Trump congratulates Vladimir Putin for Prisoner Exchange Biden Arranged. So far beyond Chutzpa there's no Yiddish word for it. By Hal Brown, MSW

 Of all the photos from the Helsinki Summit meeting (some of them are here) Trump, if he was the democracy loving patriot he wants people to believe he is, it would be one like the photo on top rather than the photo on the bottom he'd have wanted to have seen in the media.

That photo was used in many articles about the summit. Click the image below to enlarge it.

 It could be on a Valentine.

It was used in the article from yesterday, below:

If you haven't heard about this, below is a story with a video:

Donald Trump Congratulates Vladimir Putin for Prisoner Exchange Biden Arranged That Freed Evan Gershkovich | Video

Trump also tells several lies about the multi-nation effort that freed 16 people wrongfully detained in Russia

You can also just watch the video here.

This is from the  article in The Washington Post (subscription):

Former president Donald Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin over a prisoner swap that took place this week, saying the Russian strongman had outsmarted U.S. officials as part of the largest such deal since the end of the Cold War.

At a rally here on Saturday, Trump did not mention any of the American prisoners who were released in the deal — including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was imprisoned for more than a year on charges the U.S. government has denounced as fabricated. In his previous comments on the deal, he did not mention any of the prisoners by name either, only criticizing the U.S. government.

“I’d like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal. … We have 59 hostages, I never paid anything. … Boy, we make some horrible, horrible deals. It’s nice to say we got ‘em back, but does that set a bad precedent,” Trump said.

He did not mention any of the U.S. officials who worked on the deal for months.

How many times have we said "you can't make this stuff up" about Trump? Here's another article:

This is the HUFFPOST article about what Trump said:

Trump Shows Love To Vladimir Putin Over Prisoner Swap

Trump, who once said Putin wouldn't release Evan Gershkovich "for anyone else" but him, said the Russian leader "made yet another great deal." 

Love, indeed! Trump is many things but here he demonstrates that he has a characteristic that is so beyond chutzpa that there isn't even a Yiddish word for it. One might think he's addressing the Federal Assembly of Russia, not an audience of Americans.

Ronald Reagan would be rolling over in his grave and so would George H.W. Bush and Richard Nixon. I can't imagine what George W. Bush thinks about this.

Instead of just letting the news cycle when this was a dominant story pass, he couldn't let it go. Now he's injected himself into the news, but in a way that should boggle the mind of any sane person.

If only some members of his cult would wake up and see how he is playing them for gullible fools. I suppose we might excuse them, but members of Congress should be confronted and asked for their reaction to what he said. When questioned by reporters they shouldn't be allowed to feign their usual ignorance saying they don't know about something beyond the pale that Trump said.

Addendum:

The Helsinki photo wasn't the only one showing Putin love. This one is from the G20 meeting in 2019 and was used to illustrate this Mar. 18, 2024 article in The Guardian. It is worth reading in light of this recent Putin praise.

Recent blogs:

Media Matters called Fox News anchors Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier major vectors of misinformation. Trump wants them as debate moderators. What's Kamala's best move now? By Hal Brown, MSW

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Trump must be screaming since Biden suceeded in getting the prisoners back from Russia. Now he has to get Mexico to help build the wall. By Hal Brown, MSW

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Media Matters called Fox News anchors Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier major vectors of misinformation. Trump wants them as debate moderators. What's Kamala's best move now? By Hal Brown, MSW

AI Image

Trump wants two particular Fox News hosts to moderate the debate he says he will engage in with Kamala Harris. We don't know if she will accept this. Her most recent response is as follows:

Perhaps Harris should rethink her decision on this but insist on some changes. 

Trump says he is willing to debate Kamala Harris, but only on Fox News and with Martha MacCallun and Bret Baier as moderators. Here's what he posted on Truth Social:

I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th. The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest. The FoxNews Debate will be held in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at a site in an area to be determined. The Moderators of the Debate will be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, and the Rules will be similar to the Rules of my Debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his Party – BUT WITH A FULL ARENA AUDIENCE!….

I did a web search on whether these two hosts were considered biased. There are many articles about this but the one shown below provides a good summary of the analysis offered in the other articles.

Fox News anchors Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier are major vectors of misinformation

The article begins:

Though framed by Fox as “straight news” anchors, Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum have allowed misinformation and conspiracy theories to spread on their shows for years. They were both involved in boosting Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, and Baier in particular allowed guests to spew false claims about the election on the air despite privately admitting that there was no foul play or fraud behind the results.

I assume that Kamala Harris will accept this offer although she might demand that since Trump has selected two of the Fox News moderators it is only fair that she select one of them. I thought that among the stable of Fox News hosts there had to be a least biased one.

I found this article on Slate from 2021 asking who the least despicable host on the network was after the departure of Chris Wallace.

The article listed Geraldo Rivera as the least despicable. 

John Roberts (above) was second. This is what Slate said about him:

John Roberts. The network’s former White House correspondent was bumped up to a hosting role this year, apparently because Fox executives decided that Steve Doocy’s handsome tall son Peter would be better at asking trollish and irrelevant questions during Biden administration press briefings. Roberts is an actual reporter whose resume includes long stints at CBS and CNN, and he occasionally got very frustrated at the evasive maneuvering of the Trump administration. Roberts has gravitas, perspective, and credibility, and to my mind he is the clear and obvious choice to fill Wallace’s chair. The fact that he would work well in the role is probably exactly why he won’t get it.

I think that too much is made of the influence moderators have on how debates go. The candidates can, and often have, ignored their questions and in the case of Trump their often feeble attempts at fact checking. If Kamala is asked an attempt at a gotcha question based on a lie or distortion she can quickly call it out as such and then take the rest of her time to address Trump's prior response or another subject.

Harris is not there to debate the moderators and she might have to make that clear in no uncertain terms.

Trump demanded what he called "a full arena audience" in the only all caps part of his post. This shows how important he thinks this is. What he means by an arena would have to be defined. 

If it is any larger than the venues used for other debates Kamala can poo-poo this and accept the demand as long as the audience can include an equal number of supporters for both sides and strictly enforced rules against vocal responses during the debate. If the moderators can't control these they should make sure that the time lost was deducted from that person's next chance to speak. 

Prior to the debate no doubt Trump will be hearing a lot about Kamala's career as a prosecutor. He won't be reading articles like this where she was called a ruthless cop, but there's a good chance he will see ads where her record prosecuting criminals like him is touted as they will air on Fox News.

Trump, being Trump, will think he can easily take her on despite this but like everyone he has an unconscious. This will result in dangerous overconfidence and leave him vulnerable to letting his guard down so she can exploit his weaknesses. As successful proecutors do, she can set a trap which a cocky criminal walks right into.

Trump likes to quote cannibal Hannibal Lector saying he was going to have a friend for dinner. Trump is certainly no friend of Kamala Harris, but I think she's the one who is going to have him for dinner if or when she debates him.

Previous blogs here.