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What goes into USA allies' calculations?

Ms. Applebaum makes a point about allies not helping Trump out with the Strait of Hormuz because they can calculate that he won't remember they helped next week if they did, and she's probably right.

But what she doesnt say and what I find really disturbing is that they may also be factoring in the cost of aiding and abetting Trump in terms of the continued damage he can rain on everyone, including their countries, Iran and the US itself.

Is it "treasonous" to wonder/hope about allies factoring internal US politics into their calculations?

Maybe, but this patriotic bs about wishing the President success really falls apart when it's so obvious that he's not all that interested in doing a good job for the country as much as for himself.

Ironically, that's one part about America First I'm hoping foreign leaders get. They can't trust or rely on the US with its present leadership at all.

https://open.substack.com/pub/anneapplebaum/p/trump-doesnt-remember-what-hes-done?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=316prm
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ArishMell · 70-79, M
It's not "treasonous" to anyone, by anyone.

You can commit treason only to your own nation, not others.

The factoring you define in your second paragraph is no less than what other governments should be, and presumably are, doing. They would not worry about the USA's internal politics though. They leave those to the Americans themselves to decide. Instead they are concerned with President Trump's international actions and statements.

Whether President Trump really is so forgetful, I cannot say, but he is likely seen world-wide as very inconsistent, illogical, ignorant, uncomprehending, undiplomatic and unreliable; a president who imagines he can order other countries about, grab their lands or leaders, and insult or even threaten them, even fellow-Americans, who stand up to him.


He latest, an ultimatum that if Iran does not stop attacking ships in the Persian Gulf he will order the US Military to destroy Iran's oil and gas plants, is utterly irresponsible. Iran replied as anyone could see they would: they would answer in kind. Ironically Trump has only just asked Israel not to attack Iran's oil industry. Perhaps he has forgotten that.

Mr. Trump is "Commander-in-Chief" of the USA's entire military; but "Mr." is a civilian politeness, he is a civilian politician, the C-in-C title is purely honorary and he has no military experience. I wonder what he would if the Pentagon turns round and tells him flat, "We are not going to be so stupid as to attack Iran's petroleum installation, Mr. President!".


He is a very dangerous man, as much a hazard to the world as much as, although in different ways, the Presidents of the Russian Federation, China and North Korea, the Prime Minister of Israel and the Supreme Leader of Iran. The main difference between Donald Trump and those others, except perhaps Benjamin Netanyahu, is that they understand very well what they are doing, and in consistent, carefully planned ways.



He does not even broadcast his comments and demands via Congress or any proper channels, but via his own social[?]-media site. Trump showed himself up again only yesterday, by celebrating a former FBI officer's death. No thought for the family. A genuine statesman would have expressed bland condolences or kept a decent silence.

That site's title is Truth... Curiously, the same, translated, as Russia's governrnment-run daily newspaper, Pravda.