Evan McMullin: When Trump Congratulates Putin He ‘Emboldens’ Putin’s Activities

EXCERPT:

MCMULLIN: "Yes, right. Well this is the point. Of course it would be great if we could have a stronger relationship with Vladimir Putin but it can’t be under Vladimir Putin’s terms, right? A lot of the challenges internationally that we face around the world that President Trump says Putin can help us solve are actually as a result in part of Putin’s activities in these places. He’s empowering dictators around the world. And when our president calls and congratulates him and then repeats that publicly, he normalizes and legitimizes Vladimir Putin himself, which then serves to help embolden his destructive activities around the world. And that’s what we see happening here with the more aggressive Putin regime, both attacking our politics, our political systems as well as those in Europe and even carrying out lethal attacks in Europe, which has been going on for some time. But the president, a president of the United States cannot legitimize a foreign dictator like this. It’s good to get along, yes, we want that, but we can’t do it on their terms."