Trump is treading dangerous ground in excusing Russian aggression during the U.S. election

America witnessed an astonishing event from Helsinki on Monday. President Donald Trump stood beside an adversary of the United States — someone who ordered a cyber and disinformation attack on the American 2016 presidential election in clear violation of U.S. sovereignty — and seemed to take our adversary's side. 

At his news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump told the world that he continues to harbor doubts that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and he argued that the United States is as much at fault as Russia for tattered relations between the two superpowers.

To see a president hold views so strongly at odds with the facts is disturbing even to Washington Republicans who normally go out of their way to avoid offending their party’s populist leader. Though House Speaker Paul Ryan delivered the factual corrections to Trump’s words in the mildest tone possible, his words are stunning for their clarity: “There is no question that Russia interfered in our election. … Russia is not our ally. … There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia.”

The coolness of Ryan’s rebuke was matched by the fire of Sen. John McCain, who cares little if he offends Trump. McCain called Trump’s press conference “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory” and the whole Helsinki summit “a tragic mistake.”

“The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate,” McCain wrote.