Angela Merkel Supports Proposed Trump/Putin Summit in Washington

Merkel believes "it must once again become normal for Russian and American presidents to meet."

Shan Yuqi Xinhua News Agency/Newscom

German Chancellor Angela Merkel thinks it's a good idea for U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet again this year in Washington, D.C.

"I think it must once again become normal for Russian and American presidents to meet," Merkel told reporters at a press conference today. She also believes that "in principle it's always good for everyone when there are talks, particularly when there are talks between these two countries."

Merkel's remarks came a day after the Trump administration said it had invited Putin to visit Washington this fall. Though the German chancellor defended the idea, some lawmakers are less enthusiastic. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R–W.Va.) thinks Trump and Putin should "let the dust settle" from this week's summit before planning a second one. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R–Tex.) wants to wait, too. "Maybe in a year or two," he tells The Hill.

Controversy over Trump's approach to U.S./Russia relations has abounded since Trump's Monday meeting with Putin. At a joint press conference with Putin after the summit, Trump told the world that he accepted Putin's claim that the Russian government did not interfere in America's 2016 presidential election. After that provoked criticism from across the political spectrum, Trump claimed that he misspoke and believes Russia did interfere in the election.

Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said Thursday he had not yet personally seen Trump's invitation to Putin, but he added that "Russia was always open to such proposals. We are ready for discussions on this subject," according to the Associated Press. Putin has not visited Washington since 2005.

Comments

[BestUsedCarSales]

Agreed. It should be normal for heads of state to meet in general.

[TLBD]

Of course, they should always be able to talk to each other, even in war.

*Patiently waiting for the Reason article slamming Jeff Flake's unhinged and idiotic support for subpoenaing Trump's translator*

[John]

Flake is just a piece of shit. As usual, one of the self-proclaimed "adults in the room" turns out to be a petulant, irresponsible child.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Here's some criticism of Flake yesterday to hold you over.

Flake was right when he noted the seriousness of charging someone with treason. As Reason's Robby Soave explained on Monday, it's possible to criticize Trump's Putin-pleasing performance on Monday without calling him a traitor:

Diplomacy is good, and Democrats shouting "Treason!" whenever the president does something dumb is as obnoxious in the Trump years as it was when the Republicans did it during the Obama years. It's a mistake to indulge in grand conspiracy theorizing?Manchurian candidates! The Americans! Urinating sex workers!?to explain the president's actions when mundane incompetence and egomania fit just as nicely.

Flake seems to have forgotten (or just ignored) his own words.

[John]

I don't think he has forgotten. I don't think he cares. Flake says whatever he thinks will make him popular with the right people. At this point, he is a pariah with the voters of Arizona and will never hold public office again. His Republican colleagues can't stand him. So, he is basically angling for a job as a CNN commentator and professional concern troll to Republicans. Hey, man has got to earn I guess.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Seems like it nowadays. Or maybe he's just letting it all out now that he's going out.

Regardless, I appreciated him as a representative from Mesa, I voted for him for Senator, and am saddened the direction he has taken on many issues since ascending to the Senate.

[John]

I used to like him as well. I honestly can't understand why he would want to make such a fool of himself like this.

[John]

I don't think he has forgotten. I don't think he cares. Flake says whatever he thinks will make him popular with the right people. At this point, he is a pariah with the voters of Arizona and will never hold public office again. His Republican colleagues can't stand him. So, he is basically angling for a job as a CNN commentator and professional concern troll to Republicans. Hey, man has got to earn I guess.

[Horny Lizard]

Meeting is fine. It's the Orwellian lying while they're meeting that should offend your sense of decency and raise alarm bells.

[John]

the orwellian lying that you can't seem to actually describe. You can't say how he lied but he lied. Jesus Christ Trump is lucky in his enemies.

[Happy Chandler]

I've copied the text of him lying about the FBI investigation. Basically, everything between when the question was asked and his expression of confidence in the intelligence agencies.

[John]

Everything he said was true. The investigation is a joke and the IC is full of shit.

[Happy Chandler]

That's why he acts so scared of it? If it was truly a joke, there wouldn't have been guilty pleas. If Trump were innocent, he would cooperate and prove his guilt. It has already brought up the Trump Tower meeting, contacts between Russian intelligence agents and Flynn, Sessions, Trump Jr., Kushner, and on and on, all that were initially lied about and then confirmed.

But, you just admitted that Trump trashed the intelligence communities in front of Putin. Even if you believed they were wrong, you don't do that in front of a rival, and weaken your standing and that of your country.

[loveconstitution1789]

The NSA, FBI, and CIA have actual traitors to the constitution working there as of today.

These bureaucrats violate the us constitution daily and conspire to cover itup.

[lap83]

Trump lied kids died!

[Just Say'n]

"Fuck" Max Boot murmured to himself.

[John]

How do idiots like Boot manage to be given such large platforms for their views? Boot's best-known book, The Western Way of War, is at best a restatement of the obvious and known fact that command and control and firepower wins battles and at worst a complete absurdity that claims winning battles is all there is to winning wars. The guy has never served in the military or so much as heard a shot fired in anger or really had a job that involved anything other than talking out of his ass. Yet, somehow he is some kind of "expert" in these subjects. What a dope.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

"Fuck" Max Boot, he murmured to himself.

FTFY

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Is it ever good for the Germans when Russia and the US meet?

[Cynical Asshole]

Maybe they should invite Theresa May too.

[Rhywun]

Verr?terin! Anklagen!!

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

She keeps disappointing me. I was devastated to read Germany has recently begun to reconsider its pro-immigration policies. Now she wants Drumpf to have another disastrous meeting with the diabolical strongman pulling his puppet strings? What could that possibly accomplish ? give Orange Hitler yet another opportunity to throw our intelligence agencies under the bus?

At this point, I have to wonder if Putin has dirt on her as well. His ability to influence the leadership of other countries is downright terrifying.

Look, I've argued in the past that libertarians should always vote Democrat because of immigration and reproductive rights. But now it's even more fundamental than that. ALL patriotic Americans should vote Democrat because we need a government that will get tough on Russia. The cyberattack on our 2016 election was not unlike 9 / 11 and Pearl Harbor, and we need politicians who will respond appropriately.

#TrumpRussia
#Resist
#BlueWave

[John]

Because we need to get tough on Russia, we need to elect the party that refuses to spend money on national defense, happily sold the Russians huge deposits of Uranium in return for a bribe, and laughed at Mitt Romney when he said Russia was an adversary while allowing Russia to annex the Crimea and carpet bomb Syria.

You called it dude.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

laughed at Mitt Romney when he said Russia was an adversary

OMG, people are still bringing up 2012? Obama was correct based on what was known at the time. The situation changed dramatically between 2012 and 2016. Going forward, it's clear the Democrats are the tough-on-Russia party.

[John]

Things changed dramatically as Obama watched Putin use him like a cheap whore. But hey, the problem is Trump, the guy that is forcing Europe to rearm, telling Germany to stop depending on Russia for its gas and is generally isolating Russia and issuing a call to arms against them. Yep, we need to get rid of that guy and bring in some strong Democrat who will talk shit about Russia and do everything to start a war but nothing to ensure that the US has the ability to finish one or ever back up its threats. Let's set another redline with Putin that everyone knows that we will never enforce. Nothing helps a situation like weakness backed up by absurdly confrontational rhetoric.

[General_Tso]

Go easy on Obama. He had yet to read in the newspaper that Russia is a threat.

[loveconstitution1789]

Trump is not only having to kick start his own foreign policy of standing firm with nations that want to manipulate the USA but make up for 8 years of Obama's weak foreign interactions and Boosh's deadly distractions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[perlchpr]

I truly do not understand people who respond to OBL, Rev. Kirkland, Michael Hihn, etc, as though they were real.

[Ecoli]

You shut your whore mouth!

[John]

OBL is just a troll. I think he is one of the regulars. Kirkland apparently has a long history of trolling at Volokh and might actually be real and really that stupid, which is terrifying to contemplate. I have stopped responding to Hihn because I think he is legitimately crazy and it is cruel to engage him.

[Ecoli]

John, OBL is not a troll, he is a satirist and is sometimes masterful.

OBL simply states with a straight face what "the left" believes, or more likely what they want their deplorables to believe. Sometimes his delivery is perfect, sometimes not so much: it depends on the material provided by the crazy left.

I wish OBL would post more often, but I realize how much creative energy it must take to skewer the left so perfectly.

[John]

Ecoli,

that is what I meant by him being a troll. He is someone who is just perfectly illustrating what your typical woke lefist believes. It is good performance art.

[Zeb]

Trolls aren't going to feed themselves.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Anyone else feel like Hihn is becoming particularly off? I'm legitimately worried about him. He's repeating himself more and more, and becoming all around even more incoherent.

I know what everyone will say, but has anyone else noticed him being worse than usual the last few months?

[John]

I have BUCS. I used to pick on Hihn a lot. But a couple of months ago I started to feel kind of guilty about doing it. He is really crazy and seems to be getting worse. He repeats himself and has become even nastier and incoherent than he was. There is just something off about him. An ordinary troll like Shreek or OBL just repeats talking points and lies. What they say is always a complete lie, but it has an internal logic that you can follow. The same cannot be said of Hihn. Hihn's logic is broken in really strange ways. You can almost follow it for a while but then it goes completely off the rails. Every time I read him I think of when my psychology teacher in college said that real insanity cannot be faked even by the most skilled actor. Yeah, I think something is deeply wrong with Hihn. I don't think he is a troll.

[Ecoli]

"You can almost follow it for a while but then it goes completely off the rails."

That is a classic symptom of schizophrenia.

[Pro Libertate]

I miss Herc.

[DesigNate]

He's definitely gotten worse.

[Giant Realistic Flying Tiger]

Hihn is getting worse. I don't think he'd have given "trolls" space on his website before. And honestly, I get the sense that he needs someone to interact with him. That at this point, he needs someone to rage against.

He's losing it, definitely. And I suspect that his rants on this website are the closest he gets to normal interaction with others.

[perlchpr]

The thing that posts as "Michael Hihn" is clearly incapable of passing a Turing test. I feel confident it consists of no more than a small database of short phrases to word salad together, along with a selection of pre-built comments to repeatedly post, along with a pair of 100 line perl scripts. One to post here, and one to maintain the "enemies list" website.

OK, there was that irony thing the other day that was pretty clever. Maybe it's a 150 line perl script.

[Ecoli]

OBL, you are truly a gem and breath of fresh air with you insightful analyses! Reason should be paying you for every post.

[$park? The Misanthrope]

OBL, you are truly a gem and breath of fresh air with you insightful analyses! Reason should be paying you for every post.

I'll never understand this sentiment. Ever. It's consistently boring garbage.

[perlchpr]

Oh, come on. That line yesterday about children being mature enough to choose sex-reassignment, but too immature to choose whether or not to drink soda, was absolute comedy gold.

[Giant Realistic Flying Tiger]

...I'm gonna go read the comments for that article now, JUST TO SEE THAT COMMENT.

[Nardz]

#me too

[creech]

According to a former Putin adviser (per Wikipedia) the invasion of Crimea was planned beginning in 2003.
Interesting that our "esteemed" intelligence services didn't pick this up (or, if they did, Obama didn't listen) while Romney had the foresight to warn about Russia in 2012.

[Happy Chandler]

"There's two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrbacher and Trump. Swear to God." Andrew McCarthy

[perlchpr]

At this point, I have to wonder if Putin has dirt on her as well.

Well, she did grow up in East Germany.

[Zeb]

So odds are pretty good that she was some kind of government informant at some point in her life.

[John]

I would say the odds are virtually certain she worked for the Stasi.

[Ecoli]

Yeah, I agree. Now she is the most influential politician in Europe.

Putin is a damn genius. With the help of the Democrats and their media co-conspirators, he has subverted the US political process. And he has a Merkel as a commie-sleeper running Germany.

[Deplorable Victor]

Nope. Now. It pisses off the deep state - that is reason enough.

MAGA!

Two great men yet brothers not make the north united stand.

[John]

I don't know what Putin thinks of this country. I am, however, certain that the IC and federal LEOs hate this country and the people in it with a purple passion.

[Echo Chamber]

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel thinks it's a good idea for U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet again this year in Washington, D.C."

Of course she'd say that, considering Trump has already outed Germany for being the one who's truly in the bed with Vlad

[buybuydandavis]

Drumpf is actually a deep East German agent, colluding with Stasi Merkel and KGB Putin.

[creativebiolabs]

Continuing on, even if we're going to blow up a nuke to deflect it, we're still going to blow a nuke up a way's away from it to work it like an Orion propulsion system. And while yes, I certainly think a military organization could do this better than NASA - that's only because NASA is pretty shite. Otherwise NASA actually has a lot more experience doing the very things that need to be done to get that nuke in the right position at the right time.
antibody chain