We were so close to a semi-normal news cycle and……

In a rare reversal for this White House, President Trump read a statement today at a meeting with congressional members where he attempted to “clarify” his comments from a day ago in his Helsinki press conference with Putin.

He started off well enough when he stated he accepts the Intelligence Community’s findings on Russia trying to interfere in 2016 and before and since.

From the Guardian

Donald Trump sought to reverse course on Tuesday after top Republicans scrambled to distance themselves from his behavior in his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

Even then, Trump could not resist muddying the waters further. Speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, the president stated that he accepted the assessment of US intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election – and then, moments later, cast doubt on who was responsible.

“Let me be totally clear in saying that … I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump said, reading from a prepared script. He then added: “It could be other people also. There’s a lot of people out there.”

Even with the add-on of “it could be other people” he is right, being as his Director of National Security said as much last Friday at the Hudson Institute.
( DNI Director Dan Coats Stands Firm On Russian Interference

He should have stopped. He should have moved the press out of the room.

Unfortunately, the President did not stop there and decided to kick common sense out of the room. On a rocket.

Back on US soil, Trump claimed the fury that greeted his display was the result of a misspoken word. Citing the transcript of his remarks, Trump said his assertion that he did not see “any reason why it would be Russia” behind election inference should have been: “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.”

Those crazy contractions and apostrophes.

Not since Bill Clinton smirked into a camera during a deposition and replied to a question, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is,” have we been subjected to how the English language works and it SUCKS.

President Trump loves this country, I have no doubt about that. He has advocated for what is best for this country in some unorthodox ways and that is fine.

Yet some on the left are going bat you-know-what, saying he is…

In the pockets of the Russians and Putin, the Chinese, foreign banks etc etc. Al because of this and it was an unforced ERROR in a big way.

The fact of the matter was he got outmaneuvered by a guy who has been on the world stage for over 20 years. Putin is as experienced a world leader as they come and he charmed Trump. In doing that he got the President to say something he should not have said. Trump is not polished, he is brash and that worked to Putin’s advantage.

This will blow over and the President and his team will need to refocus on the tasks at hand leading up to the 2018 elections in the country. I know they can do it and do it well.

I just hope nothing like this ever trips them up again. I can’t stand English lessons like this.