I presume yes.

Trump’s US and Putin’s Russia are natural ideological allies - both oligarchic and autocratic kleptocracies dominated by quasi-religious moralism and repression, militaristic imperialism and white supremacism and both warped and corrupted to the benefit of the wealthiest few.

Western Europe, with a greater (if still less than optimum) focus on egalitarianism, social welfare, equality of justice, international cooperation and respect for the law, is the natural ideological enemy of both.

So yes - I believe the long term goal is for a US/Russia alliance to go to war against and devastate western Europe, to destroy the EU and NATO and essentially bring Europe into the fold, to build a globe-encircling empire of corruption, oppression and malfeasance -a modern-day feudal system with the wealthy few (individuals and corporations) as the new nobility and the people - American, Russian and European alike - reduced to the status of serfs.

Huh.

What I get from this is that you’re so determined to counter my “thesis” that you’ve stooped all the way to broadly hinting that I’m mentally ill, and I have to wonder why - what it is that compels you to respond to a broad statement about a nebulous group of people with a specific, demeaning and wholly unsupported broadside aimed at a single individual you don’t even know.

No matter though - I stand by my “thesis” such as it is - extroverts are for all intents and purposes emotional vampires - and I not only don’t think your objections are convincing - I don’t even think they’re particularly relevant.

The concept is that people in their day-to-day lives, and particularly when dealing with stressful situations, find themselves emotionally drained and have to “recharge.”

The exact distinction between introverts and extroverts is that introverts “recharge” by being alone, while extroverts “recharge” by being around other people.

Or more precisely, introverts not only don’t get their emotional energy from others but can’t get it with others around, while extroverts not only do get their emotional energy from others but can’t get it when they’re alone.

And what that means is that introverts gain emotional energy by manufacturing and stockpiling it, while extroverts gain emotional energy by draining it from others.

Or more simply, that extroverts are vampires and introverts are their cattle.

Which is exactly what extroverts are, essentially by definition.

It goes even beyond that.

Extroverts are for all intents and purposes vampires.

They aren’t “rescuing” you. They’re capturing you, so they can feed on you.

If Musk bought Planned Parenthood, he’d declare its new missions to be forced sterilization for undesirable races and forced pregnancies for pretty white teenagers (preferably with him as the father).

Then when people were unsurprisingly (at least to anyone with a working moral compass) offended by that and started boycotting companies that sponsored him, he’d cry and call it a conspiracy.

Then his mom or his dad or Trump would tell us to stop picking on him.

Shh!

Don’t let the Republicans know that their cynical attempt to further depress voter turnout is going to disproportionately affect their own supporters!

Yes.

And even beyond that - hierarchical systems effectively reward and thus select for psychopathy.

People with morals, ethics, integrity and/or empathy will refrain from making choices that would conflict with their principles, while people without any of those things are free to pursue any course of action that will benefit them, with no concern for anything else.

So all other things being more or less equal, psychopaths actually have a competitive advantage in hierarchical systems.

And it shows.

If the world was a just place, it would cost them their lives, since by cutting the sole source of healthcare funding for many of the poorest Americans, they’re effectively committing mass murder, so should be tried, and if convicted, sentenced just as any other mass murderers would be.

Or better yet, if they were just minimally decent human beings, they wouldn’t condemn poor people to avoidable sickness and death in the first place.

Behind closed doors, the consensus has been that other countries don’t want to get dragged into the current war in accordance with NATO mutual defense agreements.

But since Trump insists that he can end the war, that’s obviously not a consideration for him - by his claims, there will be nothing more standing in the way of Ukraine membership in NATO.

Which makes this announcement that much more significant - essentially what he’s saying is that even after the main obstacle to Ukraine membership has been eliminated, the US will oppose it.

Why?

Because… no, Trump is not Putin’s puppet. He’s something even worse - a cringing sycophant, desperate for affirmation from his strongman idol.

That’s what Daddy Putin wants, so that’s what Daddy Putin gets.

So… Trump voters?

I think they’re analogous to people who would stand and watch a stoning, then congratulate themselves on not having thrown any rocks themselves.

Broadly, this is just the sort of thing that can be expected when we allow positions of power to be held by people who are mentally ill.