferred to and praised Putin, walked us through his election victory for the 99th time, and spewed baseless conspiracy theories.) Then, in halting, stumbling language, Trump sort of said that, contrary what he’d said next to Putin in Helsinki, he actually did believe the seven American intelligence agencies who’d concluded that Russia interfered in our election. And then he couldn’t help himself: He simply went off-script, adding, “It could be other people also—a lot of people out there.” Cameras in the room at the White House captured images of the script that Trump was reading from, which had only two annotations in Trump’s handwriting: One of them was to insert the phrase “NO COLUSION” (he meant “no collusion”); the other mark was to delete a phrase in the speech that noted that anyone found to be involved in the Russians’ election meddling would be brought to justice. (For anyone keeping track of the investigation into Russian interference into our election—the one Trump refers to, almost daily, as a “witch hunt”—here’s the current scorecard: 191 criminal charges on 32 individuals (25 of them Russian) and three business; five guilty pleas; two criminal cases headed to trial, including Trump’s campaign chairman; and one person already off to prison.)

The reaction to Trump’s remarks was instantaneous: Both Republicans and Democrats expressed shock, anger, and outrage. Even Fox News anchors, early on, called Trump’s remarks “disgusting.” (Don’t worry: Sean Hannity came along in the prime-time hour to shower praise on Trump for being brave, strong, wise, virile, perfect, handsome and virtuous—in other words, to play the part of Sean Hannity on any given evening.)

I reached out to North Dakota’s Congressional delegation for their take on Trump’s remarks. Senator Hoeven—who, you’ll remember, spent the recent July 4 holiday in Russia with a group of Republican Senators, meeting with Russian government officials—responded: “We know Russia meddled in our election based on information from our intelligence agencies. That is not acceptable and we need to make clear to the Putin regime that we will keep our sanctions in place and work with our allies to increase pressure on Russia until its behavior changes. That’s also why we worked to put sanctions on Russia and continue pressing Russia to change its behavior toward Ukraine and Syria.”

Senator Heitkamp responded: “Russia poses a grave threat to our national security and our democracy. It is absolutely imperative for the morale and standing of our brave law enforcement officers and military who put their lives on the line every day—and for honoring the memory of those who have lost their lives because of Russian influence across the world in Syria, Afghanistan, and many other countries—that the President, at a very minimum, challenge Russia regarding its interference in our election and threats to our democracy. There is no gray area here. Top officials in this administration, our intelligence agencies, and the bipartisan U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee have all reached the same conclusion which is the truth.

“Putin is not a friend or ally of our country and he continues to try to create chaos around the world,” Heitkamp continued. “Today was a sad and unprecedented day in history -- an American president stood with Russia over our own country. Any president’s priority should be defending the United States, standing up for our military and law enforcement, and remaining united against any attempts to undermine our interests -- especially when meeting with an adversary like Russia. Today, that did not happen.”

I called the office of Representative Cramer—who, of course, gleefully hosted Trump at a recent Fargo rally—as well, but nobody was answering the phone, my emails weren’t returned and attempts to reach someone in his office via Twitter were unsuccessful.