But we just gave a bunch of money/arms to israel, which counters the idea that the current regime is non-interventionist.

Alternate interpretation, Russia has been giving Trump money for a long time, ergo Trump supports Russia and everyone around him who has seen his rise as an opportunity to gain power goes along with it, even if 18 months ago they were on the record repeatedly making seemingly heartfelt statements exactly to the contrary. Whatever other explanations they give are rationalizations after the fact.

I remember when I was much younger many evangelical Christians absolutely losing their mind over the Lewinsky scandal, and both in public and private going on and on for years about what a disgrace it was that a man who would break his marriage vows was leading the country and that God was going to punish the nation for it, using the most hyperbolic language you can imagine. Now turns out they are supporting this guy for whom marriage is a joke and I guess infidelity is no longer a big deal, having the highest support of any demographic. Literally every single individual I knew who spoke out about this during the 90s is now a MAGA.

There are no principles at play at all, only a lust for power, a desire to enrich themselves, and most of all unquenchable egos that they now, with most of these people nearing the ends of their lives and having little else to lose, are willing to make enormous sacrifices to stoke.

The current administration aren't really isolationists. Hell, they've threatened buying/invading Greenland and the Panama Canal.

They're opportunists, protectionists, and authoritarians. I mean, Trump himself has praised Xi for ruling with an iron fist, and extending tenure 'for life', remarking he'd like to do the same. Musk would pretend to support democratic views if they were the dominant view of the current administration, or somehow thought it would benefit him. But like I said, they're opportunists - people who exploit current circumstances to gain immediate advantage rather than being guided by consistent principles or plans. They're not really isolationists...

So we should expect the US to cancel aid to Israel?

The 911 trauma is alive and well. They really did bring down the USA.

> Neoconservatives were hawkish members of the old Anti-USSR Left who were disillusioned by the Post Vietnam Democratic Party and travelled away from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

This is the same talking point parroted by another prominent right-wing commentator here, that implies that some neocons were... so far right that they were actually left?

> Supported by former Democratic intellectuals like Glenn Greenwald.

Glenn Greenwald is not and has never been a Democrat or member of the party or anything resembling that.

Elon Musk was a "Democrat" in the sense that as long as Democrat administrations handed his businesses grants and funding and tax breaks, he didn't shit-talk them. When he saw there was an opportunity to milk these things from Republican administrations, all of a sudden he became "Republican".

Trump is talking about invading Canada, Mexico, Greenland, and Panama. Labeling him as “non-interventionist” is in bad faith.

It's really tiring seeing the HN enlightened conservatives talking as if there is a coherent policy here. Withdrawing military support for Ukraine alone might be reasonable, I disagree with it but I can see the sense in it.

But Trump is absolutely wrecking every relationship we have in the world, trading or otherwise, except with Russia, where he wants to remove sanctions and increase trade.

Even if you disregard all "moral" foreign policy objectives, like deterring wars of territorial expansion, it makes zero sense in economic terms. We're abandoning >>50% of world markets in exchange for access to... Russia's market? What do they even have to offer that we want? Oil or gas? We already produce more than we consume! Trading more with Russia will only kill domestic oil and gas producers and accomplish almost nothing else.

It makes zero sense, it will never make sense, stop trying to make it make sense.

Interesting analysis. The shadow of the Iraq & Afghan wars looms large over current events and shouldn't be underestimated. And of course, those wouldn't have happened without 9/11. That one event seems to have led the US to begin to self destruct.

Maybe that's the case. But how can one lecture Europe about free speech and turn a blind eye when Putin kills Navalny?

They don’t mean “Democracy” when they say “Democracy”.

Wow.

Elon Musk was never a democrat. In the first book which was written a decade ago, he proudly state that he will do on media whatever necessary to push his companies forward.

Every company needs a long-term marketing strategy, and using climate change as a growth vehicle in early days was needed.

He endorsed Trump and was his advisor in his previous presidency a decade ago.

JD Vance did 180 on Trump as well.

So we are talking about people, who will say whatever they need to say to get the results they want. They don't have any principles or political values.

Comparing the war in Iraq to the war in Ukraine is ridiculous on so many levels that I will not even start.

> Supported by former Democratic intellectuals like Glenn Greenwald.

What? Greenwald was never a Democrat. Anti-Bush isn't the same thing as Democrat.