Trump delivers an all-time low in Helsinki

As a former Naval aviator and U.S. intelligence analyst, I believe President Donald Trump’s news conference in Helsinki was the most craven performance of any U.S. president in my lifetime.

Since Russia has already occupied Crimea and may invade or militarily pressure other East European countries, I ask:

What NATO country will trust the US (under a Trump regime) after the president refused to stick up for his own Justice Department and intelligence community that have laid out overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our elections?

In the future, what is to prevent the Russians from again interfering in our elections?

U.S. Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, declared, “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. ... These were the deliberate choices of a president who seems determined to realize his delusions of a warm relationship with Putin’s regime without any regard for the true nature of his rule, his violent disregard for the sovereignty of his neighbors, his complicity in the slaughter of the Syrian people, his violation of international treaties and his assault on democratic institutions throughout the world.”

Another pungent comment came from national columnist Thomas L. Friedman: “There is overwhelming evidence that our president, for the first time in our history, is deliberately or through gross negligence or because of his own twisted personality engaged in treasonous behavior — behavior that violates his oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”