"We Prefer Not To Believe What We Prefer Not To Be True."

Let's face it, we live in deeply negative and polarized times. It is difficult sometimes to maintain a sense of civil composure while writing this blog. But what the hell-sinki is happening when 40% of the country (and 80% of Republicans) STILL support the president for his Helsinki performance? This, after the whole "let's take kids away from their mothers and put them in cages" and "Kim is a good guy, he's denuclearized" and other debacles!

Have these 40% of our fellow Americans suffered a debilitating stroke that inhibits rational and moral thought? It's been estimated by psychiatrists that 1% of the populace are psychopaths and another 3 - 5% are sociopaths; it's understandable how these folks wouldn't give a damn. But what about the other 35%? Are GOP supporters creating a whole new dysfunctional psychological category? Or have sociopaths been radically underrepresented all this time?

In our previous Daily Kibitz, we took a dive into the Trump supporter pool to get a better sense of why he remains as popular as he is. It was not a pretty look, and we took a quick shower afterwards. But now, wowzers!

Oh, Daily Kibitz!, you might say... there you go again. You exaggerate and your elitist political bias is showing yet again. (We admit to an elitist drive: #bebest!) Don't pull the fire alarm if you see someone smoking a cigarette... Except it's not a cigarette. And many are already sounding the alarm, including the archconservative foreign policy maven, Max Boot. He likens the Helsinki horrorshow to the odor emanating from a rotting fish:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-stench-from-trumps-execrable-performance-grows-ever-more-putrid/2018/07/18/6fce82c8-8aa2-11e8-85ae-511bc1146b0b_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4c9d13638bbc

Well, Max surely did not hold anything back. Neither does former George W. Bush speechwriter, David Frum, now an editor at "The Atlantic". Regarding The Age of Trump in general, he has already memorably said, "If Conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." Frum expands this conceit with a couple of  short and incisive essays written about Helsinki. "The United States faces a national security emergency."

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/07/trump-putin/565310/

"Can (the US) afford to wait to ascertain why Trump has subordinated himself to Putin after the president has so abjectly demonstrated that he has subordinated himself?"  That's the question. Then there is his next brief piece, which examines Trump's claim to legitimacy:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/is-trumps-presidency-legitimate/565451/

"(The Russians) broke American law, victimized individual Americans, and stole valuable proprietary information from an American political party. Did they share that information with the winner of the election? His party keeps attempting to obstruct the investigation of the information theft and to besmirch and discredit those doing the investigating."  Thank you, Mr. Frum.

Loser and Winner meet the press in Helsinki. Trump looks beaten up.

The maddening thing is that apart from Trump's historic press conference babbling, no one in the US government knows what happened during the "summit". It was just Trump and Putin with their translators. No records were taken - of course, it's strongly suspected that the Russians have a full recording of what transpired... just more Kompromat to put on the pile. Meanwhile, Our military leaders don't have a clue.  Naturally, our Intelligence Community is left out in the cold. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, struggling to keep his job, repeatedly stated his confidence in the IC's findings, and then was blindsided by Trump's invitation to host Putin at the White House. Watch, it's funny in a train-wreck sort of way:

"It's the President's prerogative..." to meet Putin alone and make various agreements and arrangements that are crafted by the veteran KGB agent. Wise? Not one bit. Reckless, naive and giving rise to a thousand conspiracy theories? Why, yes! But it's the President, and he can do it.

Then, when President Egg Nog gets back to DC and discovers that even Fox News is aghast at his summit, he decides he needs to do a Walk Back. So he changes "(Putin) just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be."  to "wouldn't", which satisfies approximately zero people and creates a tsunami of ridicule:

"Beware the bank president uninterested in learning who robbed the bank." Well, we all need a laugh during a self-inflicted international crisis. Neglected in his now-several Walk Back-n-Forths are his obnoxious, inflammatory and false Helsinki statements about Robert Mueller, the Russia Investigation, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, the Press, our "foolish" country, and his fantastic election. Witch Hunt!! For the best summary of what happened and how it plays out, let's turn to our favorite Spy Guy, John Schindler:

http://observer.com/2018/07/at-helsinki-summit-with-putin-donald-trump-goes-off-the-very-deep-end/

Yes, Schindler - a guy worth following and who really knows Deep Spook Stuff - believes this is all going to end in tears, for many people.

Because, in the end, Trump is partnering with Putin, a vile murderer. He is elevating this thug to the highest level of international diplomacy. Vlad runs his country as a Kleptocracy, and he is the Crime Boss. Ask Bill Browder, he knows what Putin does - and did to his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. Murdered him in prison. The Magnitsky Act is a major economic thorn in Putin's neck. It's one of the reasons Russia was so keen to help Trump win - reverse the act, lift and ignore sanctions and let's all get along!! It's enough to make the fine folk at The Onion blanch:

https://politics.theonion.com/supporters-praise-trump-for-upholding-traditional-ameri-1827661529

Oh, Onion! Be careful, because you may become grouped into the real Fake News, the Press, the Mainstream Media, or as Trump continually calls them, "the enemy of the people." Again, this is a common value with Putin. Vlad has never met a journalist he didn't want killed. In fact, he has killed scores of them:

The number of Russian journalists murdered by Putin

Putin's idea of the perfect press conference. Prolly Trump's idea, too:

Murdered journalists during Putin's tenure. Stay away from the balcony!

Putin's definitely a guy we can do business with. So, what next? There will be a whole string of new revelations spewing forth from the Mueller investigation and the Southern District of New York federal office. We're just getting started! These will amount to a mountain range of charges, affecting numerous GOP-ers (and even some Dems), the whole Trump Organization, Trump family members, corrupt media figures, hoo-boy, the list will be immense. But again, the question: will a Republican Congress vote against its own instinctual political interests to survive? Because even if they don't impeach this guy, the continual flow of indictments and trials will last for 3 - 4 years. That's a lot of bad press.

And will the eventual charges be enough to provide wavering Trump supporters with the ability to "Save Face" and turn against him. It's what happened to many Nixon supporters, who held fast in support of that guy until the tapes finally came out - it gave them an out. They could "save face" by pointing to the ugliness of the recordings and say, yes, Nixon had to go.

Finally, in the words of the visionary Janelle Monae, "This is a Cold War, you better know what you're fighting for." And here she is, singing that song she sang in front of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony. It's such a powerful piece, and her pushing through despite an obvious flub-up really makes it great: