Analysis: Trump’s ‘America First’ morphs into ‘Me First’
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s “America First” slogan morphed into “Me First” as the president unloaded on the U.S. intelligence community and Justice Department to portray himself as the victim of a conspiracy to deny him legitimacy. Trump also blamed American “foolishness and stupidity” for the poor state of U.S.-Russia relations, returning to themes he has repeated at political rallies around the United States.
This time, though, he was on foreign soil, standing next to Vladimir Putin, the very man whose government is accused of interfering in the 2016 election to favour Trump. As such, his extraordinary performance on Monday fueled criticism of his presidency from both the right and left. And it will likely embolden Putin, who faced no pushback from Trump over the election allegations or a long list of other Kremlin actions, ranging from Syria to Ukraine.
Sure enough, critics and even some usually reliable defenders were quick to pounce.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called it “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”