If Trump hates being called a Russian asset, he should stop acting like one. His so-called summit with Vladimir Putin, which was obviously intended as a distraction from the Epstein scandal, magnified another malignant issue for Trump - his subservience to the Russian dictator.

It was apparent from the get-go that Putin landed in Anchorage with all of the leverage in this encounter with Trump. Ever the student of American presidential weaknesses, Putin knew his counterpart needed a distraction. So Putin extracted something of a coup from Trump that far exceeded the embarrassment from their last high-profile summit in Helsinki, Finland. This time, Putin was not just permitted to land on American soil, amid allegations of war crimes. Trump gave him the red carpet treatment, complete with a ride in the presidential limo, and a news conference that was tailor made for Russian state television.

To the amazement of likely every credible diplomat on the planet, Putin was allowed to speak first. As the host of the summit, Trump should have handled the opening to their joint remarks. Any White House with a shred of institutional knowledge would have insisted on that. Instead, the Russian dictator was the alpha male and he proceeded to repeat a litany of Kremlin talking points, laughably accusing former president Joe Biden of somehow causing the war in Ukraine. Putin even parroted the U.S president’s oft-repeated lie that the war would have never happened had Trump been in office at the time of the Russian invasion. Putin knows flattery gets you everywhere with Trump, even when it’s delivered with his patented KGB smirk - undoubtedly a face palm moment for leaders across much of Europe.

At the very least, the White House should have required Putin to take questions in exchange for his tour of a U.S. military base. Talk about a potential espionage bonanza. Instead, Putin was allowed to skate off without answering questions about the crimes against humanity committed in his country’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The vodka must have already been flowing in Moscow when Trump cried about “the Russia hoax.”