President Donald Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has laid bare the limits of a full-court press by America’s allies aimed at reshaping Trump’s determination to end Russia’s invasion even if the terms are not to Ukraine’s liking.
Is that what it shows? Another interpretation is that it shows the deep departure between the Administration, in the form of Trump and Vance, from its closest cultural, politcal, and strategic ties, as well as some of the deepest cultural connections the US has, since these were the colonial empires that came together bit by bit to become the US.
It is far more than simply “Trump unable to be swayed”. Its that Trump views everything through the lense of him gaining personally. In a sense, he in his own mind, he is the country.
To quote Le guin: “I forgot what a king is, forgot that the king in his own eyes is Karhide, forgot what patriotism is and that he is, of necessity, the perfect patriot.” In Trumps world view, he is the country. If it doesn’t benefit him personally, its of no benefit to the country. None of these traitors are in it for the good of the nation. It’s always been theft for them: but this world is so damaged, they see the destruction of everything for the enrichment of themselves as the most moral thing. And in a sense they aren’t wrong. When our world only rewards you for being greedy and destructive, what else would you believe was the highest good?
Is that what it shows? Another interpretation is that it shows the deep departure between the Administration, in the form of Trump and Vance, from its closest cultural, politcal, and strategic ties, as well as some of the deepest cultural connections the US has, since these were the colonial empires that came together bit by bit to become the US.
It is far more than simply “Trump unable to be swayed”. Its that Trump views everything through the lense of him gaining personally. In a sense, he in his own mind, he is the country.
To quote Le guin: “I forgot what a king is, forgot that the king in his own eyes is Karhide, forgot what patriotism is and that he is, of necessity, the perfect patriot.” In Trumps world view, he is the country. If it doesn’t benefit him personally, its of no benefit to the country. None of these traitors are in it for the good of the nation. It’s always been theft for them: but this world is so damaged, they see the destruction of everything for the enrichment of themselves as the most moral thing. And in a sense they aren’t wrong. When our world only rewards you for being greedy and destructive, what else would you believe was the highest good?
Exactly this. The headline is doing a lot of work covering what’s actually going on