(05-11-2023, 11:51 PM)Mav link Wrote:The depths to which Trump would sink are only limited by external constraints. If he were able to eliminate all constraints, I shudder to think how far he’d go. After all, he’s a malignant narcissist and sociopath. He suggested to his Defence Secretary that they should launch missiles into Mexico to target drug cartels but fortunately Esper was able to talk him out of that. By the way, Mexico is not an enemy of the USA but would have become one if Trump had had his way and who knows where that would have led. This is also the stable genius who suggested that hurricanes should be targeted with nuclear bombs to blow them up. And his use of Federal agents to target BLM protesters and others shouldn’t be forgotten. Nor should his unleashing of a mob to storm the Capitol building and potentially assassinate his Vice President. Anyone who stands in his way is fair game and any amount of death or destruction he is able to inflict would not weigh on his conscience in the slightest as he has none.
The consequences of an unfettered Trump taking control of the USA are far worse than the dangers of Putin’s autocracy (unless, of course, Putin starts a nuclear war which remains unlikely) as Putin is currently boxed in. Trump’s 45th presidency pushed the far right towards power in South America and Europe and that would accelerate if he were to seize control of the USA. How would he deal with China? Would he team up with China (as Hitler did with Russia) before starting a war with China (as Hitler did with Russia)? Perhaps he’d be able to do none of this as he’s old and may not live long enough to achieve it. And maybe some of the guardrails of democracy would hold him up. But where would Trump end up if things fall well for him?
In the short term, it’s likely he’d hand Ukraine to Putin on a platter. You’re right that Putin is a war criminal and evil incarnate, but wouldn’t it be just as evil to reward his murderous attacks on civilians with victory and allow Putin to re-emerge as a global leader rather than the pariah he currently is? Putin is currently held in check by NATO, but Trump can hobble it by withdrawing from it. And seeing Putin palling around with Trump as Trump did with Kim Jong Un would cut off Putin’s enemies inside and outside Russia at the knees.
He’s already rehabilitated one murderous regime. After the murder and dismemberment of the journalist Kashoggi in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Turkey on the orders of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia looked as if it would be a pariah state but Trump did everything he could to rehabilitate the murderer. And it worked. They even have a golf tour now. And a big surprise was that Saudi Arabia gave Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner billions to invest for them.
Yes, Putin is scum and the world would be better if someone takes him out. But the same can be said of Bashir al-Assad and the many dictators around the world who happily murder portions of their population or wage wars (including President Xi who seems intent on wiping out the Uyghurs and other groups). How evil they are isn’t necessarily determined by the body count as that’s often proportional to opportunity and circumstance.
Most of that is a guess of what might be if Trump was allowed free reign.
He won't be.
Even if he's in charge.
The system won't let him.
He's on the skids, he just doesn't know it.
The only reason he's still relevant is that the democrats have been so average in making a distinction between good governance and the Trump era in the eyes of the average American and....the fact that Trump and talking up the threat he poses is the best thing the Dems have going for them in an electoral sense.
If he's the republican candidate he'll split the 'right' vote and the Dems will have an easy win no matter who their candidate.
Putin on the other hand is reality.
He's living 'his' dream...and people are dying in big numbers.