This is my own analysis — I’m not tapping some obscure White House memo I found buried on an obscure GOP web site… just playing a hunch.
There is a reason that people like Dan Coats and other security professionals didn’t know about this summit until the White House tweeted it out on Friday: it’s because Trump wasn’t thinking of national security when he decided to do this.
The president was thinking about saving his ass from a "blue wave Congress" for the next couple of years: a Congress that will subpoena the hell out of the administration, endow oversight committees with sharp, biting teeth, and refuse to confirm RWNJs to the bench or to federal agencies. Maybe he’ll even end up with a Congress that isn’t afraid to begin impeaching a disloyal President!
Trump looks at the narrative of his presidency much like he would the season-long narrative of a reality show. He understands about “game changer” episodes — where audiences are presented with events so unexpected, so dramatic and so far-reaching that they change the way the audience looks at the show. (Think “Red Wedding.”)
I am expecting that next fall Trump and Putin will engage in a dramatic, highly choreographed, well-planned “falling out.” Except it won't be a real falling out, it will be a performance.
In this performance Trump will demonstrate he is a tough negotiator who stands up for America’s interest. He will Shout Putin down, abruptly pull the plug part-way through the summit, and immediately implement a new set of sanctions or do something else that is harmful to Russia.
Millions of Americans will look at this ad say "It's about time," and "He isn't a puppet -- he was just trying to get along and Putin took advantage... but now he's put his foot down."
All of this will lower the anti-trump fever, and will encourage unenthusiastic GOP voters to get out to the polls after all. Mostly, though, it will re-brand Trump from “puppet” to “American tough guy.”
Of course -- when the midterms are all over... they will kiss and make up. Trump has already done so with Kim, and the ruse is still working with the Trump base. Trump will cloak the make-up in language about "deal-making" and “problem solving”— bullshit that works with the nase and many independents.