Donald Trump is erratically unraveling the world order

[OKIsItJustMe]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by DonViejo (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Business Insider

Donald Trump is erratically unraveling the world order

Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy

A lot of people have been appalled by Donald Trump’s behavior during the transition, at his inauguration, and in his first week in office. You can count me among them.

But I also find his actions baffling from the perspective of Trump’s own self-interest. People who opposed his administration’s policies should take heart, because his conduct so far will make it harder to proceed as he seems to want.

For starters, Trump made zero effort to exploit the honeymoon period traditionally accorded a new president by the press, didn’t try to drive a wedge or two in the large coalition that opposes him, and declined to appeal to a broader sense of national unity. Thus far he has played entirely to his base, painting a dark portrait of a crumbling America where everybody except Trump himself is untrustworthy, corrupt, deceitful, and not to be heeded at all. The result: a president who lost the popular vote by 2.5 million people is even less popular now, and he enters office with the lowest approval ratings of any new president in history.

Never mind the irony of such a deeply corrupt and dishonest person accusing others of corruption; the odd thing is that he has been doing just about everything he can to unite key institutions against him. This may not matter if he and his lackeys can disseminate a squid-ink cloud of “alternative facts” and convince their many followers that down is up, black is white, 2+2=5, and what the president said on camera last week really never took place. As I’ve warned before, Trump & Co. seems to be operating straight from the Erdogan-Berlusconi-Putin playbook, and it remains an open question whether this approach will work in a country with many independent sources of information, some of which are still committed to facts.

…

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-is-not-a-rational-actor-2017-1

[no_hypocrisy]

1. It's nearly impossible to give a "honeymoon period" to an entity that is clearly nihilistic

and deconstructionist.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Not LBN but this article hits the nail on the head.

In one week, he has destabilized much of the world, both here and abroad.

[olddad56]

3. isn't that what Putin assigned him to do?

[heaven05]

4. don't you know

this is the NWO he and his bromance buddy concocted when he was getting his showers in Russia.....what a mess the boy-potus and his KKKadmin is...

[OregonBlue]

5. It's very clear he is taking his marching orders from the Kremlin.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Business Insider supported Trump during the general election campaign, if I recall correctly. . nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. Unless they changed their tune immediately before the election, I believe you recall incorrectly

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-president-trump-will-do-2016-11

[Historic NY]

11. So far they have been spot on......

[MFM008]

7. his whole GOAL

is to cause the upending of the global world order. To cause chaos, feal and disorientation.
Thats what he WANTS.

[pnwmom]

8. He didn't lose the popular vote by 2.5 million. He lost it by more than 2.8 million. n/t

[BadgerMom]

20. +1

I caught that, too.

[7962]

10. Its hard to have a honeymoon with someone you didnt want to marry. Nt

[LunaSea]

12. Straight from "The Foundations of Geopolitics"

The book emphasizes that Russia must spread Anti-Americanism everywhere: "the main 'scapegoat' will be precisely the U.S."

In the United States:

Russia should use its special forces within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics

Some lengthy reviews-
http://www.4pt.su/en/content/aleksandr-dugin’s-foundations-geopolitics
(watch the wrap on this link)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/03/20/fascism-russia-and-ukraine/

More-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024886506
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026153583
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028303221
http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/10024782311


https://qz.com/871975/aleksandr-dugin-putins-favorite-philosopher-is-a-big-fan-of-donald-trump/

[Adsos Letter]

14. This is beginning via trolls on Facebook.

Lots of trolls promoting Calexit and other things designed to broaden the fissures that exist in our society.

[groundloop]

13. If nothing else I certainly hope this ensures that we select an adult in 2020

Notwithstanding the fact that Drumpf lost by 3 million votes, but there were voters in a few key states that for some reason chose to vote for this child. I suspect that many of them are already asking themselves what the hell just happened, and hopefully they wise up and don't throw their vote away next time.

[OKIsItJustMe]

15. Just the other day, I heard, "give him a chance!"

The claim was made that if “Hillary” had been elected, Republicans would have given her a chance, and I bit my tongue…

It’s difficult for me to see how a sane person would have voted for Trump in the first place, but, given that as precedent, I wouldn’t expect them to regret it yet. So far, he’s been doing just what he promised to do.

[Faux pas]

16. Manipulators love

chaos. That is all.

[Stryst]

17. This is the new normal

The electoral college is going to continue to fuck us. Unless we actually manage to convince the legislature that California, New York, and other high population states need more house seats. We're stuck at 463, which is based on 1911's population. One person, one vote doesn't mean much if half a million Wyomians (Please don't be offended if you're a prog/liberal/leftest/dem from Wyoming, its just my example because its the lowest population state.

So California has a population of 38.8 Million. They get 53 House seats, meaning each Representative represents 732,075.5 people.

Wyoming has a population of 582,658. They get 2 house seats, because everyone gets two house seats as a minimum. This means that each of those representatives represents 291,329.

Or, to put it another way, if you live in Wyoming, you have twice as much government representation. And the reps and senators from these low population states will fight adding more house seats tooth and nail because it allows rural whites who are likely land owners twice the voice of those evil, dirty, liberal Californians.

This isn't just unfair, it's tyranny.

[OKIsItJustMe]

19. National Popular Vote

http://www.fairvote.org/national_popular_vote#endorsers_of_the_npv_plan
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/

Is your state on board? (Mine is!)

[Stryst]

21. I live in the Florida panhandle

My state is as not on board as you can get.

[OKIsItJustMe]

22. HB 311, SB 242 and SB 440

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/state/fl

A survey of 800 Florida voters conducted on January 9-10, 2009 showed 78% overall support for a national popular vote for President. By political affiliation, support for a national popular vote was 88% among Democrats, 68% among Republicans, and 76% among others. By gender, support for a national popular vote was 88% among women and 69% among men. By age, support for a national popular vote was 79% among 18-29 year olds, 78% among 30-45 year olds, 76% among 46-65 year olds, and 80% for those older than 65. By race, support for a national popular vote was 80% among whites (representing 70% of respondents), 69% among African Americans (representing 13% of respondents), 79% among Hispanics (representing 13% of respondents), and 72% among others (representing 4% of respondents). The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 1/2%.

http://www.national-popular-vote.com/Campaign/FL/FL0

[BadgerMom]

24. I completely agree

I wish I had the kind of money the Kochs have invested in their multi-facet ploy to overturn democracy. But I don't. I am going to volunteer in a district with a Republican representative. It adjoins mine which has a Democrat who will continue to receive my support. I got the info from a post on DU a few days ago. It suggested swingleft.org as a resource. Of course, I hope voting hasn't been totally messed up by then. Death by a thousand cuts is what this may have to be.

[jpak]

18. IBTL - and recced

[KittyWampus]

23. Well, Trump's tiny hand is signing stuff. But Bannon and Putin are the ones calling shots.

[orangecrush]

25. The interests of America

Are the last thing on Trump's mind.

Some believe he is a pathological liar, or unbalanced.

I do not believe it.

He bought the presidency via a carefully planned campaign with the help of his co conspirators, some of who are hostile entities.

His purpose is to build his own personal empire.

And I believe he will be utterly ruthless in doing so.

[ffr]

26. Of course he is. It's a tried and true recipe, started in 1994...in Russia.

As reported by Maddow.

IT'S ALL ABOUT A RAIDING OF AMERICA'S ASSETS! Devalue them under the guise of state budget needs. Auction them. Win the auction and become overnight billionaires.

Before the fall: America's public lands on clearance rack
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028552922

[calimary]

27. WOW that's a good read. Thanks for posting it, OKIsItJustMe!

Really makes a lot of sense, considering what's going on right now.

[DonViejo]

28. Locking...

This is opinion and analysis.

From the SOP of the LBN Forum (emphasis added):

Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.