The way I look at it, this media meltdown would have happened no matter what. Whatever Trump said, whatever happened in Helsinki, everyone was going to claim he'd failed, acted stupidly, or been handed his ass by Putin. The actual events had nothing to with it. This is exactly the same sort of crap they said after Reagan and Gorby met.
For as far as it went, my opinion matched Rush Limbaugh's. What I found interesting in Rush Limbaugh's view was that he suggested a cause. Mueller's presser, if you read it right, pretty well indicates there was no Russian collusion. Neither Trump nor anybody else connected with him conspired with the Russians to influence the 2016 election. The media had to be ginning something up fast to deflect attention away from that truth. I buy that.
By the way, from what I gather about Reagan/Gorbachev, Reagan did far worse early on in misreading his opponent. Things got pretty chilly there for a while. I do not think Trump is doing all that badly, and certainly not as bad as Kennedy with Kruschev. However, history will have to decide. If what we see is an immediate test of our will like the Cuban Missile Crisis, then we'll know Putin thinks Trump is a dolt. My guess is that he sees a way to cut a deal to their mutual benefit.
