Underseer
Contributor
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/07/trump-nato-summit/565034/
Trump is following his strategy with relentless efficiency: make America as weak as we were before World War 2. That way, Russia will have less opposition in the world. Whether you believe that Trump is doing this on the orders of Putin, or has just decided on his own to weaken America so that Russia can be more powerful, he is doing it with relentless efficiency that belies his apparent incompetence.
And we can't lay this entirely at the feet of Trump nor Putin.
I think we have to acknowledge the role played by decades of right wing propaganda. All of those international institutions that formed the basis of America's ability to project power during and after the Cold War are all things that the conservatives and libertarians have been complaining about for decades. Wittingly or unwittingly, they've been pushing for policy positions that would harm America and benefit Russia.
It's just that up until now, the Republican establishment held all the power and didn't actually implement the things that right wing propaganda said needed to be done. The propaganda could be used to stir up the Republican base, but (or so the establishment Republicans thought) no one would actually be crazy enough to undermine the very institutions that project American power and create the world order America worked decades to construct.
But Putin outsmarted the Republican establishment, and put a lunatic in the White House who is actually willing to do all the things that FOX News and the rest of the right wing propagandists have been shouting for for decades.
Even if the "blue wave" turns out to be a real thing, and Republicans are swept from power for decades to come, the damage has already been done. America will never be as powerful as we were before Trump came into office. No matter how this turns out, this was a great victory for Mother Russia.
Putin played us all, and the Republican voters helped. A lot.
Trump is following his strategy with relentless efficiency: make America as weak as we were before World War 2. That way, Russia will have less opposition in the world. Whether you believe that Trump is doing this on the orders of Putin, or has just decided on his own to weaken America so that Russia can be more powerful, he is doing it with relentless efficiency that belies his apparent incompetence.
And we can't lay this entirely at the feet of Trump nor Putin.
I think we have to acknowledge the role played by decades of right wing propaganda. All of those international institutions that formed the basis of America's ability to project power during and after the Cold War are all things that the conservatives and libertarians have been complaining about for decades. Wittingly or unwittingly, they've been pushing for policy positions that would harm America and benefit Russia.
It's just that up until now, the Republican establishment held all the power and didn't actually implement the things that right wing propaganda said needed to be done. The propaganda could be used to stir up the Republican base, but (or so the establishment Republicans thought) no one would actually be crazy enough to undermine the very institutions that project American power and create the world order America worked decades to construct.
But Putin outsmarted the Republican establishment, and put a lunatic in the White House who is actually willing to do all the things that FOX News and the rest of the right wing propagandists have been shouting for for decades.
Even if the "blue wave" turns out to be a real thing, and Republicans are swept from power for decades to come, the damage has already been done. America will never be as powerful as we were before Trump came into office. No matter how this turns out, this was a great victory for Mother Russia.
Putin played us all, and the Republican voters helped. A lot.