timing at no time right. the g-20 summit in argentina. both will be in papua new guinea for an apex summit. let s hold off. for a lot of this, it didn t make sense. this is putin s dream, to be welcomed to the white house, have the red carpet rolled out, have a 21 gun salute. it became clear today when we heard from moscow they are summoning president trump. this is a naked power play by president putin to show who is the boss. who has the upper hand in this. president trump will go to moscow and travel, not president putin. wait a second. the white house hasn t accepted an invitation. the white house has not told us the president has accepted an invitation. maybe it won t happen. maybe the president won t go to moscow. maybe it won t happen. what the russians care about as much as the substance is the appearance. the style optics. the optics is playing to putin s hand. the other piece was the timing of this. on capitol hill, there was a lot of concern and consternation about
the white house is reacting severely and congress the reaction harsher. the question is beyond the rhetoric what will the president do to deal with the slap in the face. we ve talked about moving the g-20 sum frit russia, it s difficult or cancel a one on one meeting with putin ahead of that g-20 summit. would that send a strong enough signal? is that enough? most people would say no. it s interesting the politicians say do something, don t go to moscow and the white house is hinting it won t go to moscow. there s supposed to be a two-day trip to moscow including a one on one with president putin and then st. petersburg for the g-20 meeting. the white house appears to be ready to pull the meeting with putin back. lot of people say don t go to g-20, don t give putin the stature of his big meeting. the diplomats say that s why you have the meetings so you can sit