President Donald Trump is the "gift that keeps giving" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Tuesday, and she's worried about what went on during their private meeting in Helsinki Monday and that Russia considers Trump a "'useful idiot.'"
"[I was] stunned, in disbelief at the behavior of the president of the United States in terms of not defending our country, and really bending to the kinds of things that Putin really wanted," Albright told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
She added that Putin has a plan to undermine democracy, separate the United States from its European allies and to reassert influence in the Middle East, and Trump is helping with all that.
"There is a term that the Russians use, it's called 'useful idiot,'" said Albright. "I do think that whatever President Trump thought he was saying, he definitely helped Putin's plans for getting back into the game and for undermining democracy in Europe. We cannot allow that to happen."
She said she also found it interesting that before the two presidents went into their private meeting, she saw that Putin was carrying a pad of paper.
"I've been with Putin," said Albright. "He takes notes. He's very smart and there's no idea about what President Trump did in there and what he promised and revealed."
Putin, she added, is a KGB agent and "better at propaganda than anybody, and also at lying," said Albright. "I think that the important part is for us to look at what tools we have and try to figure out how to explain why democracy works and why you don't congratulate somebody who has won an election without an opponent that can have any voice to speak. And I think we need to talk about the importance of the press and not agree that the press is the enemy of the people."
She added that she is surprised that Congress is not reacting more, and she does think there needs to be more action and call for explanation of Trump's actions.
Albright also called on people in Trump's administration to recognize they took an oath of office to protect the Constitution.
"I can't visualize what the meetings must be like after something like this," said Albright. "Does anybody say to him, to the president, 'what in God's name were you thinking about when you did that?'
"Somebody needs to make it clear to President Trump that his behavior in that press conference was un-American, outrageous, ridiculous, stupid. I can't even think of all the adjectives that I think should really be attributed to that behavior."
Albright pointed out that she's been in many tough meetings, including with Putin, and it's important to push back and not just agree with him and say "a variety of things that are unacceptable for an American president to ever say, especially on foreign soil, standing next to the man who has in fact, undermined your electoral process."
It's also a "tragedy" when the country's allies, such as Germany, say they can no longer rely on the United States for protection.
"I do think it's possible for the Europeans to have a strong European defense and try to sort out what the EU should be doing, but I don't think they should give up on America," said Albright. "We need to continue to work together, and that we are all resilient and we ridiculous get over from the, but we cannot normalize the behavior of President Trump."
She also quoted the late Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who once said, "'if you pluck the chicken one feather at a time, nobody will notice.'"
"We have just plucked a lot of feathers here, and I think that it's very important for us to make clear that Trump has over-plucked," said Albright.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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