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Comment by kjuulh | Hacker News Reader

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I strongly believe he just wants to secure his legacy. He wants to be the president that increased the land of USA and that's it.

That is my gut feeling as well. I wonder if we're gonna see more expansion in the south americas as well in the coming year..

Someone buy that orange wanker a bottle of sand from Venezuela and a rock from Greenland and give him his meds for the night.

This is exactly it

You can measure the success of a pathological narcissist by brain-minutes. A brain-minute is one human brain thinking about the narcissist for one minute, no matter whether the thought is admiration, confusion, disgust, anger, or fear. You can continue to amass brain-minutes even after you die, as long as people keep thinking about what a [saint | jerk] you were.

By this measure, he is in contention to become the most successful pathological narcissist in history. Which is his sole goal.

I don't like it, but all the time I spent writing this comment contributes to his brain-minute score. So does the time you spend reading it.

In theory, this perspective is similar to the advice to ignore the bully. In practice, we've let this one go on too long.

This is the right answer. I don't know why everyone is overreacting saying how the US democracy is dead and he will be in office forever.

He's just a narcissistic guy who wants to achieve some goals thw US had previously to show he's the only one who could do it, and to show what this great power can do (Iran, Venezuela, etc...)

I also think he's probably aware of his age and cognitive decline, so that's why he's in such a hurry to do everything as fast as possible. He's not the same as in 2017

Why this reaction? Please, look at everything going on in the US and the world not just this one aspect.

like Hitler in 1942

It's also oddly self-defeating. If Greenland is made the 51st state (as proposed here: https://fine.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1...), it's reasonable to assume that the balance of power in the Senate would shift slightly, but significantly given how thin the majorities usually are. Politically, the two new senators would almost certainly be way to the left of the Republican party.

But on the other hand, Puerto Rico and various U.S. territories are still waiting for their senators to be seated (and voting rights in presidential elections, and in some cases, full citizenship rights).

Nah. He’s an asset of his American handlers. Stephen Miller is the person driving this Greenland thing (but what are his reasons?), Trump himself would’ve forgotten that the whole island exists if not reminded about it. Now, of course, it has also become an ego and legacy thing for Trump and he can’t walk back without being somehow convinced that he won even without getting Greenland. But that’s going to be almost impossible with Miller whispering into his ear.

Miller is incredibly xenophobic and power hungry. He isn't dumb. He and Vance are both power hungry.

I'm split three ways on this: - he is a Russian asset - he has serious dementia and the power brokers around him are doing what they can - or, similar to 2 minus the dementia, he's just trying to grift and enrich himself and friends

Waiting on my passport for an EU country (already have citizenship) to figure out options.

Whenever I hear people say Trump exhibits signs of dementia, I wonder if they've ever seen what dementia actually looks like.

Yes, I have both a family member and friend's parent that are in various stages.

If Trump were a Russian asset, would it look in any way different from how he's behaving today?

The thing I find morbidly fascinating is that all the Republicans I used to know, who were vehemently anti-Russia for decades, who worshiped at the altar of Ronald Reagan - have all become bootlicking Trump fanatics. It turns out, it was never about principles with so many of these people I knew - it was daddy issues, writ large.

He clearly has psychiatric involvement in his personality: NPD at least, psychopathic at worst. Both type of personalities are great manipulators who can deceive even the closest friends, more so the masses.

Suggesting Trump is psychopathic is just hilarious. Keep diluting the meaning of those words will ya?

1. Lack of empathy (check) 2. Emotional detachment (check) 3. Artificial charisma (check) 4. Self-centeredness (check) 5. Self-absorption (check) 6. Illusions of grandeur (check) 7. Recklessness (check)

psychopathic /ˌsʌɪkəˈpaθɪk/ adjective adjective: psychopathic

affected or marked by a persistent pattern of antisocial, impulsive, manipulative, and sometimes aggressive behaviour (not in current technical use). "a psychopathic disorder"

Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality,[1] is a personality construct[2][3] characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behavior,[4] along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to stress,[5] which create an outward appearance of normality.[6][7][8][9][10]

psy· cho· path ˈsī-kə-ˌpath ˈsī-kō- : a mentally unstable person especially : a person having an egocentric and antisocial personality marked by a lack of remorse for one's actions, an absence of empathy for others, and often criminal tendencies

----

Seems spot on to me. You'll find a dictionary is your friend.

It's not just a dictionary definition, there's a real threshold for what can be considered psychopathy in clinical terms.

You could say that about a lot of people you don't like.

I'm not saying there's some traits, but we could say that about many people. He's narcissistic for sure and charismatic, but again...

If you want something more likely, look up NPD:

Key Characteristics

Grandiosity: Exaggerated sense of self-importance, achievements, and talents.

Need for Admiration: Constant craving for attention and praise.

Lack of Empathy: Inability or unwillingness to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

Sense of Entitlement: Unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment.

Exploitative Behavior: Taking advantage of others to achieve personal ends.

Envy: Often envious of others or believes others are envious of them.

Arrogance: Haughty, condescending attitudes or behaviors.

---

I'm just saying, clinical psychopathy is much more rare and extreme

Ok, fair enough, thanks. I can roll with that. But in summary: we have a problem.

That I can agree with. Especially now that he's aging and is displaying clear signs of cognitive decline.

I can see he's also being increasingly influenced by his circle like Miller, also for the fact that unlike in 2017, there was no huge line of people coming to the administration, but after his first term now we have all these guys orbiting him trying to use him as a vehicle to push their policy.

And it seems to be fairly easy, just stoke him a bit saying "they don't want you to do this because they think you're weak!!"

And you can see it with the whole excessive gifting by foreign leaders. It works. Myself I'd be insulted because it feels so fake, but he seems to be unaware.

The guy's ego has blown up like crazy this past decade.

It would be far stranger at this point if Trump wasn't seriously mentally ill.

He can be both.

He's a malignant narcissist with dementia. Everything he does is a product of that and rationality isn't a necessary part of the bubble of grandeur he lives within. The bigger problem is the team of sociopaths he's now surrounded himself with who are doing the actual scheming.

>"I still can't tell whether Trump is actually an asset of Russia, or just insane."

Why do people keep looking for Putin under their bed in the mornings? Trump does not give a flying fuck about Putin. He has no problems sanctioning Russia. Trump just does what he wants to do. Meanwhile EU kept sucking up to him instead of standing up. Now the EU reaps what their rulers sowed.

Because, when all of Trump's moves just happen to benefit someone, a person might ask whether that is more than just a coincidence.

This is utter bullshit. He has no problems hurting Russia as long as it safe for him. But Trump works for Trump only. Some other party benefitting or loosing is not his concern.

We've committed to leave NATO by 2027 [0] to rebalance in Asia. We don't care about Russia. We are worried about China.

> Which country is currently earning the most profits by selling weapons within NATO?

It doesn't matter, because no European nation can help us in Kinmen, Luzon, Yonaguni, or Gageodo.

Both us and China are inching towards a Cuban Missile Crisis level standoff in 2028 after the Taiwanese (January 2028) and Phillipines (May 2028) elections.

[0] - https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-sets-2...

The linked article says the US has threatened to reduce its support, not committed to leave. Things are bad enough without exaggerating like this.

Functionally, us not participating in defense coordination mechanisms is the equivalent of leaving NATO, as we would not be able to unify response.

By that logic, the European members who didn’t meet their defense spending obligations for years and years have already left NATO too.

That's the implication the administration is trying to force.

Basically, we are leaving Europe because we no longer have a commitment there and concentrate on Asia and the Americas.

This has been a stated policy objective of ours for almost 2 decades now.

I would follow the money. Which country is currently earning the most profits by selling weapons within NATO?

From a cursory glance, 2/3 of all arm exports towards NATO country is done by the US. Buying weapons from other NATO countries is a part of being a member in NATO.

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