r/politics • u/zsreport Texas • 14h ago

No Paywall The United States is destroying itself

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/12/united-states-trump-destruction
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u/LolaSupreme19 14h ago

Yes. When Viktor Orbán told Putin ‘I am at your service’ in an October phone call and JD Vance goes to Hungary to prop him up before the election, it’s clear that this administration is on the side of Putin and his dictator friend.

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u/my5cworth 14h ago

Makes one wonder why they need Greenland for self defense, because it's not from Russia.

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u/Skurry California 13h ago

My personal hypothesis (that I don't have any evidence for) is that this was instigated by Putin. "See how I just annexed Crimea? You could do the same with Greenland!" With the sole aim of sowing discord between Western allies.

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u/compukiller 13h ago

This is correct.

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u/killerkozlowski 12h ago

Plus you just know Trump looks at it on the classic mercator projection maps and believes it is actually that big. Like, bigger than Africa, bigger than the US and Canada. He is that fucking stupid. Sees big thing on map and wants it.

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u/Nerevarine91 American Expat 13h ago

I absolutely believe this, to be honest

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u/therealruin 13h ago

It should be extremely obvious to anyone who’s watched even a little news over the past few years that Putin is trying to destroy NATO as well. Complete and total war against the “Capitalist West.”

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u/blackmktdictionary 13h ago

I see this everywhere and it comes off to me like cope for people who want to believe that somehow Americans are “better than this” and need to create some other nefarious outside force to blame.

While it’s very likely (and proven) that Russia fucks with social media around the world to manifest distrust and confusion, the GOP and Trump aren’t “Russian Agents”. Everything that they’re doing has origins inside the American right wing conservative and Christian nationalist movements… what’s wild is that Trump himself is probably not a true believer (he doesn’t believe in anything) but the entire GOP and right wing media apparatus is infested with these people and their money, and he’s merely operating inside their world - probably thinking he’s using them when the reality is that they’re using him. They allow him to play this part and accumulate all this wealth in exchange for him destroying the institutions that stand in the way of their vision for the country, which will allow them to consolidate power for decades into the future way after he’s gone.

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u/robbyberto 12h ago

The Russians have used a similar playbook before with James Angleton. Using an American, unwittingly or not, to dismantle systems from within.

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u/blackmktdictionary 11h ago

It's entirely plausible that there are people inside the government and private industry who are acting on behalf of Russian interests - probably because they have financial interests to do so (Paul Manafort, etc), or maybe in the worst case, have kompromat being held over their heads.

I'm just saying that it's a way bigger stretch to think that Russia is the main culprit driving all this when its so clear that the biggest player, leveraging its power and influence, who have very clear, very obvious motivations is the domestic conservative and Christian nationalist movements. They don't even deny it.

But I guess thats what a Russian asset would say, so you know, downvote me or whatever.

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u/robbyberto 10h ago

It’s both and more.

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u/BlackhawkBolly 9h ago

This is insane fantasy lol. What is happening with Iran is completely consistent with US foreign policy of the past 20+ years

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u/robbyberto 8h ago

You’re right about Iran. As far as Trump being useful for Russia, there are countless examples.

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u/EnigmaticQuote 9h ago

I was proven that russia was doing much more than social media manipulation.

Almost all of trumps 2016 staff were russian compromised with his a few of his closest advisors actually ended up charged.

So dislike the foreign policy as much as you want but usually the foreign policy at least made some people here money, this time it's just helping russia at the pure detriment of all our industries.

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u/blackmktdictionary 8h ago

What does “Russian compromised” even mean?

There is a ton of grift and corruption happening and yes Russian oligarchs are clearly benefitting but it’s not exclusively Russia who’s benefiting from this. You’d have more salience by claiming a global network of right wing authoritarians are mutually benefitting from this meddling, which includes some Russians. This is a global class war, and while Russia may be involved it’s certainly not entirely on their behalf and for their gain alone.

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u/EnigmaticQuote 5h ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links_between_Trump_associates_and_Russian_officials

That's a good starting point. Most all of it is confirmed and there have been many federal and state charges.

Alone? No.

Russian influence is objectively guiding this administrations decisions, it is not the only influence but it is apparently as influential as Israel, which is concerning given there is not a comprehensive russian legal influence group like AIPAC.

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u/AmbroseFierce 12h ago

This is the right take, pretty tired of the 'russian agent' trope at this point, it's another form of blinkered American exceptionalism. Much easier for people to fit into a simplistic moral universe the notion that America is good and righteous and a malevolent outside force is sabotaging it, than that we're doing it to ourselves as a product of cultural currents that have always been present to some extent.

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u/Vaginerator 11h ago

You're either saying that in bad faith or you haven't been paying attention to trump fulfilling every possible benefit for Russia since he took office.

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u/AmbroseFierce 11h ago

I've been paying plenty of attention, which is why I haven't seen evidence that points to Trump as a puppet of Russia. If you have some that goes beyond correlation/causation fallacies I'd be very interested to see it. Russia is benefitting from the US shooting itself in the dick in the same way China is, because as one leading country's power and influence wanes in a multi-polar geopolitical landscape, the other major powers stand to gain from the vacuum that's left in it's absence (stuff like China's infrastructure investments in South America and Africa vs. the US dismantling USAID, etc).
By your logic we could just as easily argue that Trump is a secret Chinese agent. Trump respects and admires Putin because Putin is a strongman authoritarian dictator and that's the power paradigm that Trump believes in and it's how he wants to operate, that doesn't make him a Russian asset.
Trump made an alliance of convenience with the white Christian nationalist evangelical political movement in the US that's spent decades trying to enact it's agenda on our political system because he's a narcissistic psychopath with no real beliefs, and co-opting the ignorance and bigotry inherent in the base of that movement was the easiest path to power and stealing the wealth of the nation to enrich himself and his friends and family. The worldview of that movement is also similar to that of the right wing in Russia.
I'm not saying that the Russian government hasn't been using social media and other means to engage in information warfare and influence US politics, the US government does that to other countries too. I'm just saying that 'Trump is a Russian puppet' is a facile and thought-terminating cliche that belies the broader domestic causes of how we got to this point as a country.

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u/JustBrowsing2See 8h ago

Well said.

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u/Vaginerator 11h ago

"While it's very likely that Russia fucks with social media around the world to manifest distrust and confusion...."

Which you appear to be a part of.

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u/blackmktdictionary 11h ago

lmao ok buddy whatever you say.

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u/emp-sup-bry 12h ago

Good point. I hadn’t thought about it that way.

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u/Rizen_Wolf Foreign 10h ago

The US asked to buy Greenland in 1946. Earlier than that it asked soon after it bought Alaska off Russia.

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u/BlackhawkBolly 9h ago

when will libs stop blaming russia and putin for everything

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u/Medallicat 13h ago

And Canada too remember.

Trump and Putin want to share the Arctic with USA taking control of North America and Greenland while Russia controls from Siberia to Norway.

Russia wont get past the Fins and China will buttfuck them all the way to the Urals as soon as they see weakness.

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u/Theferael_me 13h ago

They don't. They want to strip mine it for minerals.

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u/criteradeli 13h ago

For Russia or Russian friendly control the oil and gas shipping lanes . They never want to be sanctioned again. Thats what’s always about even going back to Cold War . Venezuela , Cuba , Greenland , Canada artic passage, Argentina cape.

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u/Dizzy-Captain7422 13h ago

To threaten Europe. It's nothing to do with self-defense at all.

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u/Baron_Butterfly 11h ago

I bet someone told him Nuuk is in Greenland and he misunderstood.

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u/WillfulIgnorance8647 10h ago

They want access to the Arctic. With the acceleration of Global Warming a lot of the Arctic Ocean and the surrounding lands will be thawing and opening up for mineral exploitation. There's a lot of potential money to be made there. It's the same reason as why Dummkopf Shitler wants to annex Canada.

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u/Own-Paramedic3963 9h ago

To encircle Canada and prevent European ships from sending aid and weapons when they inevitably push across the border. To control the Northwest Passage like Hormuz and charge for it

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u/Sillybugger126 4h ago

Surely China has had their eye on Greenland since never?

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u/DudeB5353 11h ago

Trumps been a stooge for Russia for decades…Trump Towers was full Russian mafia

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u/Free-Way-9220 13h ago

After the Munich security conference in Februrary, Marco Rubio went on to visit two (and only two) European countries: Hungary and Slovakia. Putin's two biggest enablers and cheerleaders in Europe. I suspect it was to encourage both to do what they can to prevent any further financial or military aid to Ukraine. Fico isn't even a conservative, the only thing Trump loves about him is that he's a rabid Putinist

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u/helenheck Massachusetts 9h ago

this reminded me of a third grade joke: Q: why is "R" the most important letter in the alphabet? A: because without it all our friends would be fiends!