It was all worth a try -- Macron, Starmer, etc. If anything this has clarified the "can NATO limp along" or "will Trump grudgingly support Ukraine" questions -- no and no. 2/
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As @shashj.bsky.social noted, the shouting match was not just undiplomatically shocking, but also bad analysis. You cannot make a real, lasting peace without security guarantees and no Russia is not 10 feet tall about about WWIII any day. 3/
Trump hates Zelensky because of Impeachment 1.0 but let's not forget that arms-for-dirt was b/c *Trump does not care about Ukraine* & *admires Putin.* it's an effect of Trump's beliefs, not a cause. 4/
4/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-foreign-policy-213546/
There's a lot of noise, a lot of chaotic destruction, and a lot of personal transactionalism with Trump. But on core beliefs, which don't change for any president, he always reverts. He attacks allies and admires dictators. Europe should treat this as a new era. 6/
Last thought for now. In Trump 1.0 @mchorowitz.bsky.social & I, authors of books about how leaders matter, wrote about how Trump was constrained by geography or other factors and couldn't just shape events. But here, it is impossible to imagine any other US president doing this. Leaders matter. 7/7
Can you post how Americans can send aid to the Ukrainian people. When I pulled up Charity Navigator ...top of the list was Samaritans Purse. (Fuck that) I don't want to give to an American charity that may be bullied by Trump or in alignment with Christian Nationalism.
I can't see Germany, Poland, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and Australia not developing nuclear weapons ASAP, and it's all on Trump and his craven display today.
One key point: Trump pumps out abuse at all sorts of people in all sorts of ways. It has been unusual for him to do it face to face. He has normally shrunk from that, certainly with other heads of government.
As Trump continues his journey into old age, his impulse control is failing more often.
It would be good to add some inter-disciplinary context here
-Trump is predicable, because he is a malignant narcissist. He can be 100% explained and predicted by his personality traits
-Trump has been recruited by the KGB. We have a foreign agent running the white house
It is not that Trump "admires" Putin, it's that Putin is holding Trump by the... neck... As a coward he is, he has no choice but to "admire" him (which is the complete opposite of Ukraine's president).
Even before today I was sure Trump's real goal all along for this meeting was to goad Zelenskyy into signing over Ukrainian mineral rights that Trump would then split with Putin in his "economic partnership" deal with Russia and then look to force Zelenskyy into even more concessions for "peace."
What 'shouting match'? There was no 'shouting match'. There were two Russian agents cosplaying as politicians shouting at one President of a free and democratic nation under attack by Russia, who was calmly and rationally trying to get his point across through their unhinged shrieks.
It wasn’t a shouting match, When we call it that we imply there was bullying and aggression in both sides. It was a shouting at, with two aggressors and one subject evidently working hard to maintain his calm and dignity and to keep his voice low whilst also striving to respond to assertions made.
I think this is one critical moment where European public diplomacy has to reach out and defend Zelensky / Ukraine in strong terms. It matters to negotiations, to Ukraine to position with respect to US.
Plus it will come with a real cost (trade & troops), so will be a real signal.
Are you saying EU/NATO can't simply move on without the US until we come to our senses (assuming)? It is a European war and the EU certainly has the most at stake and the resources to help Ukraine finish demolishing the Russian army.
Yes, I think this is the week Mearsheimer has been waiting for since 1993, albeit not for the reasons he thought. NATO is dead. It might stay "alive" on paper, but it's dead in practice.
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4/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-foreign-policy-213546/
https://goodauthority.org/news/foreign-policy-donald-trump-unpredictable-madman-tariffs-nato/
Trump 2.0 was hiding in plain sight
But does Trump want a strong or fragmented EU?
1. Musk backing AfD
2. Vance’s Munich speech
3. Trump saying the EU was created to “screw the US”
Suggests the latter
As Trump continues his journey into old age, his impulse control is failing more often.
A
Traitor
-Trump is predicable, because he is a malignant narcissist. He can be 100% explained and predicted by his personality traits
-Trump has been recruited by the KGB. We have a foreign agent running the white house
Those are the core issues
Plus it will come with a real cost (trade & troops), so will be a real signal.
Americans burned cities over BLM, but are hush over their own fascist takeover.
SHAME AMERICA
He’s an idiot conman felon usurper. We have to get rid of him. No one can deal with him. He’s highly unstable.