Trump and Putin
Credit: CNN

On Monday, the president of the United States blamed American law enforcement for souring U.S.-Russia relations; suggested that the Kremlin is more trustworthy than the CIA; and voiced approval for allowing FSB agents to interrogate Americans who’ve run afoul of Moscow — all while Vladimir Putin smirked from a podium a few feet to his left.

For many of Donald Trump’s normally sycophantic surrogates, this sorry spectacle was a gaffe too far. It was one thing for Trump to defend neo-Nazis, or psychologically torture masses of migrant children, or demand the FBI comport itself as his personal detective agency. But to stand beside an avowed opponent of U.S. hegemony — and apologize for America?

“Disgusting,” declared Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto. “The most serious mistake of his presidency,” Newt Gingrich declared. The Senate’s nominally anti-Trump Republicans turned their empty rhetorical denunciations up to 11. Even die-hard Trumpists like Tom Cotton felt compelled to offer implicit criticism.

For once, conservative elites had […]