Security desk: Why Trump Shouldn’t Meet Putin

In announcing next month’s Helsinki summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, National Security Adviser John Bolton dared anyone to suggest it was a bad idea. So Bloomberg’s Eli Lake takes him up on the challenge and says the danger lies in Trump himself: Unlike his NSA, who “understands that Putin is a liar and a killer,” the president “has a blind spot when it comes to Putin, and it’s dangerous for the two men to be in any kind of negotiation” by themselves. Thankfully, Trump’s government “has consistently taken a much tougher line on Russia than he himself has.” But this “Janus-faced approach” presents a real danger that, in the context of a summit, all those tough policies “are negotiable.” And, adds Lake, “that’s frightening.”

From the right: Dems Have Become Irrational Opposition

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, which is why Democrats have adopted the GOP Tea Party mistake of “prioritizing the fight [itself] over whatever the fight was supposed to achieve,” observes Commentary’s Noah Rothman. Congressional Democrats have been led by their activist base’s “most self-indulgent desires” into committing “several unforced errors.” Now, although “utterly without any mechanism” to prevent President Trump’s second Supreme Court appointment, the Democratic base “seems neither to know that nor to care,” opting instead to indulge in “a collective emotional outburst.” That leaves Democrats little choice but to let them “enjoy their primal scream” and “fight until there is no more fight left in them,” or defuse these resentments and help their liberal activists “come to grips with their powerlessness.”

Legal analyst: Supreme Court Did Not Hobble Unions

To hear unions and their supporters tell it, the US Supreme Court’s Janus decision this week struck a massive blow to organized labor that will hobble it politically. But Patrick Wright at The Washington Post insists “the evidence is to the contrary.” Fact is, many states “already have right-to-work statutes in place that have the practical effect” of the decision, which forbids public unions from compelling financial support and membership. And, he notes, “by no means are unions in those states extinct.” Indeed, 2.2 million of the 7.2 unionized public-sector employees nationwide already were affected by right-to-work laws. Moreover, it was unions in right-to-work environments that led the recent statewide teacher walkouts. When unions “can demonstrate leadership and value, they will receive support.”

Foreign desk: False Dawn in Afghanistan?

New developments are bringing new hope to war-torn Afghanistan: The government and the Taliban declared separate ceasefires and people from both sides happily mingled in the streets for the Eid-al-Fitr holiday. But Michael Kugelman at Foreign Policy warns that “amid all the euphoria, a peace deal remains a far-off prospect.” Indeed, “getting the Taliban to the negotiating table will be tough enough; getting it to ‘yes’ will be an even taller order.” Still, this first ever ceasefire shows the Taliban “is willing to support peace — if only for a few days.” And it has given Afghans “a tantalizing taste of how things could be.” But if the Taliban “starts targeting civilians again, as it has frequently done in the past, then the public mood could change in a hurry.”

Conservative: Suing the SPLC Is a Bad Idea

In the wake of its $3 million settlement with Maajid Nawaz, the Muslim reformer whom it wrongly labeled an anti-Muslim extremist, some 60 conservative groups are considering their own lawsuits against the Southern Poverty Law Center. But Christian Alejandro Gonzalez at National Review warns that this could boomerang and threaten everyone’s First Amendment rights. Because “despite the frivolity and sloppiness of many of its reports, opinions expressed on the SPLC Web site are not illegal.” Indeed, “even at its most hackish, the SPLC tends to write pure opinion, not make empirical claims that it knows to be false.” And while the organization is “expressing its distaste for . . . people it dislikes, it has every legal right to do so,” even if its opinions are “unfair or unprincipled.” The best way to counter the SPLC: Use counterargument — or just ignore it.

— Compiled by Eric Fettmann