The expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats by the U.S. government, in coordination with the European Union's retaliatory acts, has some observers, such as Nicholas Burns, who served as an undersecretary of state in the Bush administration, pondering whether or not this White House now deserves credit for taking a harder line against the murderous Putin regime.
Burns answered yes, just minutes ago on MSNBC. But he also rattled off a verbal addendum, which pretty much nullified his preceding praise: The U.S.'s announcement of expulsion was issued by the State Department, not the White House. As with earlier acts of U.S. retaliation for Russian transgressions, Trump always finds a way to distance himself from right-thinking American leadership.
A Kremlin spokesman responded to U.S. actions by saying "We already stated and reconfirm that Russia has never had any relation to this case." Trump has believed the lies of Putin and the Kremlin before — or at least that's what he's said. Why not this time? Why isn't Putin just as believable? Why not ring up Vladimir and congratulate him for having cleared himself of this nefarious business of assassinations on foreign soil?
The horror of Trump is that we wouldn't be at all surprised if, tomorrow, he were to do just that.