“Being a jerk” is telling a guy his wife is ugly or telling your neighbor her garden looks like shit and she should stop singing in the shower with the window open because she sounds like a dying walrus and looks like one, too. The way the current American president is treating Ukraine goes far beyond “being a jerk”…
No, what he is doing is signalling to American allies: “We don’t have your back, our support is strictly conditional and we can withhold it at any moment we choose…”
He did the same thing with Taiwan a few days ago — declining to tell whether or not he would come to Taiwan’s aid in case of a Chinese invasion and that he has “a very good relationship with Xi Jinping”.1]
Now in recent months, China has been holding a ton of military drills. The scenario is always the same — an invasion by sea, of an island. People often forget this, but Trump was VERY pro-Taiwan around his first term in office. The Taiwanese president was among the first he ever called in office, and he was a great supporter ofthe island China considers a renegade province despite not having had control over it since 1898… now the world is dealing with Trump 2.0 and Trump 2.0 doesn’t signal strength, he signals indecisiveness and weakness on the world stage, throws tantrums like a petulant child and alianates historical democratic allies and replaces them with despotic ones because they’re the sort of people he relates to most and he doesn’t really care who gets invaded or conquered, as long as he’ll get a return on his investments and his vassals pay him lip service.
The new America isn’t an America that cares to keep it’s word, or stand by it’s allies. Not an America that wants to fight wars, or even involve itself in them. Like a mighty ailing empire, it demands the vassal kings of “lesser nations” like Ukraine to pay tribute to the Emperor… and in exchange, the Emperor may let you live. The Emperor prefers to deal with other Emperors, like Xi and Putin. The lowly vassals it cares little for.
Footnotes
[1] Trump declines to commit to Taiwan's defense if China invades - Focus Taiwan
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