"With Trump: Follow the money."
Can we all agree that Trump is a "useful idiot". For Putin, yes, but who else? the tech giants? Someone is pulling the strings back there, but who?
I l
How do you shame someone who is proud of their own BS?
Yoy can't. He is incapable of it. Thr truth is whsr he says it is. Psychopathy. No conscience. No moral compass. That bit of his brain does not work
Anyone else find it somewhat ironic that, the very day after The Mandarin Man announces that USA has suspended access to remote-sensed Intel, there's a missile strike on an hotel in Kryvyi Rih? Which just happened to be housing American (& UK) aid workers. Much as I obviously wouldn't wish harm upon them at all, had there been injuries or worse, then would the policy of Intel Suspension be reviewed PDFQ?
I l
How do you shame someone who is proud of their own BS?
Yoy can't. He is incapable of it. Thr truth is whsr he says it is. Psychopathy. No conscience. No moral compass. That bit of his brain does not work
I remember reading an article last year where a psychologist scored trump as way beyond the threshold for being defined as a psychopath. Pretty much called out exactly what would happen when he got in power.
I'm fairly convinced there's something out there proving that Trump is one of the very worst people ever to have existed. Something Epstein-esque.
I think Trump set out on a mission to be too big to send to jail and through a combination of seeking support whilst being both the exploiter and exploited he has created a pyramid of bastards upon which he has been elected president twice.
Not dissimilar, in fact, to the very accusations he used to smear the Clintons. To someone of Trump's character, using something like that against an opponent, in that manner, would be gratifying.
As I typed that, I realised it contradicted something I wrote the other day about Trump not being worried about kompromat.
That tells me two things:
1. Trump is such a disgusting blight on humanity that to my brain - brought up with some common decency, I hope - someone like him is impossible to figure out.
2. I'm spending way too much time thinking about the horrible ****.
Time to cut myself off from the news a bit, I think.
Can we all agree that Trump is a "useful idiot". For Putin, yes, but who else? the tech giants? Someone is pulling the strings back there, but who?
This may sound like a conspiracy theory, but I've had an opinion for a long time that the global billionaire power brokers who exercise control/influence over governments across the world have had a long term plan to reshape the world for a post-climate change/resources scarcity era. They got rich on the largesse of the capitalist system they imposed on us and did so in the full knowledge that it would destroy the environment and global geopolitical status quo. Now they're carving up the planet to protect their wealth and prepare for what comes next. It's not a coincidence that all the billionaires are buying up land in places like New Zealand. Many of them openly talk about 'the event' and how they're planning on surviving it. Seems to me everything that's happening now is just the transition into the next phase of this 'plan'.
This may sound like a conspiracy theory,
You'd do well to have a read of writing of Curtis Yarvin. He has a blog https://graymirror.substack.com/ His philosophy is essentially that the world should be run by Corporate Kings who run city sized 'corporations' that essentially enslave regular people. He was/is incredibly influential for the mega-billionaire class who emerged from silicon valley in the early naughties and informed the thinking of Musk and Theil. The Heritage Foundation 2025 project comes directly from this. (with a side order of the John Birch Society)
It'll do nothing to dissuade you that it isn't a conspiracy though
Tell me now he is not a Russian puppet
Tell me now he is not a Russian puppet
Nah..
Whilst I remain convinced putin has something on trump (2 hookers and a spot of watersports come to mind), the actions in that article point to pure vindictiveness. Trump is a vengeful, thin skinned, spiteful psychopath. Those actions are absolutely in line with the rest of his deeply flawed personality
The sooner he breaths his last the better for all mankind. The pain and suffering one man can singlehandedly inflict in a month of being in office is extraordinary, given what is meant to be a civilised democratic society. I for one will toast his eventual demise, and I don't think I've ever said that about another person ...ever...
Tell me now he is not a Russian puppet
Unbridled evilness. Condemning people to death because he's a petulant arsehole
I will celebrate his eventual death. It will fill me with joy. Sadly the damage he can do between now and then is terrifying
"With Trump: Follow the money."
Can we all agree that Trump is a "useful idiot". For Putin, yes, but who else? the tech giants? Someone is pulling the strings back there, but who?
check out Dave Troy's reporting and you'll find out the "who/why"
Linkss not working but google him
Tell me now he is not a Russian puppet
He's not a Russian puppet.
The elephant in the room which everyone seems to ignore is the fact that Trump is unquestionably a narcissist, I suspect that aspect of his character affects his behaviour more than anything else.
Trump behaving as if he wants Putin to be his bitch is seen by some as evidence that Putin pulling his strings. Trump is currently easily the most powerful man on earth he doesn't need anyone to pull his strings. And as a narcissist with a massively overinflated ego Trump certainly isn't going to let Putin, the president of a country with a struggling economy and an inability to win a war against a much weaker neighbour, tell him what to do.
Trump does precisely what he wants.
If Trump is considering deporting anti-Russian Ukrainians back to Ukraine how on earth does that help Putin? There are nearly a quarter of a million of them in the United States if anything I imagine Putin would be very pleased if it was double or treble that amount.
Over half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, are also at risk so it obviously has nothing to do with singling out Ukrainians.
I think everything should be seen in the context that Trump is a huge narcissist. He wants to be adored by his Republican base and he wants to be an important chapter in future history books. That is what drives him to do what he does imo.
And his Republican base love what he is doing, including his isolationist policies and cutting expenditure. Plus he is definitely establishing himself as a very important US president in future history books. In a hundred years time Joe Biden will be a footnote but Trump will likely still be a topic of discussion.
It's all going fairly well for him although I am not sure he's made much headway towards getting the Nobel Peace Prize yet
Trump acting in Putin’s interests again:
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is planning to revoke temporary legal status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia, a senior Trump official and three sources familiar with the matter said, potentially putting them on a fast-track to deportation.The move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under President Joe Biden's administration.
If Trump is considering deporting anti-Russian Ukrainians back to Ukraine how on earth does that help Putin?
It’s harder for him to kill or detain them while they are in the USA.
They are more likely to be “anti-death-at-Russian-hands” rather than simply “anti-Russian” as you put it, if they have fled half way around the world.
In a hundred years time Joe Biden will be a footnote but Trump will likely still be a topic of discussion. But a narcissistic will not want to be known negatively as another Chamberlain, and thats what Trump is establishing at the moment. I`m seeing a lot of Russia couldnt beat Ukraine in 3 years whilst they defeated USA in 30 days.
Tell me now he is not a Russian puppet
Surely this helps VZ rather than Putin as Ukraine now has another pool of potential conscripts...
Whether those sent back to Ukraine suits Putin or not would largely depend on who they were, men of fighting age not so good for Putin, however mothers, children and grandparents who were safe and are now in danger will add to the demoralisation of the nation.
If Trump is considering deporting anti-Russian Ukrainians back to Ukraine how on earth does that help Putin
Really, it's not hard to figure out! It's further confirmation to zelensky that they are being cut off by the US. That the US will provide zero support militarily or otherwise to the people of Ukraine. He's basically saying, unless you do what I want, you are on your own.
And from what I can see, Zelensky doing what trump wants plays right into Putins hands.
It's not as if he's sending home 200k special forces soldiers to bolster the front line is it..
The elephant in the room which everyone seems to ignore is the fact that Trump is unquestionably a narcissist
Yeah, I mean its not like there's a post on every page of this 10 year old thread pointing that out after all.
however mothers, children and grandparents who were safe and are now in danger will add to the demoralisation of the nation.
Are these the Ukrainians who Kelvin suggests might be killed or detained?
Really, it's not hard to figure out!
Go on then, tell me how sending back nearly a quarter of a million Ukrainians who don't appear to be very pro Russian help Putin?
I suspect that whatever the reason it is exactly the same reason that over half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, are going to be in the same position as Ukrainians living in the US.
Yeah, I mean its not like there's a post on every page of this 10 year old thread pointing that out after all.
And yet bizarrely the conclusion some come to is that this narcissist, who happens to be by far the most powerful man on earth, is having his strings pulled by someone who is incomparably weaker than him.
Correct. Is there a point you'd like to make?
Are these the Ukrainians who Kelvin suggests might be killed or detained?
Putin doesn't give a flying **** who gets killed, hitting schools and hospitals is part of his MO.
Go on then, tell me how sending back nearly a quarter of a million Ukrainians who don't appear to be very pro Russian help Putin?
Uummmm.i just did. In the very next sentence....
And yet bizarrely the conclusion some come to is that this narcissist, who happens to be by far the most powerful man on earth, is having his strings pulled by someone who is incomparably weaker than him.
If the sole metrics for measuring "power" is size of the military and/or size of GDP, then undoubtedly Trump could be considered "the most powerful man in the world" BUT the USA still has plenty of checks and balances (currently) on that power that Russia (and China?) don't.
The current narrative is that Trump can, and does, do anything he wants whereas in actual fact there is a huge amount of bluster and bull-shit around and he isn't getting his own way all the time. Whereas, I suspect Putin can do what the f++k he wants at any time (within his sphere of influence), and has zero problem "dealing with" his enemies. That is a type of power Trump doesn't have (at the moment).
I don't know any better than anyone on this forum, but I'm of the opinion that Trump will meet his downfall in some way before, or shortly after, the mid term elections. Someone will bring him down and I suspect that it will be someone in the GOP or a very rich/powerful backer which starts the process, rather than Putin. Maybe I'm being hopefully optimistic....
Re deporting Ukraine's refugees from the US .
It helps Putin because all those mouths to feed and find homes for, hospital appointments ect ect . It drains the Ukraine cash and resources from the front line.
Trumps also reportedly had talks with the opposition political leaders of Ukraine that's not for his own self worth that's trying to change governments.
Apparently they told him to FO so that's nice.
Trump my be a narcissist but some of the things he is spouting off about are seeds that have been planted
Uummmm.i just did. In the very next sentence....
Well I saw:
It's further confirmation to zelensky that they are being cut off by the US.
But I didn't think you were suggesting that was the purpose. Why on earth do you think Trump needs to confirm anything to Zelensky? He's just cut off his military aid and intelligence sharing, I think that tells Zelensky everything he needs to know.
Kicking out Ukrainians is just in line with what Trump is also proposing to do with Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.
It helps Putin because all those mouths to feed and find homes for, hospital appointments ect ect . It drains the Ukraine cash and resources from the front line.
I am not sure that making the Ukrainian population any larger will help Putin secure more territory but I am damn sure that stopping military aid and sharing intelligence will.
It's all going fairly well for him although I am not sure he's made much headway towards getting the Nobel Peace Prize yet
That made me chuckle, brilliantly understated
If the sole metrics for measuring "power" is size of the military and/or size of GDP, then undoubtedly Trump could be considered "the most powerful man in the world" BUT the USA still has plenty of checks and balances (currently) on that power that Russia (and China?) don't.
Sure, power is much more concentrated in say Russia and China but it doesn't match the power that the United States President has over global affairs.
And in practical terms that means that for example sanctions against Russia can be applied and the world can more or else continue in much the same way as before, but sanctions against the United States if they were applied in the same way would have catastrophic consequences for the rest of the world.
Hopefully that global dependency will wane in time as US influence diminishes but that's the situation right now.
This is excellent imo, both a plausible and a fairly optimistic analysis, plus pretty amusing.
I particularly liked:
Speaking of scams, Trump just announced something called a “strategic crypto reserve.” I don’t know what that is, but I do know if you put “crypto” and “Trump” in the same sentence, somebody is getting fleeced. And it ain’t him or his fat-cat friends in the tech industry.
And as a narcissist with a massively overinflated ego Trump certainly isn't going to let Putin, the president of a country with a struggling economy and an inability to win a war against a much weaker neighbour, tell him what to do.
I don't think "Trump is a narcissist and won't listen to weak Putin" and "Trump is being controlled by Putin" are necessarily contradictory.
Trump is such a narcissist that I would imagine it's very possible for someone savvy (say, Putin) to manipulate him fairly easily. Pull the wool over his eyes a bit, flatter him, put thoughts into his head and make him think it's his own idea, etc.
Then bingo you have Trump doing what he wants, which just happens to be (mostly) what Russia also wants.
Plus I don't think Russia/Putin is as weak and feeble as all that. Not for the purposes of this discussion. Russia pretty much takes up half the planet size-wise and is one of the most influential countries in the world, not to mention they are 'important' simply by reputation and history. Russia is very very different to, say, some tiny country in the middle of Africa, and that would still be the case if they had equal GDP and military strength. Military strength anyway is a bit hard to measure, sure their equipment might be rusting garbage but they have a lot of soldiers and, most importantly, thousands of nukes.
A psychopath like trump will be craven towards someone who appears more powerful..
Its all a part of how tbey react. Trample those with less power. Kowtow to those with more.
Kicking out Ukrainians is just in line with what Trump is also proposing to do with Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.
So you think it's a coincidence that days after a bust up with zelensky he announces all the ukranian refugees are getting kicked out?
You don't think he's using them as further leverage against zelensky?
Given we all know trump is a vindictive, vengeful individual, you honestly don't think trumps actions were directly aimed at weakening zelensky's position? Obviously stopping intelligence and arms is going to have a far greater impact, but this is just another move from the spiteful orange one to add pressure. It's blindingly obviously.
Why do you think he did it now? Coincidence? And why do you think Putin would want them to stay, or to quote you, have 'treble that amount in the US'? You do realise that the refugees are woman and children? They aren't going to contribute in any way to defending ukraine.
Trump is such a narcissist that I would imagine it's very possible for someone savvy (say, Putin) to manipulate him fairly easily. Pull the wool over his eyes a bit, flatter him, put thoughts into his head and make him think it's his own idea, etc.
I think there’s a large amount of plain old jealousy going on too. Just look at Trump and you know he’d just love to be in Putins position. Shutting down any media critical of you? Having your political opponents thrown in prison? Having all your enemies meet with unfortunate ‘accidents’?
Trump would just LOVE to be Putin, having shut down democracy, made yourself president for life and purged the country of all who disagree with him. He longs to be a dictator, which is why he is so fawningly in awe of them and is more than happy to do their bidding
Its pathetic really
You don't think he's using them as further leverage against zelensky?
Whatever the reason for announcing it now I certainly don't think it is because Putin is "pulling his strings" or in anyway controls him. I have no doubt that Trump does and says what he wants, not what Putin tells him to do or say.
To give another example, do you think that Trump announced that all Palestinians had to leave Gaza because Netanyahu pulls his strings and controls him? It certainly provided a lot of leverage in Netanyahu's favour.
Many pro-palestine supporters think that Israel controls the US government because it seems to fit the picture that they see, but all the evidence is the other way round - Israel is the United States very important client state in a region vital to US interests.
Trump is doing what he is doing with regards to Ukraine because it suits his agenda, not because he is forced to by Putin. And his agenda is heavily influenced by his narcissism. He wants a peace deal in Ukraine because Joe Biden couldn't offer anything other than an neverending war - Biden wanted a stalemate because either side winning was unacceptable to him, so he fine tuned aid to Ukraine to maintain a stalemate.
Trump also wants a peace deal because that is what his adoring isolatist Republican base want, they don't want to be involved in foreign wars especially ones involving American troops. He also wants a peace deal because he wants to cut US government expenditure, something else that will appeal to his adoring supporters. And of course he wants a peace deal because you can't extract rare earths very effectively in a war zone.
The question should be "why wouldn't Trump want a peace deal?" rather than asking why does he want a peace deal and then concluding that it can only be because Putin controls him.
I suspect that Putin doesn't want a peace deal at all and would much rather that the war ended with the total collapse of Ukraine.
Trumps never going to make 4 years. He’s basically already Father Jack in the 3 ages of Elvis. He’s going to die on the bog, eating a cheeseburger
Someone should interest him in the delicacy the Deep-fried Mars bar. That’ll seize up the arteries.
Interesting stat on Newscast just now… house prices in Washington have dropped 10% in 6 weeks as all the public sector workers have been laid off by Elon
So you think it's a coincidence that days after a bust up with zelensky he announces all the ukranian refugees are getting kicked out?
You don't think he's using them as further leverage against zelensky?
Given we all know trump is a vindictive, vengeful individual, you honestly don't think trumps actions were directly aimed at weakening zelensky's position? Obviously stopping intelligence and arms is going to have a far greater impact, but this is just another move from the spiteful orange one to add pressure. It's blindingly obviously.
Why do you think he did it now? Coincidence? And why do you think Putin would want them to stay, or to quote you, have 'treble that amount in the US'? You do realise that the refugees are woman and children? They aren't going to contribute in any way to defending ukraine.
Hang on - wasn't this all arranged before he ever met Zelensky? Perhaps bringing it up at a press conference and making a thing of it now is somewhat spiteful, but this is not directly in response to their recent argument. It even says so quite clearly in the article.
Deleted. Double post.
Interesting stat on Newscast just now… house prices in Washington have dropped 10% in 6 weeks as all the public sector workers have been laid off by Elon
I think I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway...
Washington politics are notoriously dominated by lobbyists, and most of these are savvy political operators (often the cream of the crop of Ivy League universities or large law firms) and they have rich clients with deep pockets to do research. Yes, they probably have a right wing viewpoint but even so, has even the simplest joined-up-thinking been deemed unnecessary?!?!
