Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

Trump Risks It All … For What?

The embarrassing meeting with Putin could embolden some Republicans to consider a 2020 primary challenge.

July 16, 2018 at 8:08 PM UTC

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

BFFs.
Photographer: Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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Donald Trump capped off his disastrous three-stop foreign trip by joining Vladimir Putin for an embarrassing and craven news conference. Pressed on whether Russia had any responsibility for the poor relations with the U.S., the American president chose to ramble on about Hillary Clinton’s emails and wound up assailing his own FBI.

After his attacks on NATO in Brussels and his efforts to undermine Prime Minister Theresa May in the U.K., Trump gave a performance that will get the lowest grades from practically everyone in the U.S. who cares about foreign policy.