OPINION | GOP must force Trump to stop acting like Putin’s lapdog

Have you heard the one about the Kremlin-connected lawyer, the suspected money launderer and the ex-Russian intelligence officer walking into Trump Tower? Ah yes, Donald Trump Jr., replies: “I love it!”

President Trump may or may not be compromised in some form by the Russian government. Despite many salacious allegations, we don’t yet have all the facts. But Trump is behaving like someone who is squirming under the heel of Putin’s boot — and that is serious cause for concern for America’s national security. 

{mosads}In six months, Trump has repeatedly acted as an apologist for Putin — a murderous despot who conducted a cyberattack against American democracy. Trump divulged top-secret intelligence to Russians that he invited into the Oval Office. He reportedly tried to lift sanctions on Russia shortly after taking office. Now, the White House is trying to water down a bill that (rightly) locks those sanctions in place.

Trump proposed forming a cybersecurity task force with the world’s chief architects of cyberattacks. Trump’s State Department is reportedly now considering closing its only office that deals with cybersecurity, inviting further attacks ahead of the 2018 election. 

After meeting with Putin face-to-face at the G-20 summit, Trump suggested that we just “move forward,” not even giving a slap on the wrist for a major foreign policy crime. Then, Trump met with Putin again in an undisclosed one-on-one meeting at a dinner — without any other Americans present.

The White House is now considering returning spy havens on U.S. soil to the Russian government, seemingly rewarding them for their election meddling.

In foreign affairs, Trump praises Putin uncritically while simultaneously slamming key European allies. He has splintered NATO and driven a wedge between America and its transatlantic partners — the Kremlin’s chief foreign policy goal for decades.

In short, Trump is acting an awful lot like someone who is beholden to the Russian government, because he is making Vladimir Putin’s wildest dreams come true. The big question, of course, is why? 

When Trump’s own son wrote, “I love it,” in response to the promise of “high-level, sensitive” dirt on Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” he blew up claims that the Russia scandal was a “hoax,” a partisan “witch hunt,” or “fake news.” There is now clear evidence: The top brass of the Trump campaign sought to collude with Russia’s government, the chief foreign state adversary of the United States, in order to win an election. In terms of intent to collude (and possibly conspiracy), Trump Jr.’s e-mail chain is the smoking gun.

Now, we don’t yet know whether Trump was aware of the email or that meeting. But we need to find out — fast. Anyone who had even the slightest whiff of that meeting and failed to report it to the FBI should not be president. What’s more, if Trump was aware of the meeting, and the Russians know he was aware, he is vulnerable to blackmail from a foreign power — a disqualifying trait for a commander-in-chief. 

Yet, over the last two weeks, the official narrative from the White House shifted faster than Jared Kushner’s security clearance form. 

For 13 months, Trump and his surrogates called the suggestion of collusion “disgusting,” “a hoax,” “fake news,” “inaccurate and false” and “dangerous.” Implicit in all those aggressive denials is the acceptance of a simple truth: Colluding with a foreign adversary to win an election would be a major, horrifying, disqualifying scandal. After all, if collusion was normal and proper, why would the accusation of doing it be “disgusting” or “dangerous?” 

Then, with Fox News leading the charge, the White House began to brace itself for revelations that Trump’s team had tried to collude. The narrative shifted to: “Collusion isn’t illegal,” (though it likely is). 

Finally, after the New York Times caught Trump Jr. in “lie after lie after lie” about the meeting, he grudgingly released the full damning email correspondence. Suddenly, the “disgusting” hoax morphed into, “That’s politics!” 

However, due to extreme partisan tribalism and the absurd lengths that Trump’s base will go to defend the indefensible, the revelation of the meeting hasn’t crippled Trump the way it should. That’s because we’re still mistakenly giving the benefit of the doubt to a group of people who have repeatedly lied and deceived the American people — until they are caught red-handed.

At every turn, we have been asked to disregard all other facts that suggest a conspiracy or a cover-up and instead, take each fresh piece of evidence in isolation. Moreover, the Trump administration expects us to accept the rosiest possible explanation of every single new revelation — even when it’s grossly implausible.

We’re supposed to believe that Donald Trump had no idea about a high-level meeting in Trump Tower — while he was in the tower — that his campaign chairman, son-in-law and son attended.

We’re supposed to believe that it was a coincidence that Trump promised a major press conference detailing fresh dirt on Clinton, including accusations related to Russia, just over three hours after the meeting was confirmed.

We’re supposed to believe that nothing improper came from a meeting that promised “high-level, sensitive” dirt on Hillary Clinton and that it was just a quick, harmless chat about adoptions.

We’re supposed to believe it was coincidence that Trump began speaking about Clinton’s 33,000 deleted e-mails the same day as the meeting.

We’re supposed to believe it was coincidence that the Russian hackers’ pseudonym, Guccifer 2.0, started posting hacked DNC materials just six days after the meeting.

Finally, we’re supposed to believe that all of these stunning coincidences are completely unrelated to the shifting denials, the amended security clearance forms, the attempts to open a secret backchannel to Moscow and President Trump’s wholesale embrace of Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy goals. 

Of course, it could be that the Trump team is just breathtakingly stupid and has allowed itself to become victim of the largest series of coincidences in political history. But that’s highly unlikely and extremely implausible.

As Trump limps forward, unable to shake the Russia scandal, Republicans must join Democrats in pressing for faster answers. If Trump is innocent of the most damning accusations, then it would be in their interest to clear his name. In the meantime, though, Republicans should press him to stop behaving like Putin’s lapdog — and pass laws like the pending sanctions bill that limit his wiggle room.

Until then, though, if you sent an email to Vladimir Putin itemizing all the goals of Russian foreign policy that Trump has already delivered, his reply would be simple: “I love it.”

Brian Klaas is a fellow in comparative politics at the London School of Economics and author of “The Despot’s Accomplice: How the West is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy.” Follow him on Twitter @brianklaas.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.