America has to stop playing dumb.
Congress, especially, has to stop playing dumb.
We would say our president has to stop playing dumb. But it seems he's not playing.
In Helsinki, in almost the same breath in which he got lost in the "woulds," the president's answer to this question - Would you, with the whole world watching, denounce the meddling that happened in 2016 and warn Putin to never do it again? - included this: "All I can do is ask the question. My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it's not Russia."
No, no, no, "asking the question" is not all he can do. Aside from doing the obvious and trusting American intelligence, he can refuse to talk to the spymaster who led the meddling. (Reality check: Coates didn't say he "thinks" it's Russia. He and the leaders of six other intelligence agencies said it "is" Russia. They've told Trump this repeatedly, beginning in a formal presidential briefing two weeks before his inauguration.)
Our president, being the president, could have refused last week to give an automatic win and show of power to the Russia president and former KGB chief.
And he still can refuse to negotiate, to cooperate, and certainly to continue to compliment Russia, while lying to Americans.
Trump could propose - no, wait this really is a national security issue, so Trump could unilaterally impose additional economic sanctions on the already-financially strapped Russia and individual oligarchs there.
Then there's Congress. When our presidential leadership is not present - or in this case is clearly compromised - the framers of our Constitution created a foundation for balancing that void. It's called Congress.
But our majority Republican Congress is paralyzed - partly by fears of Trump, partly by fears of being defeated in election primaries and partly by its own frightful animosity.
Consider this tweeted example from GOP strategist Mike Murphy: "I'm furious R's are cowardly about Trump. But here is what they say in private: 1.) Trump is a disgrace. 2.) I give fiery press conf tmmrw saying that. 3.) Nothing changes, Trump remains nuts and remains POTUS. 4.) A nut beats me in next primary. So how does my pol suicide help?"
But when Trump caught the soccer ball bomb lobbed by Putin at the fateful Monday news conference and suddenly looked like a traitor, every GOP Congress member trembled at the optics of his or her most-recent kiss-the-ring photo with the president.
They were aghast at Trump's embrace of Putin and rant on the American investigation into Russian meddling. When "where is the server," tumbled out of our president's mouth, it was like a Stephen King version of "Groundhog Day" all over again. The vice president and other administration officials organized a sloppy morning-after cleanup, and most Republican Congress members - except those retiring - scrubbed their criticizing mouths and scurried back to their corners, avoiding reporters like the plague.
Bear in mind: Republican Congress members didn't have to believe Trump. They just had to be able to stay out of the mud he made.
But here's where they are playing dumb: Trump polls more popularly than Congress, so they hug him. But usually come vote day, most state and local voters are more favorable toward their incumbent Congress members, even though they view Congress as a whole as lousy, lousy, lousy.
And here's where Congress plays us for dumb: They use partisan gridlock to throw up their hands and pretend they can't do anything to fix anything - including Trump.
Malarkey!
This is the Congress that a year ago voted to sanction Russia with a veto-proof majority. The Trump administration grudgingly and finally implemented some of those sanctions, but only after the nerve-agent poisoning of people in Britain. Congress could vote to fully implement those and additional sanctions.
Congress also can call for and hold hearings. (Remember the hundreds of hours of hearings about Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi?)
Here's a short list of what Congress could do. Really.
» It can put more than $330 million in funding for improved cyber security (zeroed out last week by a Republican-led committee) back into the appropriations bill. (Though we should note that the same Donald Trump who told us Monday that Russia denies it meddled in our 2016 election on Wednesday asserted that Putin told him Russia is not "still" targeting us with cyber attacks. Even Stephen King couldn't make this stuff up.)
» Here's a congressional hearing idea. In mid-March - just four months ago - the Department of Homeland Safety and the FBI issued a joint alert that Russian government cyber activity was targeting, in addition to our elections and political parties, critical government and commercial infrastructure in the U.S. The list includes nuclear plants, electric grids, water systems, aviation and manufacturing operations. Congress could hold hearings on this to help us find our way out of the Russian cyber nightmare, don't you think? Surely this is serious enough for them, right?
» Our august body of Congress can come out of the shadows and pass all manner of resolutions and declarations. How about declaring Russia a state sponsor of terror? Oh, but wait - that might hurt Pootie-Poot's feelings and poke the Trump bear.
» Congress can censure the president. Or even impeach the president.
We're not holding our breath on any of these suggestions. But we're tired of the Washington, D.C., game of playing dumb.
This is a president and a Republican majority Congress that for 18 months have manufactured their own reality.
Americans aren't playing this game of dumb anymore.