POTUS signs sanctions bill but has buyer's remorse

President Trump accused Congress of bringing relations with Russia to an "all-time & very dangerous low" after reluctantly signing a sanctions bill which had yooge bipartisan approval the previous day. The legislation had a furious response from Barack Obama's open mike confidante, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's Prime Minister.

Trump tweeted:

"Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low. You can thank Congress, the same people that can't even give us HCare!"

So when Congress finally does do something, and Trump signs it, he's angry at them for being tough on Russia? Of course, he basically had to sign it because the bill had a veto-proof majority and he would have looked foolish if he vetoed it. 

After signing the bill Trump issued a written statement complaining that Congress was overstepping its constitutional bounds and impeding his ability to deal with foreign countries.

Medvedev tweeted that Trump's administration had shown "total weakness by handing over executive power to  Congress in the most humiliating way." 

Russia often pretends to understand how our government works but they haven't a clue. Congress makes the laws, the president doesn't.

But Medvedev is appealing to the president's narcissism and it probably flips the right switches. He also said on Facebook that the legislation "ends hopes for improving our relations with the new U.S. administration," prompting CNN to say: 'See, we told you he's buddies with Putin.'

Medvedev acknowledged that Trump was under pressure to sign the bill but suggested that it's a plot to ultimately oust him as president.

"The issue of new sanctions came about, primarily as another way to knock Trump down a peg. New steps are to come, and they will ultimately aim to remove him from power. A non-systemic player has to be removed," he wrote.

Trump said the law will "punish and deter bad behavior" by Iran and North Korea, and will enhance existing sanctions on Moscow, but made it obvious his distaste for the existing bill.

Medvedev's words has probably infuriated Trump who has said in a statement that the bill is "seriously flawed--particularly because it encroaches on the executive branch's authority to negotiate." 

His authority to negotiate, like the powers of any U.S. president to dictate, are checked and balanced by the other branches of government. 

President Trump may not like it, but Congress did nothing more than put sanctions on Russia that they deserved.



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