President Trump continues to face significant blowback as a direct result of his Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As a direct result of Trump’s comments during the summit, the GOP Chair of Ohio County, Chris Gagin, has resigned his position…
I remain a proud conservative and Republican, but I resigned today as Belmont Co Ohio GOP Chairman. I did so as a matter of conscience, and my sense of duty.
— Chris Gagin (@cgagin) July 16, 2018
The President is entitled to GOP party leaders, at all levels, fully committed to his views and agenda. Following today’s press conference with Pres. Putin, as well as certain policy differences, most especially on trade, I could no longer fulfill that duty. Thus, I resigned.
— Chris Gagin (@cgagin) July 16, 2018
Falling Out of Grace
President Trump was finally getting borderline Republicans behind him.
The tax cut has created jobs.
The immigration concerns were being addressed.
Key unemployment numbers are at all-time lows.
Then came the statement about Putin and Russia, more or less absolving them from having done anything wrong during the election.
House Speaker Paul Ryan stated Trump was wrong, as there was “no question that Russia interfered in our election.”
Mitch McConnell flat out stated, “the Russians are not our friends.”
And, now, this resignation by Gagin.
Trump’s Mistake
Trump seems to be equating Russian interference with him conspiring with the Russians.
By admitting the Russians tried to interfere with the election, as our intelligence agencies insist, he would be, at least in his eyes, delegitimizing his win in the 2016 presidential election.
That is not the case, however.
While saying the Russians interfered, the intelligence reports in no way say that interference actually impacted the outcome of the election.
Trump has since come forward to state he addressed the situation privately with Putin, but that is not pacifying anyone at this point.
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While Trump has shown reluctance to do so, he is going to have to publicly call Russia out at some point.
Not doing so could impact not only his re-election campaign, but also the campaigns of Republicans in upcoming mid-term elections.
