Trump Defenders

            My VIPs for this week are the few politicians that are courageous enough to defend the President of the United States against attacks about his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Two of the most outspoken people are Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA). Their defenses are outlined below.

            Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sponsored a bill that would condemn Russia for their meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and asked that the Senate give it a unanimous consent decree.  He said, “The Congress must make it clear that we accept the assessment of our intelligence community with regard to Russian election interfering in our country and in other democracies.”

            Senator Paul voted to block the bill, saying that it was motivated by “Trump motivation syndrome.” He said the following in his own speech from the floor of the Senate. 

Trump derangement syndrome has officially come to the Senate! The hatred for the President is so intense that partisans would rather risk war than give diplomacy a chance.

Does anybody remember that Ronald Reagan sat down with Gorbachev and we lessened the nuclear tensions? We need to still have those openings.

Nobody is saying or excusing Russia meddling in our elections, absolutely, we should protect the integrity of our elections. But simply bringing the hatred of the president to the Senate floor, in order to say we’re done with diplomacy, we’re going to add more sanctions and more sanctions.

You know what? I would rather that we still have more open channels of discussion with the Russians.

            As cries of treason and impeachment are heard more often by the deranged mainstream media and liberals, Scalise gives them a history lesson. He reminds them of “what took place between Russia and the United States during the Obama years.” He tweeted, “President @realDonaldTrump went into this meeting with Putin from a position of American strength to combat Russian aggression, but it’s important to remember how Russia was allowed to get to this point.” He then proceeds to explain how it happened.

            Scalise starts with 2009 when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hit the “reset button” to “reset relations with Russia and the United States.” Then he goes to March 2012 when Barack Obama was caught on a hot mike making the following comment to then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. “This is my last election. After my election I [will] have more flexibility.” Medvedev replied, “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir, and I stand with you.” Then there was the presidential debate of 2012 when Mitt Romney called Russia “our top geopolitical foe.” Obama, other Democrats, and the media all mocked Romney’s statement. They said that it was “outdated” and “a throwback to the Cold War.”

            I agree with both Scalise and Paul. We must remember that Russian aggression got to this point during the Obama administration. Obama was too soft with Russia, and Trump has been much tougher. Yet, we must also keep the channels of communication open in order to defuse tensions and eliminate the possibility of the differences between the two countries escalating into nuclear war.