Donald Trump’s big Russian head-fake
Donald Trump has tried his dictatorship on for size and he can’t seem to find the willpower to remove it. He has become enamored by his own image, presenting himself to the world as strong and ruthless. After he sucked up to Putin in Helsinki, Trump made a big show of pretending to consider handing over Michael McFaul and Bill Browder, both critics of Russia, to Putin for interrogation. In the political world, that’s code for debilitating torture leading to a lingering and painful death.
Of course, everyone knew that no one would allow that to happen, yet Trump felt the need to brag to one and all that he was “weighing the offer” and made other comments, such Putin made an “incredible offer.” Trump would never be allowed to do this, so his real intention was to plant a seed of a threat that he could hand over anyone he doesn’t like to Putin, and there would be nothing anyone could do about it. Make no mistake about it, this was a thinly veiled threat made by an overgrown, immature bully who wields an enormous amount of power.
Trump’s attack on the media also reflects Putin’s world view, as authoritarians appreciate the power of a strategic offense. The idea is to attack anyone who doesn’t support them as being “fake”, “dishonest” or “dangerous” and oftentimes they accuse others of doing crimes when they have no proof. They financially support, on the downlow, tabloid news. The stories are created with a psychological profile in mind, meaning certain elements are added to the story that are aimed at eliciting certain responses from certain demographics of people. In other words, they are highly organized.
Donald Trump’s latest foray into the world of fascism includes announcing that he would invite Vladimir Putin to the U.S. during election season. Now Trump pretends he is going to parade Putin in front of our midterm elections to flaunt his support from his base. Trump gazed into a cesspool and fell in love with his image. Was that Putin he saw in there, one may wonder?
