What happened in Helsinki? We still do not know.

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It's been a week since President Trump met with his Russian counterpart in Helsinki, and Washington is still struggling with the rancor and confusion that resulted . US foreign policy officials were stunned by Trump's behavior, which rejected his intelligence community's view that the Kremlin had interfered in the 2016 elections by even considering briefly entrusting a number of current and former American diplomats. interrogation by the Russian authorities. His performance has been criticized by lawmakers and former officials, and even a replica of his own director of national intelligence.

Despite the fallout, the White House has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Washington later this year. The prospect of a second summit also surprised Washington officials, especially because there are still so many questions about what happened during the first. Before organizing their now infamous press conference in the Finnish capital, Trump and Putin held a private two-hour discussion, accompanied only by interpreters. Even key officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Intelligence Director Daniel Coats, were left in the dark

According to the latest reports of my colleagues, Trump and Putin discussed Russian efforts to collaborate with Israel in Syria, as well as the sensitive topic of the 39; Ukraine. Russian officials have suggested that the duo had talked about holding a referendum in parts of the country held by Russia-backed separatists, but US officials later denied having ever accepted such a scenario. Since the meeting, Russia has continued to refer to "agreements" supposedly concluded between the two leaders – those that the White House has done little to confirm or explain.

The lack of clarity was consistent with a week of conflicting messages . The White House has made numerous attempts tortured to return to the words and pbadivity of the president with regard to Putin. But these attempts did not really undermine the experts' consensus on what happened in Helsinki, while Trump's continued to tweet about the "big hoax" – that is to say, the investigation of the special adviser on Russian interference –

Trump "failed to declare that the interference of Russia in Western democracies was unacceptable: if Mr. Putin does not feel emboldened now, when will he? Wolfgang Ischinger, former ambbadador of Germany to the United States, was interviewed by the New York Times. "Who will now believe that interfering in democratic elections has a price?" Trump's performance seemed to indicate that America is ready to give up its ambition to be the respected leader of the free world. "

"We are witnessing nothing less than the collapse of US foreign policy," wrote Susan Glbader of the New Yorker. "But even if we do not know the full extent of what has been said and done behind closed doors in Helsinki, here is what we already know from the summit: the US government is divided by its president on Russia The ability to lead an alliance in Europe, whose main mission in recent years was to counter and contain a new Russian aggression, has been seriously questioned. "

Garry Kasparov, a former grand master of Chess and prominent Russian dissident in exile, has expressed fears of a growing number of people within the Washington establishment. "The president will always have his hand on foreign policy, and this includes inviting leaders of hostile dictatorships to the White House," Kasparov wrote. "But Congress can and must start working now to make sure that Putin only quits with Trump 's loyalty, and not with the rest of the money and the keys of the country.

Outside the foreign political community, the reaction was more mixed. A poll conducted by Washington Post-ABC last week found that 33% of Americans approve of how Trump treated his meeting with Putin, while 50% disapprove. "A significant percentage of 18% say they have no opinion and a little bigger 56% disapprove of Trump expressing doubts about the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Russia has tried to influence the outcome of the elections of 2016 ". On both questions, those who say that they "strongly disapprove" of Trump's performance are more likely than those who say that they "strongly approve" of better than 2 to 1. "

But the poll also illustrates why the fallout from Helsinki might not be as "Most Americans do not think Trump went too far in backing Putin, and while more Americans say that US leadership has become weaker than stronger under Trump, his ratings on this issue are slightly improved.Last fall, despite criticisms against Trump during the week, Capitol Hill Republicans have blocked efforts The State Party remains largely loyal to Trump and is not inclined to incur his anger before the mid-term elections in November

Post's Karen Tumulty argued that last week's performance was Trump's worst moment since a neo-Nazi march. Last year – that Trump condemned belatedly after suggesting that some white supremacists were "very good". The inevitable political lesson of this episode was that, with respect to the Republican Party, neo-fascism pampering is not a disqualifying act. The same can be said about pampering the strongman in Moscow.

Trump, meanwhile, left Helsinki convinced that the whole affair had gone well. "The President felt that he had been forceful, impressed by two friendly interviews that he had with Fox News Channel personalities before boarding Air Force One to return home from the northern capital ". He recounted his impressions of Putin closely – loudly, cleverly and cunningly, according to Trump's badessment – and told the badociates that he regarded the Russian as a formidable adversary with whom he valued the interactions. "

For Trump's critics, the fear is that Putin appreciates these interactions, but not for the same reasons.

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