World View
by tristero
Trump's world view: He wants to align himself with the "winners" in a brutal, vicious world (by "himself" meaning not America, but himself, his family, and his fawning courtiers). The winners will be China and other authoritarian regimes. Especially Russia. The losers are all the weaklings of G-7, NATO and other democracies.
In such a world view, who cares what these losers think? They'll scramble to take our scraps and be grateful. In such a world view, it's important to put the losers in their place. Lie to their faces, dis their meetings, show how easy it is to embarrass them, keep the attention on me. It both gets them used to groveling and sends a clear signal to the winners: I'm with you guys.
There's a major problem with this world view. The world is a far more complicated place. But never mind. Trump is hellbent on aligning the US with other totalitarian states. As the first among equals. And that means he must turn America into an unabashedly overt totalitarian state. No more pussy-footing around. Torture? You bet we torture, we're proud of it, and better watch out, or you're next.
As for you losers? Germany? France? Canada? What are you gonna do when I break your stupid trade treaties? Cry? Oh, boo hoo hoo. Seriously, why am I wasting my precious time? Let's talk to the real men and make real deals. Like with Russia. Like with China. There's the real game.
And as much as we don't like it, this will be the future company America will find itself aligned with: fellow dictatorships, allied to openly exploit the resources of the losers.
In short, the world is not going back to November 7, 2016. Ever. When Trump's gone, not a single traditional ally will trust us. Why would they when the forces that elected Trump could re-emerge at any time and derail everything? Or as Krugman put it, "even if Trump eventually departs the scene in disgrace, the fact that someone like him could come to power in the first place will always be in the back of everyone’s mind."
One more thing: The world is not going back to pre-Trump but the world will not long endure a totalitarian-dominated global order either.
We are in for a long, very difficult time.