The following article by Marc Fisher was posted on the Washington Post website July 17, 2018:
After his Helsinki comments, President Trump said he accepts U.S intelligence findings on Russia’s election interference, but it “could be other people also.” (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
As a young man on the make in Manhattan, as a political candidate and as president, Donald Trump has relied for half a century on a basic rule of behavior: To win, one must never apologize.
But sometimes life offers no choice but to back down, and when that happens to Trump, he has crafted a method of apology that is equal parts retreat and doubling down.
On Tuesday, President Trump felt compelled to pull back on his statement in Helsinki on Monday that embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s version of the 2016 presidential campaign interference story over the facts presented by U.S. intelligence services.
View the complete article on the Washington Post website here.