The New York Times is in a swivet over the fact that President Trump spoke to President Putin without an American translator. This apparently happened during a dinner of the G20, where the president went to say hello to the First Lady, who was seated next to Mr. Putin, with whom Mr. Trump “initiated the conversation” when “only Mr. Putin’s interpreter was on hand.” This means, the Gray Lady frets, that Russia “could assert that Mr. Trump agreed to something or said something that he did not.”

A-yup, it could. But skip the cynicism and condescension of the Times. (Skip, too, the fact that trust in the press itself is not so hot.) What about what happens when an administration treats with an adversary with the full retinue of translators, note-takers, lawyers, and diplomats? Does that solve the question of trust? Not on the basis of what happened with, say, another high wire act that’s also in the news this week — the Iran deal struck by Secretary of State Kerry on President Obama’s orders.

Those negotiations rattled on for months. There were more aides de camp, note-takers, and interpreters than you could control with a supertanker full of Off!. Could Americans assume that Messrs. Obama and Kerry were acting in their interests? Apparently not. The deal they brought home was opposed by the Congress “overwhelmingly” (the Times’ word). The Obama-Kerry Iran deal couldn’t fetch a majority in either house of the Congress. Had it been submitted as a treaty it would have been laughed out of the Senate.

Yet in the face of all that, the administration took the poisoned pact to the United Nations. Then, in the Security Council, it proceeded to vote against America’s own Congress. And with the Times cheering them on. Even then, despite all the labors of the interpreters and the lawyers and ambassadors, none of the parties to the agreement seems to be able to agree on whether the Iranians or the Americans are in compliance. The fact is that despite everything the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is worthless.

No wonder 30 of America’s 50 states decided to hand Donald Trump up to the White House. We’re not suggesting these foreign issues were the only, or even primary, reason. But they were certainly a major issue. Voters decided on an experienced deal maker and gave him the presidency. So if he wants to get up from his seat at dinner, walk over to say hello to his wife, and initiate a conversation with President Putin . . . well, no newspaperman would trust him, or anyone, per se. But there is reason to trust him more than the last administration.