As soon as Vladimir Putin stepped onto the red carpet in the United States, he had already beaten Donald Trump. With the whole world watching, Trump happily greeted the man who generally cannot travel outside of Russia because he has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes including the abduction of children in Ukraine. Yet here he was being welcomed to the U.S. by Trump. And it went downhill from there. Trump arranged a military fly over and invited Putin to ride with him in the presidential limousine to the meeting location both smiling and enjoying each other’s company. Unfortunately, Putin’s winning did not end there. The summit ended with Putin giving Trump absolutely nothing. Putin made no concessions and did not agree to a cease fire or an end to his brutal assault on our ally. To add insult to injury, Trump indicated that he would be willing to travel to Russia to meet with Putin again. While attempting to end the Russian aggression in Ukraine is a noble idea, to do so by insulting the International Criminal Court, President Zelenskyy and our allies by allowing Putin to come to the U.S. and meet with Trump is shameful. Putin had no intention of giving Trump any concessions, he won just by being allowed to meet with Trump on U.S. soil. He laughed all the back to Moscow, while Trump looked beaten and defeated.
Richard DiPentima
Portsmouth, NH