Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump Monday morning are meeting at a highly controversial “summit” in Helsinki but Putin has already made clear he will mock Trump every chance he gets.
The two nuclear power presidents were scheduled to begin their meeting at 6:00 AM Eastern time, but President Putin, obviously highly aware of specific world criticism of President Trump, arrived 45 minutes late.
Not only is that an embarrassing disregard for President Trump, but it echoes world outrage last week, when Trump was late for his meeting with the UK’s Queen Elizabeth.
Many in America are outraged that Trump will be meeting with Putin, and especially because no other American will be present in the room. The media also focused on the fact that there will be no notes taken by the Americans, so there will be no record to refer back to.
Trump showed up to his meeting with Putin empty handed. Putin, in an unusual move, showed up with pad and pen.
And then there was this. Just hours before he was supposed to begin his meeting with Vladimir Putin, Trump foolishly posted this tweet:
The Russian Foreign Ministry outright mocked America in response:
Image by Dan Scavino Jr/Twitter