Summary
Putin’s actions after Trump’s election, including a delayed congratulations and a denial of a phone call, suggest a lack of respect for Trump’s personal relationship with him.
Russia’s intelligence chief’s statement that Trump owes them favors for their support in his election, along with hints that he is expected to “pay back” certain obligations, amounts to a bold threat of blackmail.
Trump’s foreign policy, which favors a realignment with Russia, may be challenged by Putin’s actions and the revelation of Russian interference in the election.
So much comes down to “is trump malicious or just an idiot?” His last term was largely idiocy, and if that repeats itself then I think things will be ok. My concern is that his rhetoric has turned more toxic, so I think he may have done so as well.
Yet he still managed to overturn Roe, stack the scotus and thousands of judgeships for a generation, and sabotage countless government agencies which has been a nightmare for our rights, environment, and the rule of law. We’re still feeling the repercussions and this time is shaping up to be an order of magnitude worse.
He stacked the Scotus for sure, but he never should have had the chance. The fact that Obama’s vacancy from Scalia’s death was delayed by a full year into Trumps term, and then RBG, who had decided not to retire under Obama, died in September of 2020 just a couple of months before Biden’s election. If you play by consistent rules then at least one of those should be a democrat appointment.
So having done that, what was his role in overturning RvW? He takes “credit” for it, but all he did was appoint two judges. Two very damaging judges, but you don’t have to act with intent to make stupid choices that are exploited by others.
the leopards do not eat because they are hungry. they eat because they can.
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The danger in this term is that there are far more groups who are far better prepared now to take advantage of this traits for their own gain. I think a good chunk of why his first term had so much bumbling about was because people weren’t prepared. Now groups like heritage front and such have a playbook on how to handle him, the potential for actual damage in this term is much greater.
IMO, I think the best chance at damage mitigation is if the GOP congress is as dysfunctional as it has been the last 2 years, but I don’t hold much faith in that.