Picking up the Helsinki Pieces

This is the text of a Facebook post I did yesterday, for those of you with whom I'm not connected there ...

As a veteran of more than 40 years of service in the US intelligence community, I am personally and professionally appalled by the comments made in Helsinki by Donald Trump. Instead of accepting and relying on the rock-solid, evidence-based findings of his own intelligence community, Mr Trump refused to call out Putin over Russian interference in the 2016 election. Make no mistake: the president of the United States is willing to accept the demonstrable lies of Vladimir Putin over the men and women who work day and night to protect his country. There is no - NO - excuse for this. Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution states that treason consists of "... adhering to (the) Enemies (of the United States), giving them Aid and Comfort." Mr Trump's shocking siding with Mr Putin, acceptance of his bald-faced lies, and refusal to put the interests of the United States ahead of his own vanity come perilously close to meeting the Constitutional definition of treason. Don't even try to sugar-coat this or explain why Trump deserves the benefit of the doubt. If ever there were a clear picture of the menace to our nation posed by this man, it was today's ghastly, reality-challenged press conference in Helsinki. Today, I am ashamed of my government and utterly disgusted by anyone who can view Mr Trump's shameful performance as anything but a disaster of historic proportions.

Have a good day. Expect better from your chief executive, but don't hold your breath. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo