Donald Trump has continued to push the boundaries of the absurd by blaming Barack Obama for not doing something he actually did which the President himself is guilty of.
Confused? Here’s the tweet.
After the fallout from last week’s Special Counsel indictments charging 13 Russians with a concerted effort to tamper with the 2016 US election, Trump has continued with his theme of blaming everyone but the actual Russians.
His latest attack on President Obama ignores two pertinent facts.
Firstly, Obama did do something. In the final days of 2016, upon learning of the alleged hacking of the Hillary Clinton campaign he ordered 35 Russian diplomats be expelled from the US and placed sanctions on nine other Russians.
This move sparked a minor diplomatic crisis and prompted Vladimir Putin to respond by expelling 800 American diplomats from Russia in August of last year after Trump had taken office.
Instead of criticising the move, Trump actually thanked Putin as it “cut down our payroll”.
Secondly, since Trump became President there have been more indications that Russia has actively tried to undermine American democracy, culminating in last week’s indictments.
Last year, both the House and the Senate unanimously authorised a new round of sanctions designed to punish Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.
The legislation was signed reluctantly by Trump, who wanted warmer ties with Moscow.
Then, last month, the White House refused to impose the measures.
Adding to Trump’s woes yesterday, he came dead last in the 2018 Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey.
Lincoln, Washinton and Franklin D. Roosevelt took the top three spots with a scores of 95.03, 92.59 and 89.09 respectively.
Trump scored 12.34. The score is out of 100.
Richard Nixon, the only US president forced to resign by scandal, scored over three times higher with 37.18.