Why the surprise? The U.S. elected a semi-dictatorial, aspiring strongman figure. Maybe this happened because, for so many years, the ‘good guys’ showed weakness. Just the other day I saw Obama lamenting that he regrets not being supportive enough of the Iranian people, or something along those lines. Then there was Biden’s outrageous retreat from Afghanistan. The drop-by-drop support for Ukraine, and so on. I’m speaking from a global perspective.
Like it or not, the U.S. was the real
Pax Americana—the world’s policeman. Under the Democrats, that policeman became more restrained; now, under a MAGA loon, the policeman is going bonkers.
Sure, Trump isn’t fighting for the oppressed people of Venezuela—that’s obvious. No loud slogans about democracy or values, just doing business the way big bad boys do. We’re living in the jungle now. Welcome.
So yes, part of me fully realizes that what Trump did is not how things should be done.
But another part of me agrees that Maduro is a motherfucker and that he got what he deserved. Also, we may be deceived yet again—there’s a chance that this turns out very differently:
In that case, it would be even more outrageous. Trump would have scored bonus points on TV for his electorate, then quietly released Maduro somewhere with "a bit" of money, out of sight. That said, the U.S. Secretary of State has already stated that Maduro will face justice for his crimes. So we’ll see whether he was actually captured for real, or whether this was just a show to gain points.
Watching all of this, part of me thinks:
where there’s a will, there’s a way. And that means it’s pretty clear that if the U.S.—even under Biden—had truly wanted to decapitate russia, it could have been done. That’s a fact. But no, there was no will—neither under Obama/Biden nor under Trump. Just interests and business.
So after everything I’ve posted, let me be clear: I don’t support Trump. I live in a still-democratic country, I support democracy, and I understand that Trump is opening Pandora’s box. I’m just running through different thoughts from different angles. As I said, we live in the jungle now, and the standards of politics have shifted—for the worse.
I’m also pretty sure that putin and his cronies (and Iran’s leaders as well) are shitting their pants, because they see how easily they
could be taken out in a matter of seconds. But Trump is a businessman, and he admires putin—remember how he talked about instantly spotting an ‘alpha male’ when he saw that photo of Putin shirtless on a horse. Huh.
I just hope Europe’s leaders finally rearm for real and stop merely imitating it. The era of soft policemen is clearly over.
