Whey do you think he wouldn't have "taken that position in an unprovoked setting"? He's consistently taken that same position throughout the first half of his presidency.
And I’d add that after he trashed our long term allies immediately before going to Helsinki, he appeared to be VERY friendly with Putin. Both in terms of words and body language.
That question was FAR from a dumb-assed question. Given the circumstances, it was highly appropriate, and even necessary, IMO.
Sure, he tried to walk it back after he was FORCED to do it a few days later. But even then, he threw in “and other countries may have been involved also”- which completely made the walkback completely disingenuous. It was VERY similar to the Charlottesville comments walkback, and both ad-libbed comments in both situations actually revealed his true feelings- he believes what he said the first time.
Trump literally can’t discern the fact that if Russia helped him, his presidency can still be legitimate. He equates Russian Help for him with collusion, and isn’t smart enough to figure out that the two aren’t necessarily related.
Unless he knows something we don’t, and knows that Russia helped, with assurance with his team. That would square a lot of this crap.
So, he’s either truly, truly incompetent and stupid (blinded by his extreme malignant narcissism?), or he knows that denying that Russia helped (with Help and coordination from his team) MUST be fought tough and nail, much like he did with the whole “I didn’t pay Stormy Daniels” deal. There really is no middle ground here.
But Mueller will illuminate all of the in time. And again, I’m good with whatever his report says- either way.
But to try to justify his behavior will NEVER make sense to me. It ain’t about policies with me- it’s about what he’s said and done. And continues to say and do. It’s intolerable on so many basic levels- nevermind the whole national security angle. The racism alone is disqualifying, and that’s just one of many “never cross” lines that he’s crossed, and continues to cross.
But I guess as long as you get some tax cuts that inflate the national debt, regulations cut & also get some judges confirmed, it’s all good...