Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[SanAndreasX]

shavenferret said:

Bofferbrauer2 said:

Trump probably can't even comprehend that this makes him, and by extension the US, look VERY unreliable when it comes to weapon sales.

Potential buyers will think twice about buying American military hardware now, pushing them to buy either European/Canadian/Australian/South Korean equipment if they're locked into NATO standard and to China/India/Russia (when they can export again) for those who don't and might have switched otherwise.

Considering how many Billions the US arms industry is making from exports, having this crushing down from a lack of new contracts will hurt the US a lot, as the US Armed Forces won't be able to make up for the shortfall without a massive spending increase, for which they lack the financial reserves now.

Trump plays by a different set of logic, because to a certain degree he is in this office for himself.  So, his shady dealings with russia, the defamations towards zelensky and now this is all part of the same big whole.  It's not that he isn't intelligent, it's that he's evil so therefore such things don't matter anymore.  I've lost all "benefit of doubt" that i've had towards trump and realize how difficult things are going to be with him and America's policy towards this issue.  

I never had any "benefit of the doubt" towards Trump. I knew who he was in the 1980s. He was a sleazy, opportunistic grifter back then, and incompetent at running casinos or developing real estate, which were the lines of business he was supposedly in. I wasn't surprised at how his first term fell apart, and I'm not surprised at anything he's doing now.