He does not see it as loosing the war in Ukraine. He sees fascist Russia winning the war as a great victory for his master in the Kremlin and harbinger of more to come.
He doesn't really have agency. He's doing foreign policy things to justify Putin's take on America being the only real imperialist. Nobody was talking about any of that until he (a) didn't lose the election and (b) was free to do Putin's bidding. Goal is for him to be taken as 'America' personified.
I honestly think the bloke's just riffing. He makes noises, then somewhere behind the scenes someone says 'That was nice, dear, we'll talk about it again in the morning, now have your cocoa' and he goes to bed and forgets about it. The trouble with the media is they report it and the trouble...
... with the MAGA crowd in the media is they support it (even though they know it's nuts and ain't gonna happen) and give it another month he'll be talking about nuking the Antarctic to get at the minerals beneath the ice and we'll all talk about that instead.
Watching closely from your north hoping this all stays hypothetical, but recognizing Trump's Kremlin handler is driving the show and he's not confined by America's interests.
Trump doesn't need to distract his base though, does he? He campaigned on not backing ukraine. I'm worried he wants to become a partner in imperialism rather than just an aide. Hopefully I'm just paranoid.
I think he’s distracting them from the fact that he never believed in their causes whatever they were. He didn’t need to know their concerns bc he doesn’t think of anyone as if they matter.
You won’t be. We know he’s gonna get a cease fire by any means necessary, just for a perceived W, when in reality, it would just give Russia a few months to regroup and then invade again. It’s going to be disastrous, no matter what. He is completely incapable of negotiating.
I have a friend who proposed, basically, the same interpretation. Putin gets cover for what he is doing in Ukraine via Trump's loud claims about Greenland and Panama. I would bet that US support for Ukraine will likely end shortly after the Inauguration.
You’re not wrong, but if we stop him, none of this will happen; we will still have to fight Putin though, because he has invaded every democratic country, via the Internet
Putin invaded us with the Internet Research Agency in 2014. He’s had 10 years to invade this country -to divide and conquer using psychological warfare, and on January 20, he will have conquered the United States -if we don’t stop Trump - the Putin surrogate.
Think the ball has already started rolling with msm discussing in all seriousness the merits of the idea. The next step would be some "grassroots" movement of Americans who would like beachfront property in Panama to start clamoring for action.
Trumpist #MAGAcult an ongoing insurrection, fascist subversion of our entire reality, insanity, violence, threats, fraud & deceit, treason, violations that would have anyone else in prison. Dragging us all down into #Putinism black hole of #corruption-cruelty-chaos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAbM77eUop4&ab_channel=SLICEFullDoc
If only there were a way to get mass media coverage and Congress to disseminate this viewpoint and act accordingly to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty, & stand against Putin instead of with him.
I can't help but assume Putin put this idea in his head during one of their pre-election meetings. It normalizes his invasion and makes Trump more likely to be distracted and stop aid. Tell me I'm wrong but it makes too much sense and he is too easily manipulated.
I think it's the dead cat on the table distraction, but as a 🍁, if this goes bad, America hasn't experienced what the terrorism and gurilla warfare Canada - a country that knows you better than you do, talks/looks like you, can visit on your nodes of power. America won't just lose, it can never win.
Distraction from Ukraine, the criminal scandals reported in the last few months with updates in the past/coming week - it’s the Mexico will build the wall/i shagged a porn star while Milania was giving birth schtick all over again
I mean, Putin would love to control the Arctic and has open ambitions to do that as it becomes a shipping route, that's why this idea is in Trump's head.
It serves many purposes, serious or not. Most importantly, it works to both distract Americans and cause drama for Danish and Canadian governments (as Canada heads into an election the globalist evangelical right wing is very invested in for various reasons).
Trump was already psychotic enough to cause major international incidents in 2017 if nobody had restrained him. He’s worse now and the brakes have been ripped out and thrown into the river.
He's also a grandiose attention seeking narcissist that will say anything for attention. All he needs to get Canada to roll over to get all our minerals and oil is to help Poilievre get elected. The right wing evangelicals are globalists, the nationalism is a bait and switch to manipulate voters.
Could you do (an attempt at) analysing which member in the current DJT-circle does A) the long term planning and B) the short term PR/communication implementation?
Miller, Bannon, others?
I mean, the layout & blueprints might very well be written in Cyrillic, but still someone has to translate.
So who is most evil, the soulless morons who vote for maga scum, or those who know better, but can’t be bothered to care about anyone else - like women and girls-and vote?
That's what's baffling; I'm not about to minimize Hitler (I read "Bloodlands"), but at least the Germans were actually suffering. What is so dire about living in the richest country in Earth? If you're poor enough that you can readily contradict that you probably didn't vote.
Like a war in which Hitler annexed both Austria and Czechia? If nobody is willing to stand against tyrant, there will be no war and he will annex both without a single gunshot. I still hope Biden will send death squad after him, and we wont see that scenario, but it is unlikly.
Dear Ian, you are sadly mistaken. Donold is new school ressentiment based on made up promises and tactical needs. He is the new Stalin / Hitler. And his empire will be broken at some point, but at a very high cost.
Alternate hypothesis: the MAGA base (rebranded from TEA Party, Birtherism, Moral Majority, John Birch Society) is largely an end-times Christian cult, steeped for generations in a persecution mythology that POTUS45** has merely tapped.
It's sad we have more people disengage in the voting process than voted for either party. We need rank choice voting (top two) so everyone get a voice. End citizens united keep money out of politics. Fact check , and pass a basic course on government procedures for all candidates.
Many of trump supporters genuinely isolationists. And this is important in context of expansionism. They voted literally against US involvement in wars
Pierre Poilievre would. He’s our Temu Trump rigging our next election. Our PM Trudeau had the same attack done to him, as was done to Biden. He just resigned as PM. My 🇨🇦 is in trouble.
You are not wrong. The points flowing from Putin & the Kremlin have become a constellation of malignancies, spreading across the globe. Musk place a key role in this cancerous spread.
I think you're wrong- he intends to do it all. Throw Ukraine under the bus, and go so far as to send the military for Greenland and Panama. If there is any opposition from EU, trump will pull out of NATO, and Putin can start on the rest of Eastern Europe. I see a carve up of the world a la 1984
Not just in book form, but IRL 1939.
Hitler and Stalin signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty that had a secret clause giving all of western Europe to Hitler; eastern to Stalin.
This is exactly what Putin and Trump are doing now.
I can't help it right now- I'm reading "Berlin Diary" and "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William Shirer.
Tremendous books, and Shirer was living through the events, as we are. It does not leave me very cheerful, but it gives a whole new perspective.
You’ll be better equipped than most to understand and navigate this. Now toss in extreme poverty and homelessness, global warming, chaotic climate, and widespread pandemics
Wheeeee
Good times. Good times. And I'm afraid there is no navigating this, it's really just survival. We don't yet appreciate how insidious this is, and how fast everything can change.
Clear, succinct, and likely correct. My one hope is even if we fail Ukraine after Musk and Trump are in power that the EU, Canada, Australia, UK, and other countries continue supporting Ukraine to victory.
The “no new wars” is also a fuckin stupid statement. The Ethiopian conflict started in 2018, and more people died from that than I/P and U/R combined. Plus the Haitian gang war, the first and second Nagorno-Karabakh wars, and more. But if he’s too ignorant to know about them, they didn’t happen 🙄
Even if it's a bluff, he's still legitimising Putin's approach
It's insane. Literally, a form of madness. The entire post-war international relations framework is being dumped for a pre-war 'might is right' approach
I think it’s distraction for this and also I do think musk wants Greenland for minerals. Frump owes him a great deal of payback and I think something’s up with Putin having easier access as well
But it's even less founded in reality than Putin talking about Ukraine (which at least *had* a somewhat discontented Russian minority), Hitler talking about the Sudetenland (with its somewhat discontented German minority), no?
No! Mr Poessel, it's about the same insanity. Nationalists do not care about people. They just take any argument to satisfy their narcistic dreams. So called minorities are not a "reality" giving any reason for annection or invasion. @mpoessel.de @timothysnyder.bsky.social @quatremer.bsky.social
I've never claimed it gave a reason. In all cases, it's about finding a pretext. But surely it's even worse, and makes a difference, when the situation has become so skewed that someone like that doesn't even need to make an effort to find a pretext any more?
There is still no graduation to measure this kind of insanities. I believe you didn't want to give Putin or Hitler reason with their pretexts. But your comparison does. I think we can agree that it's nationalism and imperialism should remain to 19th and 20th centuries
I think it‘s an unhelpful and potentially damaging take to claim that this kind of gradation amounts to somehow making Putin/Hitler less bad. Among sensible people, you should be allowed to assume they know enough to realise it reflects badly on Trump without in any way lifting up Putin or Hitler.
We need to bring to the forefront what a liability PINO actually is especially to the Republican Party and our democracy he will provide the fuel for the dumpster fire. His cognitive decline will jeopardize his future.
I think these are all diversion tactics from Trump
His asinine promise that he will ‘end the Russia Ukraine war in 24 hrs’ etc - which we all knew he wouldn’t be able to do unless he just sells out Ukraine
I hope that he really won’t be as stupid as to begin a war over Greenland
You say really something very interesting to shape Western ideology. It must be said that it is very intelligent to compare what Trump says with what Putin says and then conclude that they are saying the same thing. I never had figured out by myself that Trump and Putin are soulmates - brilliant!
Exactly this lots of budget & staffing cuts maybe tariffs coming that help billionaires and hurt ordinary Americans while everyone ( #MSM 🙄) is focusing on Trumps latest shiny object ✨
Instead of pressing Trump on say Hezbollah was involved in Jan6 th they focus on Greenland etc. if Biden said such there be calls for impeachment up to 11:59 on Jan 20
His base has already decided that Ukraine should go to Putin, and that the US shouldn’t spend anything on its freedom. So he only has to distract half the electorate.
Monday: "I declare war on Greenland"
Tuesday: Sends Donnie Jr. to Greenland.
Wednesday: "I have just WON our war with Greenland and declare Greenland our 51rst state...whether they like it or not!"
What kind of strategy is that? Make yourself and your followers look stupid to distract the media and then announce a peace deal in Ukraine - keeping your mouth shut seems like a better idea
Your voice is crucial to the conversation right now. Thank you for speaking out so prominently. I find & listen to all your lectures, and read your books. trump is Putin’s useful idiot. And now a/the addition of Musk, 💩🔟 has his dream team. It’s disgusting.
"Oh look of course the LA fire department donated a bunch of their supplies to Ukraine"
Don Jr thinks that a donation to save Ukrainians whose homes were bombed would be foolish. Wouldn't happen on his Daddy"s watch, where it's America First. The problem is that other countries will put USA last.
It's all about distracting citizens and especially the lemming media from keeping focus on the insane unqualified cabinet picks as they go thru Senate confirmation.
It’s not about Greenland nor Canada, it keeps the incompetent media busy chasing red herrings.
Until they learn (maybe never) to stop chasing butterflies, we’ll keep snapping our necks from one stupidity to the next stupidity. We haven’t learned anything yet☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️
Comments
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/01/trump-putin-ukraine-russia-war/681228/?gift=b7CY-tZuis4wnacgbXLiylCgC2jWS_DSOErk69EU-So&utm_source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social
https://bsky.app/profile/carlsbj.bsky.social/post/3lfayum264c2m
https://bsky.app/profile/curr.bsky.social/post/3lfb3jkm6pc23
Sick irony from the man who screamed “invasion” every 5 minutes about people surrendering at our southern border.
If only there were a way to get mass media coverage and Congress to disseminate this viewpoint and act accordingly to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty, & stand against Putin instead of with him.
Glory
I really think he’s going to attempt invasions.
Miller, Bannon, others?
I mean, the layout & blueprints might very well be written in Cyrillic, but still someone has to translate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_persecution_complex
No one in their right mind expects the USA to start a war with Canada.
But maybe, just maybe — Canadian elites think — we give a nice deal for our rare earth minerals to Musk and they will back off
Hitler and Stalin signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty that had a secret clause giving all of western Europe to Hitler; eastern to Stalin.
This is exactly what Putin and Trump are doing now.
(with whom I tragically completely agree)
Tremendous books, and Shirer was living through the events, as we are. It does not leave me very cheerful, but it gives a whole new perspective.
Wheeeee
Unfortunately, I think you aren't wrong!
I would. be happy with that.
Even if it's a bluff, he's still legitimising Putin's approach
It's insane. Literally, a form of madness. The entire post-war international relations framework is being dumped for a pre-war 'might is right' approach
His asinine promise that he will ‘end the Russia Ukraine war in 24 hrs’ etc - which we all knew he wouldn’t be able to do unless he just sells out Ukraine
I hope that he really won’t be as stupid as to begin a war over Greenland
Two empires collapsing for price of one 🤷🏽
Tuesday: Sends Donnie Jr. to Greenland.
Wednesday: "I have just WON our war with Greenland and declare Greenland our 51rst state...whether they like it or not!"
Don Jr thinks that a donation to save Ukrainians whose homes were bombed would be foolish. Wouldn't happen on his Daddy"s watch, where it's America First. The problem is that other countries will put USA last.
A one-man fecal hurricane.
He's looking to start a war to use the Alien Enemies Act to kick off mass roundups and deportations.
A 'little' war, a 'paper' war, but a real war.
Ukraine won't be a priority either way at that point.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/14/politics/alien-enemies-act-1798-trump-cec/index.html
Until they learn (maybe never) to stop chasing butterflies, we’ll keep snapping our necks from one stupidity to the next stupidity. We haven’t learned anything yet☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️