"When Churchill condemned Chamberlain's 'long series of miscalculations, and misjudgments of men and facts,' he still admitted that Chamberlain's 'motives have never been impugned.' Trump's have. And that distinction is crucial to understanding what's happening. Calling Trump's behavior appeasement, in other words, pre-emptively grants that Trump is trying to help his country rather than himself, even though those two interests are to his mind plainly opposed. Trump has made his loyalties clear, and they are not to the country he governs.
"This should not be surprising. Trump has made no secret of the fact that he operates according to naked self-interest—many of his followers like that he is (I use the term loosely) 'a businessman,' that he openly bragged that not paying taxes 'makes me smart.' Nor is it news that Trump views America as a resource for his and his associates' personal enrichment. The only time he spends with its people are when they are customers at his own properties or his fanatical base at rallies. His attitude toward Putin makes sense, then. Russia's 'election meddling' was done to help elect Trump. Trump benefited enormously from those efforts, and he is not in the habit of condemning those who personally benefit him until they stop. Putin—as Coats has been at pain to point out—hasn't stopped."
Lili Loofbourow at Slate writes that Donald Trump "is willingly and actively trading against his country, as its president."
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