ThinkLikePutin
Put yourself in The Vlad’s boots. Wouldn’t you be in awe, perhaps envious, of a country that spent annually $1(12-0s) on the mightiest military ever, had the largest economy, and didn’t bother to waste resources on Euro-style social programs? One that elected a leader with a fallible, antiquated system using a biased electoral college? One with a populous significantly lacking serious critical thinking skills, softened on the pablum of their media and entertainment industries, with ingrained biases rendering them easy pickings for division within their communities? Would you try to go head to head with it on the battle field, or infiltrate and subvert the citizenry through their social media platforms, acquire kompromat on the leaders, and throw doubt on the electoral system while using it to install groomed, unwitting (or willing) agents? The Vlad has much more experience in the latter, then duking it out with military actions, save that for the little guys. It seems obvious the more Putinesque approach would be the more surreptitious one, challenging, like chess, with less personal risk. What a coup that would be, for a small man with a smaller heart and a sinister mind.
If anything remotely like that is happening, how should Americans respond? What should other nations do, given that their situations would radically change, should the control of the US be shifted from its somewhat bumbling citizenry to a despot? Here is where you don’t think like Putin. If Putin had control of the US, facing a slinky adversary, he would be inclined to use his military, or his assassins. My first thought is to craft and set a clever trap, but I am not that clever. Anybody?
ThinkLikeTrump
If you had billion$ and were facing indictments, possibly as serious as Sedition, what would you do? You’d probably ditch the relatively paltry pension, the SS protection, and bugger off to a non-extraditable location. That is if you weren’t under the thumb of a former KGB agent known for making go “chic” (the sound when you crush a bedbug with your fingernails) anyone displeasing. Or if you had fake billion$, or owed real billion$ to despots who would track you down regardless of where you hid. Then, if you weren’t too bright (which would be the case if you got in that situation) you would double down, continue to disrupt US politics and sow mistrust & division, per instructions, with the hope your overlord would help save you. But Putin wouldn’t have any interest in saving Trump, just use him to maximum effect, to weaken the US enough to make it his.
We’re still in a mell of a hess, these two are still causing havoc, and will continue to until stopped cold. Meanwhile, Climate Change and Covid need and deserve our full attention while there’s lots to mop up — x the filibuster, CU, & the electoral college, bust Kavanaugh, rethink why the Senate has more power than the House (protect the ruling class?), figure out how to instill critical thinking in our kids, do better teaching history, civics, and science, mandate firearm training for licenses, tighten & enforce tax code for the wealthy, M4A, bring back the Fairness Doctrine, de-carbon transportation, hold corporations accountable, and ...on & on & on. Sigh, roll up sleeves, put on gloves and mask, work to do.