Okay we just finished listening to the Trump press conference. From our feed it was difficult, almost impossible to hear the questions. But from the answers, Trump did not address any of the substantive questions about his financial and/or policy ties to Russia. Not one.
He added an open and shut falsehood about never meeting Vladimir Putin. He said in a televised GOP primary debate that they’d met in a green room and had a good chat. In itself, whether they had a momentary meeting isn’t of great consequence. But as an open willingness to say demonstrable lies it is at least notable.
He also called on Russia to do more hacking of Clinton related emails and release the contents. This was probably joking? Hyperbole? But this is not something presidents or presidential candidates joke about. These are the sorts of wild things people who have the temperament and mental balance to be president simply don’t say. And was it a joke? Will it be taken as a joke? These are just things no one running for President should say.
This doesn’t even get into his blithely saying he’s going to renegotiate all US security arrangements, most of which he clearly knows nothing about.
For all the bombast and meandering, the real takeaway from this press conference is that he did not address any of the very real questions about his financial ties to Russia, solicitousness of Russia’s foreign policy agenda, his top aides ties to Putin aligned figures in Russia or other post-Soviet states.
