( CNN) For months and months, liberals have insisted that Russia has something on Donald Trump — some sort of compromising material( “Kompromat”) that induced the American President repeatedly call into question the idea that Russia meddled in the 2016 election and was likely to continue to do so in future campaigns.

But, the reasoning ran, this was simply the unorthodox approach of an unorthodox politicians — not something more nefarious and more conspiratorial.

The past five days may well have changed that position for lots and a lot of people — inside and outside of politics.

Consider 😀 TAG 12 TT

Hours before he was set to sit down with Putin in Helsinki, Trump tweeted this out: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and folly and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt! ” The US President blaming a special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election — an investigation run by his own Justice Department! — for the lack of good relations. Staggering. Following a two-plus-hour one-on-one meeting with Putin — Trump pushed for that format — the two men held a joint news conference. In that presser, Trump repeatedly makes clear that both sides are to blame for the Russian interference in the 2016 election — even as he continued to cast doubt on whether the Russians meddled at all. “I hold both countries responsible, “ Trump saidin response to a question from the American press about Russia's interference. “I think that the United Country has been foolish. We've all been foolish. We're all to blame.” In the same news conference, Trump said that he didn't “see any reason why it would be” Russia who meddled in the election. The following day, Trump tried to correct the record; “In a key sentence in my statements I said the word ‘would' instead of ‘wouldn't, ‘” he explained. Then, on Wednesday, Trump was asked whether he believed Russia was still targeting US elections. “No, ” he responded. But, apparently that “no” was in response to taking questions from reporters, according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. Of course, Trump went on to take more questions, so … On Thursday, term violates — on Twitter natch — that Trump has invited Putin to Washington for a second summit this fall. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, on stage at the Aspen Security Conference, is clearly stunned by the news of a second summit — and acknowledges that he still doesn't even know what happened in the first summit.