Trump’s strange relationship: What last week revealed about the President, Putin and Russia
Retired Gen. Michael Flynn resigned as President Trump’s national security adviser last week, after reports confirmed that he had spoken to the Russian ambassador about lifting American sanctions and then lied about doing so. Flynn likely won’t be charged with any crime, but honestly, who wants a top security official who doesn’t realize that his communications with Russians would be closely monitored?
On Dec. 29, just hours after Obama had announced strong sanctions against Russia in retaliation for hacking related to the election, the FBI recorded Flynn’s conversation with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn was likely attempting to reassure the Kremlin that everything would be fine once Trump took office a few weeks later.
Tellingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to have accepted the proposal, as he announced the very next day that Russia would not answer Obama in kind by expelling American diplomats from Russia. The game continued a few hours later, when Trump tweeted about how smart Putin was for not retaliating.
It was the first time in my memory that Putin has backed down like that, so for some reason he judged it in his best interests.
But when the Washington Post found out about the calls and raised this quid pro quo possibility a few weeks later, the Trump transition team quickly denied that Flynn had talked to any Russians about lifting sanctions, and then repeated this denial after the inauguration. Remarkably, even when leaks confirmed Flynn had, in fact, discussed sanctions and lied to Vice-President Mike Pence about it, Trump denied having heard any of these reports himself.
Oddly, Trump did not seem angry with Flynn over the snafu, as you might expect if one of your top appointees went rogue by having secret conversations with a hostile foreign power. We may never know if Trump told Flynn to reassure Russia about the sanctions, or if he later told Flynn to lie about it. The truth will only come out if and when Flynn is obliged to testify under oath.
But it does seem clear that Putin, at least, believed Flynn had the authority to speak for the incoming President, and acted accordingly.
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Such obvious contradictions aren’t a problem for Trump, of course. They are his oxygen, his lifeblood. Much like the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass,” Trump says as many as six impossible things before breakfast. It’s for others to try to reconcile them, to figure out if they represent new American policy, a complete fantasy or just whatever he saw on TV the night before.
The White House is hoping that the stories about the administration’s inappropriate contacts with Russia will end with Flynn’s exit, but this is unlikely. Like a matryoshka nesting doll, every revelation leads to another, and another, with Putin always at the center.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is on friendly terms with Putin and was even awarded a friendship medal by the Russian dictator in 2012. Trump’s Commerce nominee Wilbur Ross has banking ties with Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in Cyprus, one of the main hubs for laundering money siphoned out of Russia.
Considering the wealthy stature of most of Trump’s cabinet appointees, it’s not a surprise that several of them would have conflicts of interest. It does seem like quite a coincidence, however, that so many of these conflicts have to do with Putin’s Russia. It would almost be reassuring to hear about a scandal involving one of Trump’s nominees and, say, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela.
Instead, it’s Russian hacking, Russian phone calls and Russian banking.
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If Flynn, Tillerson and others were on Putin’s wish list, seeing the general forced to resign might have come as a blow to the Kremlin.
But all is not lost, it seems. When Trump asked retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward to replace Flynn, Harward declined, saying that he wanted to be able to choose his own people. Trump had apparently insisted that Flynn deputy K.T. McFarland stay on, even though this stipulation resulted in the well-respected Harward declining the post.
One of McFarland’s claims to fame in recent years was her declaration in 2013 that Vladimir Putin should receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Coincidence? Perhaps. A series of coincidences that all revolve around Putin? Well, I believe in coincidences, but I also believe in the KGB.
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As I said in my testimony at the hearing, there is no weapon or wall that is more powerful for American security than America being envied, imitated and admired around the world, as it was when I looked at it from afar from the Soviet Union. Admired not for being perfect, but for having the exceptional courage to always try to be better.
This projection of American values is impossible if you are allied with the likes of Putin, who cares only for power. There is no common ground, no common interests, with Putin’s Russia. Fighting Islamist terror is the usual refrain, but it is as much a fantasy now as it was when it was tried by George W. Bush and then by Barack Obama.
Russia is a terror sponsor, not a terror fighter, and making any security deal with a country that is currently invading Europe is preposterous. If Trump really wants to protect American interests, he will instead throw all possible support behind Putin’s victims, like arming Ukraine and bolstering NATO for Putin’s inevitable next aggression.
That next step may come in the Balkans, in the Middle East, or closer to Russia, but it will come. Putin needs constant conflict to justify his hold on total power in Russia, and if he can’t boast of a grand bargain with the new American President, he will need something else to distract the Russian people from their disintegrating homeland.
When Putin makes his move, what will Trump’s response be? Will he stand with American allies and American principles, or will he continue to display more loyalty to the hostile dictator who just hacked the American presidential election? My worst fear is that there are no policies or principles in this White House at all, and that Trump himself has no idea what he will do. And so we will all have to wait for the next tweet, and the next leak, and that is no way to run a country.
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My new article in NY Daily News. Flynn, Trump, Putin, America. Where do we go from here & who is steering the ship? https://t.co/VPne2BJ0u5
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) February 19, 2017
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