Trump's Russia troubles are a win for war hawks

How the president's non-interventionism backfired

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | -/AFP via Getty Images, LUKE FRAZZA/AFP via Getty Images, Win McNamee/Getty Images)

For many, President Trump's press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday was unforgivable. In it, Trump called into question the integrity of his own intelligence agencies, while giving credence to the feigned innocence of the Russian state, despite evidence that it interfered with the 2016 election.

How is Trump spinning the conference? As a step toward world peace, of course. "I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics," he said while standing next to Putin. Some of his supporters are echoing this "give peace a chance" mantra: "President Donald J. Trump follows in the footsteps of presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan by engaging in groundbreaking talks with superpowers that traditionally were seen as enemies of the United States, as a means to find common ground on trade and foreign policy in a way that has preserved the peace today," wrote former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

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W. James Antle III

W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.