President Donald Trump, speaking in Hanoi on Saturday, changed his position on believing Vladimir Putin's claim that Russia played no part in the U.S. Presidential election in 2016. Trump, whose power to launch to a nuclear war is being questioned by Senator Bob Corker, (R-Tenn.), told reporters in Hanoi that he now believes that Russian leader Vladimir Putin believes Russia was not culpable in the sabotage of the American election.

In other words, Trump is no longer claiming, as he said on Friday, that neither Putin nor the Russians can be assessed blame for the massive interference with the American election process in 2016.

After changing his position on Saturday, Trump only will go so far as to reference Putin's personal belief that Russia played no role in the election upheaval in November 2016, one year ago.

Trump's Intelligence reports

Trump stated that in so far as what he believes is concerned, that he trusts what U.S. Intelligence sources tell him. This was a huge "backtrack" from his position on Friday which was that he believed Putin's claims of innocence for himself and his country. Trump, who left wife Melania in China when he flew to Vietnam, did not indicate how and why his change of position came about; however, he told reporters that they had misconstrued his original position.

Despite the fact that both national and international media sources worldwide reported his Friday stance to be his belief in Putin's innocence, President Trump nevertheless claimed that he had never believed Putin.

Trump continued, stating that his position always had been that he believed that Putin believed that Russia had not interfered in the American Presidential election in 2016.

Shouldn't Putin know?

This entire scenario whereby Trump is stating that he believes that Putin believes that Russia had no role in the hacking of the American election is very problematic to this observer.

Shouldn't Putin "know" whether or not Russia is culpable in this matter? Does Putin base his important executive decisions on what he believes or on what he knows? Doesn't Putin have a way of verifying what he "believes" with his own intelligence sources?

Finally, if Putin runs his country based on what he believes, rather than on what he knows, then what does it say about Donald Trump when he backs Putin on nearly everything he says and does?

Whatever happened to "Trust but verify?" Is "Trust and believe" now the new mantra of the Trump Administration?

Twitter explodes with tweets

Twitter erupted with numerous "tweets" that were critical of Trump after he announced his change of position over Putin's role in the sabotage of the U.S. election.

One tweeter simply stated that Trump had changed his position:

Another tweeter quoted John McCain's statement that "There's nothing 'America First' about taking the word of a KGB Colonel:"

Another tweeter referenced the fact that Trump blamed Democrats for "creating an “artificial barrier” to US-Russian relations:"

Another tweeter stated that Trump had claimed that Putin was "insulted" by suggestions that Russia had played a role in the dismemberment of the American election in 2016:

Another tweeter accused Trump of "cozying" up "to the guy who attacked U.S.

elections:

Finally, another tweeter claimed that Trump had "gone off the deep end:"
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