No need to blame yourself too much for
#TrumpPutin.
#SovietPostSoviet #RussianPower has been working in political mafia manner with
#DJT a long time. As an antagonist,
#Moscow has long studied and probed the
#UnitedStates for its cultural and political weaknesses, so our political lines of fracture have been well known for decades. Associated
#RussianActiveMeasures and
#RussianDestabilizationAndInfluenceOperations have also been at play beneath much of the news surface, e.g.,
conflict-backchannels.com/20…. To his credit,
#DonaldTrump followed
#Obama's lead (
cbsnews.com/news/35-russian-…) in expelling Russian spies under diplomatic cover, known agents (e.g.,
cnn.com/2018/03/26/politics/…).
There remains opportunity for
#DonaldTrump to renounce his evident cooperation with
#VladimirPutin (return to the
#HelsinkiMoment--
youtu.be/2-Xw0_2eMJg?si=_xBo…) but I believe neither "leader" capable of accepting defeat in shame or humiliation. Their
#MalignantNarcissism shapes their own delusional realms that each would sustain with absolute power with the cooperation of cronies and sycophants. Putin has achieved as much; the same with Trump has produced a challenge for
#Americans--all of us who are
#AmericanCitizens--to defend
#AmericanDemocracy against the emotional fantasies and needs of a narcissistic authoritarian personality (see
#SamVaknin's video on today's wall). Right along with "fair and free"
#AmericanElections and the "peaceful transfer of power long known to our
#AmericanDemocracy, there has been also an accompanying respect for former rivalries and their interests. "Majority rule" by no means endorses the "tyranny of a majority". We just try to listen to one another with greater compassion, insight, and American wisdom as we get on down the road.
My advice to
#Donald: take for advisors, cabinet selections, and appointees the truly best, most experienced, and qualified of
#Americans true to our
#AmericanConstitution and the ethics, principles, traditions, and values that define our national American character and experience. He so far appears to want what Putin has, i.e., a private and criminal system of patronage that has earned for itself the banner
#RussianMafiaState. Any who may be close to him should ask him if that is what he wants, i.e., an
#AmericanMafiaState.