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Readers React: First Kim Jong Un, then Vladimir Putin: Trump is being used by autocrats

President Trump accepts a soccer ball as a gift from Russian leader Vladimir Putin during a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16.
President Trump accepts a soccer ball as a gift from Russian leader Vladimir Putin during a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16.
(Anatoly Maltsev / EPA/Shutterstock)
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To the editor: President Trump’s meeting in June with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did little to change the direction of that dictator’s nuclear weapons program. But meeting with the president of the United States gave Kim the big boost he wanted.

Compare this to Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a meeting Trump wanted to have, in his own mind, to elevate his status as a major world leader. And he punted.

Trump may be our president, but he is hardly the leader of the free world. He may be the head of our government, but he is not the most powerful man in the world. Putin kills enemies, and Trump locks up immigrants and small children.

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May I remind us of the words of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev during a meeting with Western envoys in Poland in 1956: “We will bury you!” This is who we are dealing with.

Dean Blau, Lake Balboa

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To the editor: Trump thinks Putin’s idea to have his investigators work with our intelligence community to investigate the 12 indicted Russian officers is “an incredible offer.” If there was ever any question that Trump has been compromised, the president’s utterances in Helsinki should finally put the matter to rest.

This is insanity, and we as a nation should be collectively weeping as our commander in chief genuflects to a thug while selling our nation down the Volga and alienating our closest allies.

Nearly as appalling are the remaining Republican members of Congress who continue to sidestep the obvious and defend the indefensible. Thankfully, some of their more courageous colleagues start to sound appalled.

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Describing the president’s actions as treasonous is not too extreme. I truly fear for the survival of our democracy and the soul of our country.

Jan Jay Judah, Torrance

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To the editor: In the uproar over the Helsinki summit, the rank amateurism of Trump’s conduct seems to be overlooked.

The presidency itself is a kind of profession, with content to be mastered, standards to be upheld, and behavior to be accounted for. In Helsinki and elsewhere, Trump has shown himself to be incapable of being president in this professional sense, given his disdain for in-depth learning, his dismissal of both history and precedent, and his lack of self-discipline in public.

This behavior is “America first”? Nyet.

— Julie Bixby, Huntington Beach

While the premise that a businessman could be a good president may still be viable to some, Trump has highlighted the fact that the competencies and character required by these two fields, business and the presidency, are quite different.

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D. Keith Naylor, South Pasadena

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To the editor: Everybody is trashing Trump because, they say, he believed Putin over our own intelligence agencies.

Trump stated his trust in his intelligence officials. He also stated Putin vehemently denied that Russia tried to subvert our elections. Remember, indictments are accusations, not verdicts. Our system demands a presumption of innocence until proved guilty.

Problem is, the accused election-meddlers are in Russia. Why not grant the indicted immunity from prosecution and have them come to the U.S. to give testimony? Besides, isn’t the important thing stopping the Russian government from meddling in our elections?

Based on our principles of criminal justice, Trump was correct to say what he did.

Joseph Potter, Hesperia

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To the editor: On Sunday, France beat Croatia to win the World Cup. A soccer game of another kind was played a day after, in the sprawling Finnish presidential palace in Helsinki, between the meek U.S. team and the dominant Russian Federation.

Not remembering that teams switch goals after halftime, the U.S. squad lost by netting spectacular goals between their own goalposts. Yet, as a consolation prize, captain Putin magnanimously gave to the U.S. one of his own soccer balls inflated with hubris and malice.

We hope this prize will be displayed prominently in the most envied citadel of democracy for all future generations to come, see and wail.

Abdul-Majeed Azad, Monrovia

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To the editor: Two of my relatives work in national intelligence. Their president just dissed them — along with the thousands of other dedicated and hardworking Americans in the intelligence community who strive every day to determine the truth of what our enemies are up to and keep America safe — in front of the entire world.

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This behavior is “America first”? Nyet.

Julie Bixby, Huntington Beach

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