President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the G-20 meeting recently and someone took a video of them showing Trump, grinning, as he told Putin not to meddle in our elections.

That was revealing, as commentators pointed out.

No less revealing was the self-satisfied smile on Putin’s face in reaction to being issued such a warning by the president of the United States.

We can expect Putin to employ every artifice available, at whatever cost it takes, to bring about Trump’s reelection, and we can expect Trump to do everything he thinks he can get away with to encourage Putin in his efforts.

We’ll be very fortunate if American democracy makes it through the Trump era intact.

Edward Packard

Durango