“U.S.-Russian relations and a second Trump-Putin summit,” by Steven Pifer, The Brookings Institution, July 28 (https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/07/27/u-s-russia-relations-and-a-second-trump-putin-summit/):
Just days after what was widely regarded in the United States as an abysmal performance by President [Donald] Trump in Helsinki, the White House disclosed an invitation for President [Vladimir] Putin to visit Washington. …
To be sure, a proper summit could prove useful and begin the necessary process of moving the U.S.-Russia relationship to a better place. …A good summit, however, would also require that the two leaders be candid with one another on problematic issues.
The American president’s poor handling of his press conference [in Helsinki] and the White House’s refusal to discuss what agreements were reached… leaves many Americans concerned about whether a second summit would advance U.S. interests. Right now, we do not know enough about what the first summit produced. Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo’s hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee only partially alleviated the problem, particularly as he answered so many questions by saying “U.S. policy is …” instead of “The president told Putin in Helsinki …”
…All this is not to say that another U.S.-Russian summit could not do some good for bilateral relations. But that would require a summit that is well planned. It would also require a Trump who takes time to prepare, listens carefully to his advisors, avoids going with his (often wrong) gut instincts, and is ready to confront Putin, not in a hostile manner but frankly, on U.S.-Russian differences. Unfortunately, that Trump was nowhere to be seen in Helsinki, and there’s little reason to think that he would show up at a second summit with Putin. …