Trump spectacularly surrendered to Putin. Here is what could happen after

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President's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki is already one of the most notorious moments in the tortured relationship between Washington and Moscow

The humiliation of Trump takes his place alongside John Kennedy's wounds in the hands of Nikita Khrushchev and George W. Bush stared at Putin's eyes and became aware of his soul.

As these moments of the conquest of the US-Russian summit, the events that took place on Monday will probably have significant and unpredictable political and geopolitical repercussions. United States and around the world.

The fact that Trump favored the denial of Putin's accusations of electoral interference by the US intelligence community was not just the most abject display of any president. from abroad, he could also validate Trump's claims. his own interests above those of America.

The most obvious question – why Trump was so spectacular to Putin – Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller should find evidence that the President is indebted to the Russian leader

But there will be profound consequences in Washington and beyond.

Here's What Can Happen

Trump Will Hit Back

In 1961, Kennedy emerged from a harshness of Soviet leader Khrushchev in Vienna and admitted to James Reston of the New York Times that their meeting had been the worst thing in his

It's not surprising that Trump did not show any similar self-awareness in a friendly interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity on Monday, but Kennedy's description of his humiliation would be a good summary of the President's meeting with Putin. Objectively, Trump emerged from the summit a diminished figure.

He looked weak. He was obsequious to the Russian leader in the face of stone and appeared as unprepared and outdated. He has looked as far as it is possible to be from his own image as an intimidating dealmaker, like the one who boasted at the Republican National Convention in 2016 that "I'm the only to be able to repair it. "

Trump's myth as a strong American man will never recover

The GOP's response to the Trump explosion in Russia

It is already clear that the summit is a short-term political disaster for Trump. For a man who jealously guards his image, mockery will sting and provoke a backlash.

Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan, who normally do not criticize him, put distance between themselves and Trump.

The President must understand that Russia is not our ally, there is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, "Ryan said in a written statement in 1969. Even Newt Gingrich, a supporter of Trump, has found his roots.

"President Trump must clarify his statements in Helsinki on our intelligence system and on Putin, it's the mistake the more serious of his presidency and it must be corrected – immediately, "tweeted Gingrich

.In tweets while he was flying across the Atlantic

" As I I said today and several times before, "I have a GREAT confidence in my people of intelligence," he writes. "However, I also recognize that to build a better future, we can not focus exclusively on the past – as the two largest nuclear powers in the world, we must agree!"

A normal president might rethink his approach to leadership

It's his pride and his desire to be disconnected from his staff that led him to meet Putin alone for nearly two hours in Helsinki – fueling rumors that he is under the spell of the Russian leader. His claim that he was ready for what would be the most "easy" part of his tour in Europe now looks overwhelming. Trump's confidence that he could escape through international highs should be in tatters – given his failure in Finland and the marked summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore last month, where the president also seemed overwhelmed. Trump will double and change the subject. When he's in a corner, he's fighting. Twitter could catch fire Tuesday

What will the West do now?

Trump is supposed to be the leader of the free world. Trump's Monday performance followed his blitzkrieg across Europe, in which he split the transatlantic alliance, and insulted allied leaders like German Angela Merkel and Britain's Theresa May – actually doing Putin's job.

The debacle in Finland was exactly what the American friends feared before Trump left Europe, and he is already starting to shape their calculations

"We can not rely entirely on the White House" German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Reuters: "To maintain our partnership with the United States, we must readjust it."

Despite Trump's deception over military spending, last week's NATO summit took steps to strengthen transatlantic defenses and rapid reaction forces. Yet in an alliance based on the premise that an attack against one is an attack on all, the symbolic leadership of the American president is an existential issue. Europe is becoming more nervous

It is therefore significant that Maas used the words "White House" rather than the United States – because it reflects the way Europeans are increasingly looking to engage Washington by other centers of power.

Under the bustle of Trump's bombing in Europe, close ties remain between military, business, intelligence agencies and civil society groups on both sides of the Atlantic

Nicholas Dungan, a member of the Atlantic Council and a professor at the prestigious French Sciences Po research university, said that it was time for American friends in Europe and for the American ruling clbad – personalities politicians, CEOs, heads of think tanks and universities – to take action

"Stop twisting your arms … act together and start doing things that will fix the situation, rather Dungan argued that friends Americans – like French President Emmanuel Macron, Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – must adopt a two-way approach:

"You need two different policies. You need a policy to the individual Donald Trump, because it is clear that he does not distinguish between him and his office. Putin will draw his own conclusions

The formative moment in Putin's life came when he watched the evisceration of the Soviet empire from his post in Dresden, East. Germany, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

This dazzling experience feeds a fierce grievance against the United States, the winner of the Cold War and a political career dedicated to the overthrow of the United States. humiliation of Moscow

. If Vladimir Putin evaded the US President in view of the entire world – and viewers on state television in Russia – Putin orchestrated a large filming circle

. Trump was beaten in the locker room, "retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, a former Fox News badyst on Monday at CNN Anderson Cooper, described the US leader as" dishonorable "for the country and the presidency. 19659002] Intelligence experts said that Putin would take a message of Monday's events: that Trump is weak and that there is no price to pay for distorting American democracy. "President missed a unique opportunity to confront Putin face to face and badert with a certain level of strength that we know you did that and here's what we'll do if you do not stop, "said Richard Ledgett, a former deputy director of the National Security Agency.

The fear now is that Putin will interpret Trump's solicitude protest in Helsinki as an incentive to come back for more – to try to manipulate the mid-election -mandat in November, or in 2020 with an updated version of Russian piracy and aggression in 2016.

A choice for GOP, Cabinet

The Trump Disaster in Helsinki has left everyone who works for him, or supports him, with a choice.

Is it important that the president refused to defend America abroad and chose to align himself with the world political figure who is the most hostile to power, American historical values and achievements?

The first officials in the hot seat are intelligence chiefs, including National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, who was personally repudiated the president at the press conference. Coats had just said last week that the "warning lights blink red again" on the possible Russian interference in the mid-race. "19659010" We were clear in our badessments of Russian interference in the 2016 elections and their continued efforts to undermine "Trump's behavior raises questions about how senior intelligence officials can stay in their positions after being so spectacularly thrown under the bus. "