As Profs. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Brook Harrington discussed on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting yesterday, Trump is busy fulfilling a list of obligations to the Broligarchy and Putin. Putin comes first because he offs people who betray him. What Putin wants, since he has not gotten over the breakup of the Soviet Union is to destroy the US, wh…
As Profs. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Brook Harrington discussed on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting yesterday, Trump is busy fulfilling a list of obligations to the Broligarchy and Putin. Putin comes first because he offs people who betray him. What Putin wants, since he has not gotten over the breakup of the Soviet Union is to destroy the US, which Trump is doing from within as well as the MAGA Congress, and to break up the EU, which began with Brexit. Once these alliances are broken, he will have no one to stand against him trying to rebuild the Soviet Union as he will surely next march into the Baltics. All of the voters who are on social media are vulnerable to his influence. Trump does not care if he throws the US under the bus as is obvious, as long as he can use his position to make sure that he is the wealthiest man in the world.
Trump will never be the wealthiest man in the world, as he has demonstrated over and over again. He will always find a way to fu*k things up, with his myopic focus on immediate personal gain. He thinks he can control Putin, but he is too dumb to realize that Putin can only succeed when the U.S. and its NATO allies work in lock step to hold him at bay. Absent that guardrail, he is likely to find himself falling out of a window some day.
Maureen, in a conversation Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Prof. Brook Harrington were having yesterday on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting, they discussed that Trump is working on a laundry list of actions that he has promised people like the Broligarchs and Putin, only Putin comes first because he has a habit of killing people who cross him. What does Putin want? Putin, who is broken up about the break up of the Soviet Union in 1990, wants to have the US be broken up too, or diminished. Trump is doing this from within.
Putin also wants the EU to split up, and it began with Brexit, so that with the US and EU ineffective he can go on with his goal to expand Russia to include former Soviet countries, which would have him marching on the Balkans after taking Ukraine. Trump's miniscule tariffs on Russia, after Russia already has so many tariffs from the US that there is almost nothing left to put tariffs on is showmanship not any real threat to Putin.
For himself, Trump just wants to make money. He is well positioned to do this. He gets profits out of all the people he grifts from, even if they lose money. For those people they are buying access, so whatever he is selling is just a front. Who loses big time is us.
But, I agree he could be falling out of a window some day, or something else. Do we know that the Secret Service has no FSB in it? How many FSB members applied to the Heritage Foundation in their big job search. I saw the leaked files and the loyalty questions. Anyone could lie and if you have a fake background created for you, with no real intelligence agency now to do a background check, how many people will be slipping in?
Self sabotage is a symptom of malignant narcissism. Their ego actually knows they are evil so it causes them to make missteps that expose the error. It’s the only good thing about this type of sociopathy.
Putin will or probably has over reached. His war in Ukraine has cost Russia so many lives of their young men that he's had to resort to using foreign troops. North Korea is forcing their young men to fight for Russia.
What Putin fails to understand is that invading other countries is no longer as easy as it used to be when those countries were a lot poorer. Once a country experiences a stable government and a raise in the standard of living, like Ukraine, they are not going to willingly give up their autonomy. The Ukrainians have fought valiantly for their country. The struggle has cost them too. But they are fighting for their country and their rights. Even without the US support, they will continue to make life difficult for the Russians. Invading other countries bordering Russia won't be that easy either. Once he secures those borders, if he manages to secure them, he's going have maintain an occupation force. The population of Russia or it's economy can't sustain that level of military force.
Hitler made the mistake of invading Russia. The Russians fought back and he lost that front. He spread his troops too thin.
As Profs. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Brook Harrington discussed on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting yesterday, Trump is busy fulfilling a list of obligations to the Broligarchy and Putin. Putin comes first because he offs people who betray him. What Putin wants, since he has not gotten over the breakup of the Soviet Union is to destroy the US, which Trump is doing from within as well as the MAGA Congress, and to break up the EU, which began with Brexit. Once these alliances are broken, he will have no one to stand against him trying to rebuild the Soviet Union as he will surely next march into the Baltics. All of the voters who are on social media are vulnerable to his influence. Trump does not care if he throws the US under the bus as is obvious, as long as he can use his position to make sure that he is the wealthiest man in the world.
Trump will never be the wealthiest man in the world, as he has demonstrated over and over again. He will always find a way to fu*k things up, with his myopic focus on immediate personal gain. He thinks he can control Putin, but he is too dumb to realize that Putin can only succeed when the U.S. and its NATO allies work in lock step to hold him at bay. Absent that guardrail, he is likely to find himself falling out of a window some day.
Maureen, in a conversation Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Prof. Brook Harrington were having yesterday on Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting, they discussed that Trump is working on a laundry list of actions that he has promised people like the Broligarchs and Putin, only Putin comes first because he has a habit of killing people who cross him. What does Putin want? Putin, who is broken up about the break up of the Soviet Union in 1990, wants to have the US be broken up too, or diminished. Trump is doing this from within.
Putin also wants the EU to split up, and it began with Brexit, so that with the US and EU ineffective he can go on with his goal to expand Russia to include former Soviet countries, which would have him marching on the Balkans after taking Ukraine. Trump's miniscule tariffs on Russia, after Russia already has so many tariffs from the US that there is almost nothing left to put tariffs on is showmanship not any real threat to Putin.
For himself, Trump just wants to make money. He is well positioned to do this. He gets profits out of all the people he grifts from, even if they lose money. For those people they are buying access, so whatever he is selling is just a front. Who loses big time is us.
But, I agree he could be falling out of a window some day, or something else. Do we know that the Secret Service has no FSB in it? How many FSB members applied to the Heritage Foundation in their big job search. I saw the leaked files and the loyalty questions. Anyone could lie and if you have a fake background created for you, with no real intelligence agency now to do a background check, how many people will be slipping in?
Self sabotage is a symptom of malignant narcissism. Their ego actually knows they are evil so it causes them to make missteps that expose the error. It’s the only good thing about this type of sociopathy.
Putin will or probably has over reached. His war in Ukraine has cost Russia so many lives of their young men that he's had to resort to using foreign troops. North Korea is forcing their young men to fight for Russia.
What Putin fails to understand is that invading other countries is no longer as easy as it used to be when those countries were a lot poorer. Once a country experiences a stable government and a raise in the standard of living, like Ukraine, they are not going to willingly give up their autonomy. The Ukrainians have fought valiantly for their country. The struggle has cost them too. But they are fighting for their country and their rights. Even without the US support, they will continue to make life difficult for the Russians. Invading other countries bordering Russia won't be that easy either. Once he secures those borders, if he manages to secure them, he's going have maintain an occupation force. The population of Russia or it's economy can't sustain that level of military force.
Hitler made the mistake of invading Russia. The Russians fought back and he lost that front. He spread his troops too thin.