As Trump preps for Putin meeting, almost every American believes they colluded

Despite the constant tide of bad news for Donald Trump in the Russia investigation — including the scandal surrounding his commerce secretary and renewed allegations that he sent his son to discuss a quid pro quo removal of sanctions for information on Hillary Clinton from a Russian lawyer — he still has no qualms about hanging out with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

News broke on Monday that Trump is planning to meet with Putin this week during his trip across Asia to discuss a possible alliance against the threat of North Korea — a threat which has grown largely due to Trump’s own reckless behavior.

At the exact same time, a new CNN poll reveals a remarkable consensus among the American people that Trump’s team sought help from Putin’s government to throw the 2016 election.

64 percent of Americans believe the Russia scandal is “a serious matter that should be fully investigated,” which should give pause to Senate Republicans who are currently blocking bipartisan bills to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired.

And 59 percent of respondents believe that Trump knew that some people “associated with his campaign had contact with suspected Russian operatives.”

Even more starkly, Americans believe by 83 percent to 6 percent that there was a “widespread” or at least “limited” effort between Russia and the Trump campaign to coordinate the attacks on our election.

These numbers suggest that the relentless campaign by Trump and his surrogates to discredit Mueller, or to demand that we should instead be investigating the nonexistent “Clinton administration,” is failing spectacularly.

Despite all the efforts to deflect and distract, the American people have not taken their eyes off the ball. And neither will Mueller.