Democracies and Autocracies have commonalities and differences. But the differences in structure make a huge difference in the experiences of ordinary people. Just to take one example, most people in autocracies are far worse off economically. They are also much more likely to die in violence. A modern democracy finds it difficult to commit a large proportion of its citizenry to a ground war. On the other hand, Putin has no problem doing that. He takes advantage of his advantages. As a dictator, he is much less bound to do things that are “popular”; moreover, because he has control of the media, he can also influence what is popular more than any American POTUS.
America, in particular, as well as democracies more generally, has many advantages including: attracting the best talent from all over the world; having a market economy that rewards the best ideas; having a diverse population; having an outstanding educational system that encourages a degree of creativity and independence; having a largely uncorrupt police and military; having leaders that are held to account which, in turn, tends to lead them to actions that are good for the country; having a network of long-time international allies; having economic co-dependencies with many other countries on the planet.
Here’s the ironic part: Putin has convinced Trump that in order to become the dictator that Trump dreams of, he needs to get rid of every single advantage that America has over Russia. And, Trump, in his colossal stupidity and lack of relevant experience or knowledge of history has done everything he can to destroy his advantages over Putin. But Putin hasn’t given up any of his small advantages: he still controls the Russian media and still has no problem sacrificing tens of thousands of his population in a war that does nothing for the average Russian citizen.
An AI-generated image to this prompt: A tennis coach and his pupil are on a tennis court. The tennis coach looks like Vladimir Putin. The pupil is an orange baboon. The coach has a word balloon that says, “Don’t use a racquet! You’ll be able to move your hand much more quickly!”
As a result, we see the spectacle of the leader of the what was very recently the most powerful nation on earth calling out the Russian dictator and having the Russian dictator thumb his nose back at Trump. Had Trump kept all the advantages that made America great (hint: it isn’t a hat or mean-tweeting) he would be able to put considerable pressure on Putin. As it stands, Trump stands for nothing and the foundation of strength that he inherited from more than 250 years of building that strong foundation is being ground daily to sand.
How? Primarily by the hand of Trump himself. At the end of the day, Trump, if he is “successful” in his ambitions—the man who could have been President of the most powerful nation on earth—will instead by relegated to being an extremely unpopular dictator surrounded by inept crooks, many of whom will be seeking to unseat him. And, he won’t be dictator of the most powerful nation on earth; he will be dictator of what was formerly the most powerful nation on earth—now one with a broken military, a broken government, a broken intelligence agency, a broken foreign service, a broken health care system, a broken educational system, a broken legal system, a broken economy, and broken friendships. He’ll be an object of ridicule throughout the world and despised in his own country. In his blind grab for all the power, he has destroyed his chance at actual power.
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petersironwood 