It is rare that Trump acknowledges a mistake. But criticism from ‘Fox and Friends’ and ‘The Five’ drove him to reverse course and declare his undying belief in America’s intelligence services. He even acknowledged unequivocally in a prepared statement (i.e. someone else wrote it) that Russia interfered in his election — until he equivocated in an ad lib:
“[it] could be other people also. There’s a lot of people out there”
During the same press conference, he also said he ‘misspoke’ in Helsinki when asked if he thought it was Russia who interfered in the election. He claimed he should have said he “didn’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be” — not “would be”.
Is he telling the truth or just changing his story in the face of general condemnation of his suck-up to Putin? Trump’s history mandates he’s lying.
But even after his dishonorable - perhaps even treasonous - obsequiousness in Finland, Trump still has his supporters. Sean Hannity is maritorious in his fidelity — saying of Trump’s conservative critics:
"These Republicans have been so pathetically weak. They have been so feckless. They have been so visionless."
Although even Sean had to acknowledge the obvious, saying “maybe he [Trump] should’ve” been a little tougher with Putin.
Rand Paul, whose fondness for free-market bigotry dovetails with Trump’s racism, excused Trump’s simpering incompetence by saying 18 months of partisan investigations had sapped Donald’s intellectual rigor. But that concedes Trump must have a consciousness of guilt — an innocent man would welcome an investigation to clear his name.
Jeanine Pirro is another bootlicker. In her philosophy, Trump’s only choices were kowtowing or murder:
“What was he supposed to do? Take a gun out and shoot Putin?
No Jeanine, he could have been more like Republican patron saint Ronald Reagan — with his “evil empire”, “trust but verify”, “tear down this wall” and his hot mic joke "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
The Russians knew they weren’t dealing with a pushover.
Lou Dobbs is so steeped in anti-immigration fervor that to him Trump’s soaring xenophobia washes away all sins. In his opinion:
“I think that president handled himself perfectly.”
I suspect that if Trump peed in Dobb’s pool Lou would extol the quality of his urine.
And Fox financial analyst Liz Peek defended Trump's execrable exercise in toadying with a damning assessment of his ability to communicate.
“He’s not the most articulate man in the world — heaven knows.”
If your best defense of a man who throws America under the bus is that he talks like a drunk, then you would be better off keeping your mouth shut and hoping Trump’s latest stupidity blows over.
If a man is judged by his defenders then Trump will be judged as a stupid man driven by man's basest instincts.