89
Trump ignites trade war against all, slaps 20% tariff on EU, 10% on Ukraine
(kyivindependent.com)
Flapping your arms and gums about WHAT he's done is less important to think about than WHY has he done this. It's ridiculous and irrational on it's face.
But - it makes perfect sense if you start from a place that this is a colossal distraction. But why? Well - ultimately, if you accept that Trump works for Putin, then consider that the Russians are unable to defeat Ukraine right now on the battlefield, given the support that they continue to get from Europe. Putin and Trump have collaborated to remove US support - mission accomplished. But - they don't have direct leverage over Europe to try and erode European support for ukraine as well. So - if you're starting from a place that you wanted Russia to win and that's the ONLY thing you care about...what would you do? How can you erode Europe's ability to support Ukraine?
Initiate a devastating global recession to destroy governments' ability to focus on supporting Ukraine, and hope that they crawl back to supporting their own economies.
That's the answer. This is ALL happening
a) because Russia is starting to lose, and will lose very bigly and very quickly...soon b) Trump is 80 years old, and his window of being able to help Putin is closing with every Big Mac and Diet Coke he eats c) Putin himself is in advanced age and probably declining health d) Russia's equipment reserves are passing replacement rate levels, which leads to a MAJOR degradation in their offensive potential. Things don't get a little worse - they're getting EXPONENTIALLY worse e) Since they can't directly stop European aid, they are trying to do it indirectly by initiating a global recession and trade war.
Just opinions, you're under no obligation to agree. But - what else makes sense? The only other thing I could reasonably accept if it wasn't 100% that Trump works for Russia, is that somehow along the tarriffs chain, that he is skimming a percentage, like a classic Mafia casino scam. He may well be doing that as well as aiding Russia. But he's certainly not doing all of this - and excluding Russia, Belarus and Hungary from tarriffs - for no particular reason at all. The reasons are fairly damn obvious.