[loudmax]

That is ascribing far too much strategic thinking to this administration. They're just not capable of the kind of planning and foresight that would require.

The administration's planning is much more along the lines of, Will this look cool when they announce it on Fox News tomorrow? If you think there's much beyond that, you're ascribing strategic clarity where there isn't any. They're continue to flail around and TACO until they have a result they can present to MAGA loyalists as a success, regardless of actual merits.

It's not a question of ethics. It's a question of competence.

[Eric_WVGG]

I mostly agree with you, but I do think they’re highly skilled at taking advantage of whatever messes they cause. “Chaos is a ladder” might as well be the theme of this decade.

[jmull]

It's not the administration doing the strategic thinking. The administration is entirely reactive and straightforward to manipulate -- if you have money.

The people with strategic goals just send money and compliments and the administration does what they want.

[ashgf1]

I would not underestimate the figures in the background. Trump and Hegseth are clowns of course, but they don't make policies.

The energy dominance model was already floated by Trump in his first term. He was the most vocal critic of Nordstream long before the Ukraine war. Biden couldn't push so aggressively because of the green agenda but dutifully shut down Nordstream and made the EU dependent on US LNG.

Now with the oil barons in power, there are no green agenda limitations and the long term plan (which is 100% not from Trump himself) can accelerate.

Look how they already make the EU and Japan rearm with all these levers (they should rearm, but for the purposes of keeping waterways free from whomever blocks them ...).