[NicoJuicy]

You are missing the point.

Because of Trump, US allies have to guard more corners than before. It's a serious problem and I think Trump is actually giving Russia/China an unfair advantage.

He has already destroyed the Asian partnerships against China that Obama started, he also got out of numerous Western partnerships because it wasn't his signature on it.

I would say that the problem is not Europe, it's 100% Trump. Allies won't back him since they can't trust him. Everyone knows he's trying to have as much as personal gain as possible. Even meddling in European affairs,. Eg. Ukraine for the clear sake of money).

Every time Trump suggests to help countries handle their affairs, you know he's going for the "pay Trump, get US military assistance" card, it's nuts.

The Western alliance since WO II can't survive in it's current form if Trump would get another term, they are all waiting till someone sane comes back. If it doesn't happen, it will become a serious problem :(

TLDR; If you wouldn't trust Trump as a business partner, how can other countries trust him. You can't unite/partner with a person like that.

Edit: if down vote. Please share something that Trump seems trustworthy without personal gain. I haven't seen any situation during his entire term, trying to redirect US-money to his pockets.

[paulsutter]

Russia’s economy is smaller than Canada, they’re just not terribly relevant globally.

China on the other hand will eclipse the US significantly both economically and militarily, reshaping the world.

[NicoJuicy]

I didn't say that Russia is relevant. But they do have a "more deep" ( one-sided) partnership with China to influence Western democracy.

They were a lot stronger during the USSR and even then the call for democracy broke it up.

Europe has never been closer to Moscow. Important: Without firing even a single gunshot.

[mamon]

Russian economy is weak, agreed, but militarily they are still the only significant threat to US global dominance. China's military is much weaker in comparison.

[paulsutter]

China is a vastly bigger consideration. If China decides to invade Taiwan the US could lose access to most semiconductors. China’s military is developing rapidly.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-0...

[catalogia]

If Russia were so inclined (I don't think they are and don't see why they would be) they could turn the Island of Taiwan into a pile of gravel on the floor of the China Sea. They have several thousand nuclear warheads with the means to deliver them; more than enough to overwhelm any extant ABM system.

For that reason if for no other, I think an American conflict with China is more likely than a conflict with Russia. China still has hundreds of nukes too, which is hundreds too many, but that's many times less than what Russia has.

To be clear, a direct war between any three of these countries would be a stupid, horrible idea.

[paulsutter]

There no motive for Russia to do that.

This Russia obsession is bizarre

[catalogia]

Yes, I agree.

[redis_mlc]

This is not well-understood by the general public, but Trump's power as a statesman is his unpredictability.

If you don't know what or where he will be next, how do you counter him?

Reagan kept the Soviet Union off balance to the point of dissolving it. He's considered one of America's greatest statesman today, but called a clown by the elites at the time.

The CCP should be concerned about the same fate if they trifle with Trump. They have given every reason for him to isolate that country.

[fxtentacle]

Merkel did an excellent job at countering him. Or at least, she earned a lot of respect with voters and other European politicians for it.

Basically, she was just presenting it as if she's babysitting a naughty kid.

So the way to counter Trump is to make obvious the irrelevance of what he's saying or tweeting at any given moment, because he might change his opinion an hour later.

[NicoJuicy]

> Trump's power as a statesman is his unpredictability.

Please don't mistake unpredictability to untrustworthy, ego-centrism and self gain driven behaviour. The guy clearly lacks any social decency that toddlers even know.

Reagan did this only as a strategy to USSR, but Trump is clearly influenced by self-gain and ego-centric. He is very predictable, if you use that as a variable.

Reagan also supported anti-communism countries and saw the strength in allies. Trump stands alone, every where he goes and doesn't have the brain capacity to lead a country.

I think you haven't been paying attention the last months. The US has never been this divided, Trump resembles a con-man/lunatic a lot more.

Ps. A divided nation is a weak one.

[NicoJuicy]

> My book doesn't come out until later in the summer, but I'm going to tell you now one thing that you'll find in it: all of the reporting indicates that Barr is involved in the dubious funding of the Trump 2020 campaign by foreign sources. This is all a lot worse than you realize.

Didn't surprise me

> Trump's power as a statesman is his unpredictability

As said earlier

> Please don't mistake unpredictability to untrustworthy, ego-centrism and self gain driven behaviour.

[082349872349872]

Trump's power as a statesman is that he doesn't feel the need to ride a horse.

    Starace rode a horse.
    Reagan rode a horse.
    Putin rode a horse.
    Le Pen rode a horse.
    Kim rode a horse.
    Kadyrov rode a horse.
    Johnson sat on a horse.
    Bolsonaro rode a horse.

Do you ever see Trump on a horse? No, that's unpredictability for you. He doesn't need to do what the cool kids do. He's a leader, not a follower.

[NicoJuicy]

Lol.

Trump is the most failed businessman ever, he burned through all of daddy's money.

No sane person ever gave him any credibility after following him. Eg. When he tried to influence the stock market consistently in 1987, they just started ignoring him.

He's just a one-trick pony, trying to do the same thing over and over again on a bigger scale ( he has some experience with it by now).

But the only consistency in his life is his failure.

[LatteLazy]

Trump has been exceptionally predictable. He's unreliable as an ally, he has no plan on any subject, but he'll do anything for a dollar or a flattering headline. That's it. You think Putin is predictable because he did a horse photoshoot? Jesus.

[082349872349872]

Horse sense in 1779: https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.33532/

Equines have not much cortex, but they do prefer their allies reliable.

(the counter argument here would be Animal Farm's Boxer. We'll all discover which model had a better fit, later this year.)

[NicoJuicy]

China is taking the opening that the failed con-man is creating, not because of leadership. But by sheer incompetence.

https://www.economist.com/special-report/2020/06/18/who-runs...

Just one of many examples.

You will indeed see it in November, not long anymore :)

Edit:

> My book doesn't come out until later in the summer, but I'm going to tell you now one thing that you'll find in it: all of the reporting indicates that Barr is involved in the dubious funding of the Trump 2020 campaign by foreign sources. This is all a lot worse than you realize.

Perhaps sooner :)