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When Vice President Mike Pence addressed a joint U.S.-Georgian force in Russia's front yard Tuesday, he presented a united front. "The president and Congress are unified in our message to Russia," Pence told the allied troops.

It was an authoritative, bold, even presidential message. And it lasted less than 48 hours.

Any of those soldiers on Twitter this morning watched that united front crumble in less than 140 characters. "Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low," Trump tweeted, "You can thank Congress, the same people that can't even give us HCare!"

Coming the day after the president signed a veto-proof bill from Congress instituting new sanctions against Russia, this is the very definition of off-message.

More than most, this presidential tweet should be especially embarrassing in context. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described Trump as an "incompetent player" yesterday and this morning the American proved the Russian right. After all, who else would sign a major piece of legislation into law, send their vice president across the Atlantic to talk tough, and then undercut the entire operation with a single tweet?

But by now, diplomatic discomfiture should be the least concern. What's more significant is this administration's dangerous and increasingly frequent habit of talking out of two sides of its mouth. For instance, asking Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders about North Korea will result in three very different answers.

Of course, as some will protest, there is no reason to reveal American strategy ahead of time. After rightly knocking his predecessor for telegraphing his diplomatic and military plans, Trump promises to keep his geopolitical foes in the dark. And that's fine, but his administration is also keeping its own allies guessing.

Whether or not the president has a case, regardless of whether Congress is to blame for deteriorating Russian relations, the common sense move would be to keep quiet. The longer Trump does otherwise, the more likely he is to humiliate his staff, prove himself incompetent, and endanger national security.

Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

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Trump just contradicted Vice President Mike Pence on the world stage - Washington Examiner