The day before his highly criticized closed door meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump tweeted to defend Russia against the real enemy. And who is the villain in Russo-American relations?
According to Trump, it is the United States.
On Sunday, the United States President tweeted this message:
Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!"
And at least one Twitter account agrees fully with the President's assessment on the reasons for tensions between the the United States and Russia: MFA Russia 🇷🇺.
In response to Trump's tweet, they retweeted it with their concurrence, simply stating "We agree."
But who does this agreement come from?
The account description reads "Official twitter-account of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia." It is, in fact, the verified official English voice of the Russian government on Twitter.
It is no secret that Trump is a great fan of Putin. He praises the Russian leader often publicly, despite the criticism his allegiance to Putin creates for him.
During a recent rally in Great Falls, Montana, Trump stated —despite what any of our allies, other members of the United States government or National Security advisers say— Putin is "fine." The moment was caught on video and drew further criticism for the President's failure to acknowledge the facts of Russian aggression against the world.
But aside from the Russian government agreeing with him, the President is receiving considerable pushback on his claims of United States "foolishness" and "stupidity". A breakdown of the tensions between the United States government —and other governments around the world— and the government of President Vladimir Putin paints a different picture.
People on Twitter are providing lists of the actions taken by the Putin government that led to Russia's expulsion from the G7, expulsion of Russian diplomats by U.S. allies, and sanctions placed against the Russian government.
People are also taking issue with the President's repeated use of the term witch hunt to describe an investigation into the interference by a foreign government during the 2016 presidential election.
While in one tweet Trump acknowledges the interference by Russia and hacking by Russian government officials occurred, while blaming President Obama, in the very next tweet Trump defends Russia and calls the investigation a witch hunt.
The Mueller investigation has yielded multiple indictments, guilty pleas and one prison sentence for Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
The constant defense of Russia and Putin by a United States' President in opposition to his own government and country again raised questions of where the President's allegiance lies: the United States or Russia.
