It seems like only yesterday Donald Trump was buttering up Vladimir Putin. His congratulations on Putin’s victory and failure to mention the nerve agent attack in Salisbury sent the foreign policy establishment in Washington into high dudgeon. Now the administration has expelled 60 Russian diplomats and shuttered the Russian consulate in Seattle. This is only, top administration officials say, ‘the first step.’ The government could also go on to release nasty details about the financial holding that Putin has squirrelled away abroad, a move, incidentally, that could provoke retaliation against Trump by the Kremlin. What gives?
No matter what Trump may tell Putin, and no matter what Trump may aspire to when it comes to Russia, the cold hard truth is that he has constructed a team of hawks that keeps getting more hawkish. Mike Pompeo, who is slated to become Secretary of State, breathes fire when it comes to foreign adversaries.
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