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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's Grand Plan to be like Putin.
If Donald Trump has a hero, it would be Vladimir Putin. He is envious of the way he rules his country and the way he makes money off all the oligarchs. He appreciates his authoritarian ways. He wanted America to be like Russia. Then he could compete with Vladimir for the richest and most powerful man in the world. That was his dream.
His plan was to control the military by controlling the Generals. His first move was to put General Mike Flynn in as National Security Adviser. He had someone that he could trust to do the dirty work and would have access to all of America's secrets.
He was very selective with his choices, in his attempt to take over the US Government. At Secretary of State, he would look for someone that was close to Russia and that would work with him to destroy the apparatus of our State Department and could work closely with Vladimir Putin. He chose Rex Tillerson.
He surrounded himself with sycophants. He wanted a General to lead his military forces. He did not want civilian leadership. He believed that Generals were more inclined to follow the orders of their Commander in Chief and less inclined to make waves or question his decisions. He chose General Mattis.
Most of all, he wanted to protect himself from any and all legal ramifications. He needed an Attorney General that would put aside any independent inclinations and work to protect Donald Trump. He understood that the Attorney-General was the number one law enforcement officer in the US Government. He chose Jeff Sessions.
He thought about how to control the civilian population if they were to riot or create disturbances or rebel against his governing style. He needed someone that could give orders to every local police department across the nation. He needed a General at Homeland Security. He chose General Kelly.
He wanted a government within a government. He needed loyalty more than anything. He demanded it. His appointments to his Cabinet, such as Betsy DeVos and Wilbur Ross and others would reflect his partisan ideas of what government should look like. He wanted to make deals with other countries to further enrich himself and his family.
And most of all, he wanted to control the propaganda. He needed to demonize the "Fake News" and anyone that would criticize him. He wanted a secret government that could work behind the scenes without any oversight from the US Congress. He preferred backdoor communications.
Fortunately for America, everything did not work out the way he had planned but enough worked to weaken our country in almost every area of national security. Even though he is being investigated by a special counsel at this time, there is no guarantee that he will not fire him and that his political Party of choice (Republican) will not hold him accountable.
We are not out of the woods. He is still very much a threat to our country.
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Madam45for2923
(7,178 posts)democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Proud Liberal Dem
(24,391 posts)I would say that the Republican Party in general has developed a thing for Putin. As I recall, they were beginning to idolize him and contrast him favorably to President Obama for at least the past 3-4 years, although it wasn't discussed/covered much. The fact that we have a President whose rise to power appears to have been facilitated, at least in part, by Russian involvement seems to suggest that the GOP apparatus was at least somewhat involved/complicit, or at least aware of Russian machinations as well.
kentuck
(111,051 posts)Unbelievable!
vlyons
(10,252 posts)and privatizing as much of it as possible.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Eyeball_Kid
(7,429 posts)he's a coward who won't take responsibility for his decisions.
Trumpy's always been a coward. Every day, his cowardice shows by concealing his tax returns. He's frightened that his con game will be exposed and he'll have no cover of lies. Meanwhile, the frightened fuck is tumbling forward with erratic plans to dismantle every federal institution in sight, pretending to be some kind of heroic "drain the swamp" figure. And the GOP? They can't make their way out of the toilet bowl. For as long as they've got their collective heads stuck under the rim, they don't have to deal with their CHOICE for president (and they're all Pro-Choice under their macho conservative facade). They're frightened by the Coward-in-Chief. Go figure.
kentuck
(111,051 posts)He wants to Be Like Vlad.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,391 posts)for creating the kind of pro-Russian Putin-style government here in the US, however I'm not entirely convinced that Trump is smart/competent enough to be implementing it himself. I feel like there are probably other people around him whom are pushing for these kind of decisions.
kentuck
(111,051 posts)They are smart in different ways.
Motley13
(3,867 posts)at a reported $200 bil, the LOSER is only worth $3 bil
and the moron is so envious