The video is a fairly charitable take on the pivoteer faction of the Trump administration, the likes of Elbridge Colby. And they have had some significant wins, particularly the proposed budget. It is very consistent with the goal of fighting (or deterring) China, and fighting them soon.
Though there are severe problems with the acumen, efficacy and internal consistency of the goals and methods, and not least consistency with the rest of the administration. Calling it "The Trump Doctrine" highlights the largest problem. Trump is not on board, and while naming flattery is cheap and possibly effective, clearly he has other interests and whims directly detrimental to this "Trump Doctrine". The tariff war is a good example, weakening rather than strengthening this strategy.
It is also an effective screen for pro-Russian forces within the Trump administration, some that seem even more adverse than Trump himself. In the process crippling the pivoteer goals.
There are all these analogs around what kind of totalitarian regime Trump is aiming for, like Orbán's Hungary, Putin's Russia, Xi's China, or historically eras like Italy's fascism, the Third Reich, Stalin's Soviet Union. Right now most of all it is reminiscent of Mao's China in the 1950s.
Of course it's none of these really. Society is different in the information age. But it shares the shambolic governance, corruption, and capriciousness with the early phases of all of these. Overt loyalty to the ruler is the most important attribute, both among henchmen and media. Those with anything to lose fear crossing him, and the rule of law is unable to react effectively.
I think this takeover will fail. His cult is intensely loyal to him, but the rest of the Americans aren't, the oligarchs are now less keen on him, and he doesn't have the siloviki of Russia to put them in their place. If it doesn't those who succeed him will be less shambolic.
The checks and balances don't work if they don't check and balance the executive. The US is not a soviet state yet, but it is well on its way, and that in less than three months.
Putin is in a weak position, but Trump has been his biggest gift in the war so far, and the Mar-a-lago administration is agog to become a part of the Moscow empire. Were Trump to turn, he has the capability to undo the very same empire. It is a much greater win for the US and for Trump himself supporting Ukraine than trying to please the Putin mafia. But Trump is besotten. That is what the Ukrainians are hoping and aiming for, that his unrequited love for Putin will turn to hate.
Why would anyone want to travel to the US these days? We've cancelled all plans to go there for the foreseeable future. Maybe to Canada or Mexico, and I've just returned from China.
You could start by reading de Tocqueville... But your worship of bureaucracy has long been obvious, and un-shakable: You would, no doubt, invoke the "only following orders" defense for any crime! But -to play your game: Didn't the bureaucracy under Woodrow Wilson revive the Klu Klux Klan? (After un-desegregating...) Was that one of the "achievements" you refer to?
Good governance is the fundament on which all improvements are built. That includes the rule of law, and the rules of law, like the US Constitution, which was ahead of its time. Or the free markets, who cannot be free unless there is governance.
Now that is a bit of an imposition, as bureaucracy is usually limited to those who actually maintain and suggest improvements to those rules and workings, not those who put the rules into law, in a democracy the politicians. Then again you included police among the bureaucracy, which is another imposition.
A good bureaucracy is not a big bureaucracy, governs best who governs least and all that. And it must continuously be challenged, checked, and improved. It cannot be a world unto itself. Impartiality is a difficult requirement. Especially as a bureaucracy must be forward-looking to coming challenges.
US bureaucracy used to be pretty dynamic, except where it was designed not to be. Unfortunately for the US, there has been a growing desire among the politicians that it shouldn't be. And lately making it so unattractive to be a bureaucrat that any clever or skilled person would seek employment elsewhere. And the consequence of a bad bureaucracy is bad policy decisions poorly implemented. That will last long after Trump.
Usually, when faced with evil, it is preferable that evil is stupid as well.
However, in this case the stupidity and incompetence of the Trump administration isn't helping, as the US is by now a Russian vassal state. That shifts responsibility toward the centre of power, and the Kremlin is combining evil, stupidity and brutality.
The way in which the United States has diminished its power over the past month is something I didn't think was even possible, at least not without severely losing a war or simply gradually over the course of many years.
It is stunning, as is the fear of upsetting him, both in Congress and in the Fourth Estate. They are well aware of the harm he does, but are too scared to stand up for their country if that could affect their primary process or profit margin.
It is unknown if he is actually a Russian deep agent, so by Occam we must assume he is not. But it is pretty irrelevant either way, as long as his actions are indistinguishable from what an agent in this position would do.
How do you explain how a Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua came to middle-America during the Biden administration? Of course, you don't care... You'd cast them as poor migrants, and denigrate anyone who thinks they should be denied entry to my country. Would you have them in yours? (Do you even have a country, or is that a too unenlightened allegiance for you?)
Criminal gangs are a matter for the police, and of course organised crime is a serious problem. They may or may not be poor migrants, but that is fairly irrelevant to their criminal activities, and if they were they would more likely than not harm other poor migrants. Crime, migration is not primarily the issue for the head of state, there are other institutions who have the major role.
A more serious threat are the well-resourced criminals. The very same Trump wants to invite to the US. He's not the first to add this side hustle. Malta did the same (and got a lot of dark money flowing in this way, with significant impact), as did Britain. That's why to this day we talk about Londongrad. The mix of crime, money and government that is the Trump (and Putin) model.
Ms Kearns wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “It is wrong for the US to in any way pressure Romania, who at this time will be anxious about what any Ukraine “deal” means for their security, to release Tate. Tate was not arbitrarily detained…. we have an extradition treaty with the US. Starmer must make clear to Trump today that the Tate brothers have charges to face in Romania and UK.”
Any rapist, child molester and murderer is prime material for today's Republican party. They have no morals, and they have no shame, and any crime they are going to commit will go unpunished in Trump's America.
At 5:55 "This is Donald Trump's Churchill moment." Way too diplomatically put. This is more like Donald Trump's Chamberlain moment, except Chamberlain was arguably excusable because Chamberlain was duped. Trump has been bought and paid for. Hell yes, it's Trump's Quisling moment.
In a manner of speaking. Chamberlain talked peace, but prepared for war. However the reprieve Britain and France got from the Munich Agreement was short-lived and didn't amount to much, and greatly favoured Nazi Germany (and obviously disfavoured Czechoslovakia and later Poland).
Quisling is indeed a more appropriate analogy, as this weakens both the US and the West, and simultaneously strengthen the Russian invaders. Trump's is not just a betrayal of the Czechoslovaks, like Chamberlain, but a betrayal of his own country, like Quisling.
The bureaucrats were what made the US great. All the achievements in US history from the Declaration of Independence onwards was done through superior bureaucracy. Without it the US will become just another banana republic, just a banana-challenged one.
We're better prepared this time around. And Europe has never lost a trade war with the US.
Everyone will suffer, but red state (and probably blue state) Americans will suffer more than anyone else, except probably Canada and Mexico. They will learn from that. More so than after Trump 1.0, countries will favour trade deals that exclude the USA for security reasons.
I must repeat, all airports in the Netherlands and probably in Belgium[1] are perfectly walkable. The reason you generally don't is because most people don't want to walk 15 km — or at least they don't want to take 3 hours doing it, whether they'd like to otherwise may be more variable. People who work at the airport who live nearby very well might, though I imagine most of those would come by bike.
Been to a few airports where the city is in comfortable walking distance (less than 30 minutes), and walkable. Bodø airport in Norway for instance. And more where it is in uncomfortable walking distance (say less than 90 minutes). Usually small towns or very small towns, but sometimes also megacities.
1 I don't trust that to be true in Wallonia but then again it is 2025.↵
Now there's a religious president if there ever was one, the kind that Americans claim to have wanted.
US presidents seem to have been authentically Christians, not just posing to get elected, for at least a couple generations. Biden is unusual in being a Catholic. Even LBJ seems to have been fairly religious in a kind of default way. Carter is probably the most Christian one, if we were to rank them somehow.
Trump is a trend-breaker here too as the first non-Christian president for a long while. There will be more in the future, but not in the near future. A likely future president like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be fairly radical in politics, but still identify as a Catholic. Same goes for the other candidates in both parties. That makes coming presidents and candidates increasingly at odds with the electorate.
