Finally, and most unexpectedly, President Donald J. Trump climaxed yet another wacky, whipsawing week by doing the one thing even his handwringing, privately-panicky fellow Republicans never really believed he’d ever do.
He did precisely what he’d been insisting he was doing all along.
He just got tough with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Very tough -- financially and personally (at least by extension, since Putin, often called the world’s richest man, is believed to have links to many that the Trump administration just punished).
It happened at the end of a week in which Trump seemed to have gotten himself into such a mess that he’d run out of all his usual options. All US intelligence agencies agree that Putin had ordered a massive cyber-sabotage effort to defeat Hillary Clinton, elect Trump and destabilize America’s democracy in the 2016 election. Also that Putin had ordered a recent chemical weapon attack against a Putin critic in Britain.
Rewind and replay Trump’s Week that Was. It began with what was, even for the Trump White House, an overflow of conflicting words and deeds.
Noon Tuesday: In the White House Cabinet Room, Trump and leaders from three Baltic nations (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) met the press. In his opening remarks, the president once again rambled and wandered. After his first 468 words, which were indeed about the Baltics, Trump wandered into Mexico in his next 819 words. He talked about a caravan of would-be immigrants wandering toward the USA. His guests seemed bewildered.
Then came reporters’ questions. After tossing in yet another ritual riff on “crooked Hillary Clinton,” Trump emphasized one thing: “We’ve been very tough on Russia, frankly… nobody has been tougher on Russia.”
Trump tough? While he had indeed expelled 60 intelligence agents after Russia’s assassination attempt in Britain, the Russians of course simply expelled 60 US agents. So the bottom line was that, while Russia had committed a horrible international crime, both sides faced equal punishments.
Once again Trump had lashed Putin and Russia with yet another wet-noodle response. Politicians in both parties, expert analysts and pundits were quick to point out that Trump had failed to follow Russia’s money to properly punish Russia for its crimes. Specifically, Trump had failed again to freeze the money that Russian oligarchs have secreted in the US and the West.
Indeed, on Tuesday evening, the ranks of Trump’s critics grew by one more. Trump’s freshly fired national security adviser, Gen. H. R. McMaster, made sure his last official appearance was an exercise in tough-truth-telling. McMaster outlined to the Atlantic Council’s elite diplomats: “Russia’s so-called hybrid warfare, a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational, and cyber assaults against sovereign nations.”
Just hours after Trump’s boast about being tough on Russia, the three-star general declared: “So for too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions. And we have failed to impose sufficient costs.”
On Wednesday, CNN reported that special counsel Robert Mueller’s FBI investigators had recently questioned three Russian oligarchs about their contacts with Trump-connected individuals. On one occasion, they stopped a Russian oligarch’s private plane at a New York airport and searched his electronic devices. That led to speculation that Mueller may be probing illegal contributions to Trump’s campaign, or perhaps Russian business investments in Trump golf courses, condos or other properties during times when Trump’s companies might have been cash-strapped.
Back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump must have felt like he’d somehow painted himself into a corner of his Oval Office. Then, on Friday, in a stunning reversal, D.J. Trump dropped his P.T. Barnum con. The man who had been telling the world he was acting “very tough” on Russia actually acted tough on Russia -- and Putin.
Trump’s Treasury Department announced sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs who had close ties to Putin, 12 Russian companies, 17 senior Russian officials, Russia’s state-owned Weapons Trading Company and Russia’s Financial Corporation Bank. How close were the ties of those that the Team Trump just sanctioned? One of those sanctioned, Kirill Shamalov, is an energy executive who married Putin’s daughter, Katerina Tikhonova.
When the history of the Trump presidency is finally written, academics may start by spotlighting this first week of April 2018. This was, after all, the week when things got so bad that Trump ran out of all his usual options. And he had no other choice but to try the one he’d always reflexively rejected -- Option Z: Do the right thing.
Martin Schram Martin Schram, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, is a veteran Washington journalist, author and TV documentary executive. -- Ed.
