Both. I haven’t been following it as closely as Venezuela, but as far as I see there are at least four things going into it:
Scheming court eunuchs. Neo-Nazis seem to want to carve the world into three spheres of influence between the US, Russia, and China. All of these 1933-1938 wars are trying to assert dominance in the Americas and throw a wrench in the EU/NATO. A united Europe presents some kind of check on American dominance while a fragmented one is just lots of protectorates.
Trump being afraid of death and using this term to slap his name on as many things as possible. The Golden Dome is as much a vanity project as it is scheming Raytheon eunuchs. Trump wants as many monumental projects tied to him as possible. If the Golden Dome is a multinational thing, it’s less likely to be dismantled by the next democrat.
Trump’s cognitive decline. I’ve seen his kind of dementia so many times in nursing homes where the patient is aware enough to stay out of memory care but is starting to lose executive control over the worst version of themselves. He isn’t Brandon but he isn’t the Trump that could keep himself in check to the extent he could in the first term. He’s much more aggressive and demeaning in ways where he doesn’t seem to consider what little optics apply to him. While he has always been a vulgar bully, he isn’t good at things like nicknames or tearing someone apart now. Now his go-to response for any kind of foreign policy is tariff o plomo with a crude disregard for how he comes off doing either.
Eco-fascism. The right-wing can’t ignore climate change anymore, but they can’t endorse the things required to meet the crisis. Instead we get an arms race for the polar regions, a war on refugees, and resource wars for anything that can shore up the empire. As Greenland thaws it’s a rare earth mineral, uranium, and oil hub. A domestic supply of any of those resources without the problems of producing them domestically is energy independence.
Both. I haven’t been following it as closely as Venezuela, but as far as I see there are at least four things going into it:
Scheming court eunuchs. Neo-Nazis seem to want to carve the world into three spheres of influence between the US, Russia, and China. All of these 1933-1938 wars are trying to assert dominance in the Americas and throw a wrench in the EU/NATO. A united Europe presents some kind of check on American dominance while a fragmented one is just lots of protectorates.
Trump being afraid of death and using this term to slap his name on as many things as possible. The Golden Dome is as much a vanity project as it is scheming Raytheon eunuchs. Trump wants as many monumental projects tied to him as possible. If the Golden Dome is a multinational thing, it’s less likely to be dismantled by the next democrat.
Trump’s cognitive decline. I’ve seen his kind of dementia so many times in nursing homes where the patient is aware enough to stay out of memory care but is starting to lose executive control over the worst version of themselves. He isn’t Brandon but he isn’t the Trump that could keep himself in check to the extent he could in the first term. He’s much more aggressive and demeaning in ways where he doesn’t seem to consider what little optics apply to him. While he has always been a vulgar bully, he isn’t good at things like nicknames or tearing someone apart now. Now his go-to response for any kind of foreign policy is tariff o plomo with a crude disregard for how he comes off doing either.
Eco-fascism. The right-wing can’t ignore climate change anymore, but they can’t endorse the things required to meet the crisis. Instead we get an arms race for the polar regions, a war on refugees, and resource wars for anything that can shore up the empire. As Greenland thaws it’s a rare earth mineral, uranium, and oil hub. A domestic supply of any of those resources without the problems of producing them domestically is energy independence.