It is a three-ringed circus now…“The president has hobbled his own executive branch, and the executive branch has hobbled its own president,” said Strobe Talbott,
As Mr. Trump prepares to meet with Mr. Putin in Finland, diplomats and former government officials said these contradictions would undermine both the president’s efforts to cultivate a relationship with Mr. Putin and his government’s efforts to halt Russia’s campaigns to damage American democratic institutions and bully its neighbors.
The White House enshrined a tough approach to Russia in its national security strategy, which was written under the direction of Mr. Bolton’s predecessor, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who spoke regularly about the threat Moscow posed to America’s institutions.
The document says Russia and China “are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.”
“The president has hobbled his own executive branch, and the executive branch has hobbled its own president,” said Strobe Talbott, a Russia expert who served as deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration and was president of the Brookings Institution. “It’s a three-legged race with the contestants going in opposite directions.”
While some former Obama administration officials say they now wish Mr. Obama had reacted more forcefully, they argue that if he had spoken out, Mr. Trump would have accused him of trying to rig the election. Mr. Obama did personally issue a warning to Mr. Putin in September 2016 not to tamper with the election, and then his administration formally accused Russia of stealing and leaking emails from the Democratic National Committee, among others.
Mr. Trump has consistently played down Russia’s role in the election, or his obligation to prevent such disruption from happening again.
Trump Opens His Arms to Russia. His Administration Closes Its Fist. - The New York Times