Paul Krugman: Pathetic in Ankara. Who's afraid of the big bad Trump?

[highplainsdem]

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/pathetic-in-ankara

-snip-

First, there is the debacle in Iran. Not only did Trump’s war of choice fail in all its objectives, it revealed that U.S. military power is far more limited than almost anyone realized. The insistence by Trump and his lackeys that this humiliating defeat was a great victory shows that American foreign policy only serves to pander to Trump’s fragile ego. And when his ego meets reality, it slithers away.

-snip-

A second, in its way equally important, blow to U.S. prestige and influence has been Trump’s failure to deliver Ukraine to Vladimir Putin.

-snip-

Yet after Trump cut U.S. aid to Ukraine by 99 percent, Ukraine not only survived but began gaining the upper hand. Europe has stepped up financially, more or less replacing the lost American dollars. And Ukrainian military innovation has largely made up for the loss of American weapons.

-snip-

Finally, Trump’s global power play rested on economics even more than on military force, above all on his belief that other nations would cower in fear at the prospect of facing U.S. tariffs. But Trump’s attempt to weaponize international trade has been a bust. Most notably, China’s economy has powered right through the Trump tariffs. Furthermore, it turns out that China has escalation dominance in the trade war: we need their rare earths more than they need access to our consumers.

-snip-

[rampartd]

1. right now they are only making slavery great and evolution unlikely

soon they will find things to steal privatize.

[Pesky1]

8. Right you are

Whenever you see the term "privatize", it actually means " profitize.

[msongs]

2. dealing with him is easy, jest tell him to eff off and walk away. bullies depend on compliance nt

[dave99]

3. maye chuck a few pieces of lead

[Nasruddin]

4. Answer: Every Republican, and any Americans with a functioning brain

[slightlv]

5. I think the world took notice that the two "great, indominatible armies" ended up

being paper tigers... and I'm not demeaning our service men and women. I AM demeaning their CO's from on high. You have to have intelligent, understanding, capable people in places on high who understand things like history, tactics, logistics, etc. These things are not learned overnight. For the best results, they take a lifetime of study and experience. And this administration stripped everyone who came close to these skills from their ranks. We've got the dregs leading OUR military members. A good many of service members were also ousted on bogus or trumped up reasons... religion, gender, DEI, or "not the cult of the day" as I call it. Some were not willing to break their oaths to the Constitution and sign an oath to trump, in essence. To these men and women, I salute them. Bush Jr had already done a number on our ranks, but stripping the number of morality waivers to where it almost didn't matter anymore what you'd been arrested and/or convicted of. If you could shoot a gun and had no moral compulsion against killing, they'd grant you a waiver at one point. That was at the same point where pallets of money were disappearing in and out of country. I'm a vietnam era veteran, and I've been heartsick ever sick Bush had to work out his daddy-issues the way he did. I'm sure the people of Russia feel the same way about their soldier sons/daughters, too.

[JohnnyRingo]

6. Well that's depressing.

Will the country I grew old in ever recover? Sometimes I wonder.

[Martin Eden]

7. Lots of spot-on observations by Krugman

Like this one, early on:

Their willingness to de-Americanize partly reflects recognition that reconciliation is hopeless: Trump is who he is, and a nation that elected him twice simply can’t be trusted.

[yellow dahlia]

9. When Paul Krugman speaks - I listen.