President Donald Trump is setting up another obliteration of American norms by pushing his Miami golf resort as the venue for the next G7 and proposing an invitation to Russia.
If Trump as summit host ignores the substantive opposition to his plans, he will deliver a bold repudiation of political establishments at home and in the West months before he asks his voters to mobilize in huge numbers to hand him a second term.
In arguing Russia’s cause, the President is yet again indulging his bizarre and unexplained deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who appears devoted to undermining the democratic values the G7 represents.
By bringing the G7 entourage to Doral, Trump would trample ethics concerns and even the Constitution’s most important safeguards against presidential corruption by using his power to drum up millions of dollars for his own business.
The President’s ambitious and controversial blueprint for the summit is his most tangible achievement from his dizzying and divisive visit to this year’s G7 summit in France last weekend.
The renewal Trump has in mind for 2020 would underline how he has engineered a sharp redirection of American foreign policy values and often flouted the customs of the presidency itself.
And it would show how he rarely respects, or even recognizes, the potential conflicts of interest or simple propriety inherent in his use of his podium to market his hotels and resorts.
Best In Moderation
Article URL : https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/28/politics/donald-trump-russia-vladimir-putin-g7-golf-resort-2020-election/index.html