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The Cost of Collusion.

The Cost of Collusion.

At the G-7 Summit this weekend, Trump once again spat in the face of U.S. allies while praising Russia and Putin.

While our allies in the G-7 have stood by our side in countless conflicts and the movement for democracy, worldwide, there are very good reasons that Russia was suspended from the G-8 and has been sidelined ever since:

  • Putin continues to support Assad through the brutal atrocities he is committing upon his own people in Syria.
  • Putin also continues to provide support to pro-Russian Ukrainian rebels.
  • A civilian plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing 283 passengers and 15 crew members. The missile was launched from a pro-Russian territory in Ukraine, and a Russian missile was used.
  • It’s “highly likely” that Russian agents conducted a nerve agent attack in the UK in 2018.

Destroying Western alliances and having all consequences wiped clean is a dream scenario for Putin—and a nightmare for American interests. But of course, it has served Trump’s personal ends quite well, another example of how Trump’s culture of corruption has taken over our foreign policy.

3 POINTS ON TRUMP & NORTH KOREA

Kelly Magsamen, CAP’s vice president for National Security and former National Security Council staff member to Presidents Bush and Obama, has been a leading analyst on the negotiations between Trump and North Korea. We asked her to summarize the state of play in 3 points. Here’s what she told us:

  • We all want diplomacy to succeed. The President has a real opportunity to push forward a diplomatic outcome that advances U.S. national security interests, but that outcome likely won’t come with just one made-for-TV summit.
  • Success will be defined by what is achieved on the President’s own stated goal: denuclearization. And here the theme should be “don’t trust, verify.” North Korea has a bad track record of follow through.
  • We are going to need our allies to deal with the challenge of North Korea regardless of summit success or failure – and dumping on the G7 ahead of the North Korea summit did not project American strength going into negotiations…it projected weakness and immaturity.

— Kelly Magsamen

SAY GOODBYE TO NET NEUTRALITY

Today marks the end of net neutrality rules.

Net neutrality rules are designed to ensure that everyone has equal online opportunity and to prevent internet providers from slowing internet and charging disproportionately for services.

Internet access is vital to education, small business, employment opportunities, involvement in political discourse, and economic justice issues. Without net neutrality, there are:

  • No rules preventing the blocking of websites, services, or online content.
  • No rules preventing the throttling or slowing down of website or services online.
  • No rules preventing paid prioritization where broadband providers give preferential treatment to some websites and services over others.

The rules may be gone, but the fight isn’t over.

  • The Senate passed bipartisan legislation last month that would overturn the FCC decision.
  • The final hurdle will be getting President Trump’s signature.

For more information on what this could mean for you, check out this quick explainer from Thinking CAP.

SCOTUS GOES TRUMPIAN ON VOTING RIGHTS

In a major blow to American democracy, conservative members of the Supreme Court ruled that Ohio can purge eligible American voters from its voter rolls just because they exercised their constitutional right to not vote.

In 2015, Ohio purged hundreds of thousands of voters from the state’s voting rolls, majorly and disproportionately impacting voters of color and low-income voters.

Today’s decision will allow other states to adopt voter purge policies designed to marginalize and silence the same communities.

Trump has harped on and on about provably false voter fraud since his first days in office. He even created a sham commission designed to investigate these false allegations.

But his court appointments, particularly his stolen Supreme Court appointment of Neil Gorsuch, have much more severe and lasting consequences.

Justice Gorsuch and countless lower court judges with lifetime appointments are pushing forward the Trump agenda more effectively than he ever could. Trump’s racist, bigoted legacy will be evidenced by the decades of court decisions to come that seek to undermine the rights progressives fight for every day—like the most fundamental of rights in a democracy: the right to vote.

For more analysis, see CAP’s full statement here.

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here. American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.