-Source-Guest Editorial by Larry Mendte-
The doomsayers and conspiracy theorists are out in full force in anticipation of the scheduled summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladamir Putin.
Don’t they ever get tired of being wrong?
The dire predictions, thick with absurd hyperbole, started before Donald Trump was elected as the 43rd President of the United States.
First there was the plethora of prophecies of worldwide economic collapse. Including Paul Kruger, the often-incorrect economist for the New York Times, who predicted the day after the election that “we are probably looking at an economic recession, with no end in sight.” And then there was the bold pre-election prediction from the Washington Post that A President Trump Could Destroy The World Economy.
And, of course, the economy is hitting unprecedented numbers. The stock market, despite predictions of a crash, hit record highs; unemployment is at record lows in key sectors and the GDP is hitting numbers not seen in almost two decades.
And then there were the predictions of World War III, after President Trump stood up to the threats of North Korean President Kim Jung Un.
Even though talks have stalled, according to the North Koreans, the rogue nation has stopped nuclear weapons testing, dismantled a nuclear testing site and have agreed in principle to denuclearization. More talks are scheduled for July 12 on the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers.
The result, we are further away from WW III than we were before Trump was sworn-in.
And now the same clattering class, who claimed President Trump was being suckered by Kim Jung-un, are filling the airwave and newspapers with dire warnings about the upcoming meeting with Russian President Putin.
The New York Times quotes Alexander Vershbow, former United States Ambassador to Russia, who says “Putin can charm Trump into changing his position or dropping longstanding U.S, positions if he’s alone with him for too long.” What they left out is that Vershbow was a member of the Obama administration, even though they were diligent in pointing out Bush administration members who criticized President Obama.
The Washington Post quotes Max Bergmann of the Center for American Progress who says, “This is a summit about appeasement and we should be terrified that Trump is going to sell out America and its allies.”
The Post goes on to say, “It’s frankly not clear why Trump is having a summit with Putin at all.”
Um, because they have a large arsenal of nuclear warheads that rival ours; because they are a world power with shared interests in eliminating ISIS and denuclearizing North Korea.
Oh, and then there is the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that limits the size of both nations’ nuclear arsenal. The START treaty will expire in 2021, unless both sides agree to extend it for five years...
Also, Russia has been in violation of the INF treaty that limits the development and deployment of intermediate-nuclear arms. The United States has threatened to withdrawal from the treaty. Both agreements are on the table at the summit.
And let’s see, Crimea, the Ukraine, Syria, trade, meddling in the election…should I go on?
If Donald Trump comes away from the talks with progress on any of those areas of concern, it is a positive outcome for America.
Of course we’re all hoping he succeeds, right? Right?
Sometimes I’m not so sure.
Larry Mendte is an award winning writer, reporter, anchor and documentarian. He has been the main anchor of television newscasts at network stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. Currently Larry hosts two news television talk shows in New Jersey and Delaware and a radio show at WABC in New York. Larry was the first host of Access Hollywood and has won over 90 Emmy awards for his work.
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