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Well, now we know what Rex Tillerson's job really is. He tells the administration's bedtime stories so we can all sleep peacefully because everything is under control, dammit. (Don't make him come upstairs again!) Friday's story was of the meeting between El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago and Vladimir Putin of the dead eyes and, according to Daddy Rex, everything went swimmingly. Pressed, old Vladimir was, on the subject of his having allegedly ratfcked the 2016 election on behalf of the president.

Pressed, I tell you. From NBC:

Tillerson said Trump opened the more than two hour meeting by questioning Moscow's cyber intrusions in America's political system. The two had a "very robust and lengthy exchange on the subject," Tillerson said. Putin continued to deny Russian involvement.

Pressed, by cracky!

Tillerson departed the briefing room after leaving unanswered questions about whether Trump accepted Putin's denial of election meddling.

That seems to be something of an omission, at least to this untrained observer.

During the meeting, there was little relitigating of past negativity, Tillerson said adding "We're unhappy, they're unhappy." Instead, the question was "how do we start making this work?"

Wait? How do we make what work? How do we make Russian ratfcking work? How do we keep the Russians from ratfcking our elections? I think Putin might possibly be the wrong person to whom that question should be asked, but I am not an oil baron in charge of the country's diplomacy.

ABC News has a longer, and even more ambiguous, account from Secretary Tillerson:

"The president opened the meeting by raising the concerns of the American people regarding Russian interference in 2016 election. Putin denied such involvement as he has done in the past," Tillerson said during an off-camera briefing today in Hamburg, Germany. "The two leaders agreed this is of substantial hindrance. They agreed to exchange further work regarding commitments of noninterference in the affairs of the U.S. and our democratic process as well as other countries." Tillerson added that both presidents acknowledged the "interference in the democratic processes" in the United States and other countries and that they would "create a framework" to deal with such cyberthreats and how those tools are used in infrastructure and terrorism.

So I guess we're going to work with the Russians to keep the Russians from ratfcking future elections. And the president* promises "further work" on getting a commitment from a dead-eyed career spook that he will not ratfck American elections any more? What are the odds of that "further work" ever happening? What are the odds that the president* even remembers this commitment by breakfast tomorrow?

Putin and Trump's meeting lasted about two hours and 15 minutes -- far longer than the planned 30-minute duration -- and Tillerson said the meeting was "very constructive" with both leaders possessing a "positive chemistry" and not "relegating" often to one another. First lady Melania Trump came into the meeting after the first-hour mark but "couldn't get through" to both leaders, Tillerson said. Both presidents exchanged views on the nature of U.S.-Russia relations and the future.

Well, I certainly am relieved to hear that. I'm glad that the president* didn't allow an attack on our democracy to harsh everyone's mellow. This is positively surreal, this is. The Russians know what they did and they're quite happy with the result. With this guy in the White House, they have no earthly reason not to do it again and again, both here and all over Europe. This isn't Cold War rhetoric. It's pure power politics of the kind in which Russia has engaged through czars and commissars.

This isn't Cold War rhetoric. It's pure power politics.

Vladimir Putin didn't rise in the KGB, and survive the collapse of the Soviet Union to become his country's presiding autocrat, by surrendering golden opportunities when they simply are handed to him. Now we are supposed to believe that, not only will Putin stop using tactics that worked so gloriously in 2016, but also that Putin will work with the president* to make sure Putin doesn't get away with it the next time.

I used to wonder how somebody could go broke running a casino. I don't wonder that anymore.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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