About 7 in 10 Americans—including most Republicans—back placing stronger sanctions on Russia, even as Donald Trump torpedoed the new sanctions U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced over the weekend. The Washington Post writes:
The Post-ABC poll finds uncommonly broad support for tougher sanctions on Russia, with 74 percent of Democrats along with 68 percent of Republicans and independents favoring tougher penalties. A 66 percent majority of those who strongly approve of Trump back such measures, as do 73 percent of those who strongly disapprove of him.
On Monday, Trump pulled the plug on sanctions aimed at Russian companies behind the equipment related to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s alleged chemical weapons attack, after the sanctions were announced Sunday by Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The Post reported that administration officials said Haley made an error and said it was unlikely that Trump would approve any additional sanctions without another triggering event by Russia.
The Post-ABC poll finds 49 percent saying Trump has done “too little” to criticize Russia for allegedly violating international law, 38 percent saying he’s handled the issue “about right” and 4 percent thinking that Trump has criticized Russia “too much.”
Trump has been personally afflicted by his administration's Russia policy, often erupting at his staff when the media report that he's being tough on Russia. The notion that he just scrapped tougher sanctions that had clearly been signed off on by top officials within his administration is just another sign that, left to his own devices, Trump would be making every overture possible to win over Vladimir Putin.
Privately, he complained to aides that the media’s fixation on the Mueller probe was hobbling his effort to woo Putin. “I can’t put on the charm,” the president often said, according to one of his advisers. “I’m not able to be president because of this witch hunt.”
Ahh, that ol' Trump charm. If only his campaign hadn't made dozens of contacts with Putin allies, if only his son hadn't professed his "love" for the idea of getting dirt on Hillary Clinton from a foreign adversary, if only Team Trump hadn't sought several ways to set up a secret back-channel to Russia, if only Trump hadn't asked former FBI director James Comey to look the other way on Michael Flynn's overtures to the Russians, if only Trump hadn't contemplated firing the special counsel several times and dogged Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation. If only … things could have been so different.