President Trump continues to blame media for avalanche of criticism over his Vladimir Putin summit

David Jackson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump continued Thursday to pursue a blame-the-media strategy as he faced a bipartisan backlash over his handling of the summit in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin – and said he would hold another meeting with the Russian leader, perhaps this fall in the White House.

Once more declaring the Russian summit "a great success," Trump again described the media as "the real enemy of the people," and tweeted that he is looking forward to a yet-to-be-scheduled "second meeting" with Putin to discuss "cyber attacks" as well as other issues.

That next meeting may be at the White House. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders tweeted that Trump asked National Security Adviser John Bolton "to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway." She did not say whether the next summit would be before or after the midterm elections in November.

"The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war," Trump said at the start of a morning tweet storm. "They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin. We are doing MUCH better than any other country!"

Analysts pointed out that there are many options between embracing Putin and going to war, and that Trump has provided conflicting signals about whether he believes the U.S. intelligence on Russian efforts to undermine the 2016 U.S. election.

At a post-summit news conference in Helsinki that generated a political crisis for Trump, the president said Putin was "strong" in denying Russian election interference, and he seemed to take Putin's word over that of U.S. intelligence officials who are pursuing criminal charges against Russian operatives.

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Back in Washington a day later, amid attacks from members of both parties, Trump said he did indeed have faith in the U.S. intelligence community's conclusions about Russian meddling, although he also said "others" might be involved.

The day after that, asked whether Russia posed a threat to the United States, Trump said "no" – though hours later he told CBS News in an interview he gave a stern warning to Putin not to interfere in this year's congressional elections, a different take on the meeting than he provided previously.

The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war. They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin. We are doing MUCH better than any other country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018

The Fake News Media is going Crazy! They make up stories without any backup, sources or proof. Many of the stories written about me, and the good people surrounding me, are total fiction. Problem is, when you complain you just give them more publicity. But I’ll complain anyway! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018

The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear........ — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018

....proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more. There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems...but they can ALL be solved! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018

In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway. — Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) July 19, 2018

All this on top of a Europe trip in which Trump criticized NATO members for not sharing mutual defense burdens and described the European Union as a trade "foe" – attacks on European institutions that Russia opposes.

"It has been an awful week" for the United States, tweeted Richard Haass, president of Council on Foreign Relations, and Trump has done "real damage to foreign relationships" with long-time allies.

"Serious people are raising serious questions as to his motives," Haass added.

Foreign policy analysts also pushed back on Trump's view that the only alternative to a "good" relationship with Putin is war. They said Trump needs to confront Putin about Russian efforts to sow discord in rival nations, including the United States, and for actions that include killings of government critics.

Bill Kristol, editor at large with The Weekly Standard magazine and a frequent critic of Trump, tweeted it is "manifestly untrue" that "the alternative to his dishonorable policies is war." He added, "it true that Trump has chosen dishonor. And it is also true that as a result of his choice, it is more likely, not less, that we will have war."

Congressional Republicans have also criticized what they see as Trump's over-indulgence of Putin.

"I take a back seat on no one on pressing this administration for some of the worst things that I’ve seen happen in public as it relates to our country," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Democrats, meanwhile, are demanding that the administration provide more information about any promises that Trump may have made to Putin during their meeting in Helsinki.

In seeking to shift the blame to the media, as he often does, Trump said many stories are "total fiction," but did not provide examples. "Problem is," Trump said. "when you complain you just give them more publicity. But I’ll complain anyway!"