To Donald Trump, the entire world is made up of “marks”, gullible or weak individuals or even entire nations ripe for the picking, i.e. exploiting for his benefit. This is an old tactic used by organized crime bosses for centuries. It includes the protection racket. This is where a criminal gang promises “protection” from harm to a person, business, or nation (in Trump’s case) in exchange for an almost impossible and always lopsided sum from the mark. In the case of Ukraine, this (as yet unprovided) protection comes in the way of forcing the sale of rare earth minerals to America and (an unsuccessful) takeover of all their ports, with a huge cut of all profits from goods traveling through those ports. These actions were despicable and are the hallmark of dictators and mob bosses, two titles Trump can easily claim.
Donald Trump has no idea about the concept of diplomacy, international relations, international commerce, strategy (military or otherwise), democracy, human or civil rights, …
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Protecting the Republic to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.