Everyone but Trump Understands What He's Done

[babylonsister]

https://politicalwire.com/2026/03/18/everyone-but-trump-understands-what-hes-done/

Everyone but Trump Understands What He’s Done
March 18, 2026 at 8:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

Anne Applebaum: “Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places.”

“He does not consider the wider implications of his decisions. He does not take responsibility when these decisions go wrong. Instead, he acts on whim and impulse, and when he changes his mind—when he feels new whims and new impulses—he simply lies about whatever he said or did before.”

“For the past 14 months, few foreign leaders have been able to acknowledge that someone without any strategy can actually be president of the United States.”

[Nevilledog]

1. The Atlantic article without paywall

https://archive.li/9ypED



Applebaum is always worth reading.

[erronis]

7. Thanks! I was just about to post this. Anne Applebaum is excellent (as are most of The Atlantic writers.)

[liberalla]

11. Thank you!

I agree!

[FakeNoose]

2. How about when he tore up the carefully worded agreement that President Obama signed with Iran?

Yes, Chump came into office in 2017 and immediately destroyed Obama's work in preventing Iran from ever producing nuclear bombs. Iran had nuclear technology but they agreed to only use it for productive (non-military) purposes. Chump tore up that agreement and it subsequently gave Iran permission to build a nuclear arsenal.

And now here we are, about 8 years later, and 2 steps away from entering into a nuclear conflict with Iran. This is ALL CHUMP'S FAULT from Day One. It's on HIM and the idiots who elected him.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. The time to get pledges of support from NATO was before we attacked

Everyone knows the Straight of Hormuz is the biggest card that Iran holds. Starting a war with them without having any plan for the Straight is just something no one but Trump would conceive of. And I guarantee that dozens upon dozens of foreign leaders were calling the White House before we attacked and pleading with us to have a plan to keep the straights open. And dozens and dozens of foreign policy experts in this government were doing the same. "Please, please, don't do this without a plan. You cannot attack Iran without a full plan and buy in from the countries who will be effected."

It all went on deaf ears as Trump and his inner circle can't be told anything, they think they're the only experts on any subject. I think they honestly thought Iran was at a tipping point with the protests and that assassinating their leadership would cause the people to topple the government and the US wouldn't have to do much. The opposite happened, the protesters are now more united with the central government than before and there are simply no solutions now other than the US tucking tale and leaving. You could not have played this any worse.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. This is such a good description of Trump.

[liberalla]

12. It sure is!

[Puppyjive]

5. And the same on the tarrifs and fox noise

Everyone warned Trump about the tarrifs. He calls out the media, except for fox noise. Is he that shielded from reality? Do the people around him paint a different picture? FOX noise is completely outside the norms of a truthful media. They are the only media pushing Trump's propaganda. What does it take? 10 to 1, 100 to 1, the whole world against 1. This is dimentia in full force.

[BattleRow]

6. This is an alternate dimension operating out of the White House..

And it's cultish acolytes.

[lastlib]

20. Pox Nooze isn't the only one pushing his bile....

There's NewsMucks, OAN, RT, AM/hate radio...... It's hitting people 24/365.

He is totally divorced from reality. He is in dire need of a sharp blow to the cranium with dimensional steel. Or mashed potatoes......

[KPN]

8. 25th fucking Amendment! Now!

[FakeNoose]

17. If only we could impeach the entire Chump administration

... but START with the guy at the top.



Note - this MSNBC graphic is a few years old. Chump is currently the TWO worst Presidents in US history.

[Fil1957]

9. I wish the Maduro kidnapping had failed. I think if it had, he wouldn't have started this war with Iran.

[bmichaelh]

10. Fredo Corleone

Some like to compare Trump to a mob boss. More like maybe Fredo Corleone.

Fredo in Godfather II says: "I can handle things. I'm smart. Not like everybody says. Like dumb. I'm smart and I want respect."

That sounds just like Trump. He does not know how to control his rage.

Trump does not know how to think strategically, like Vito or Michael Corleone.

For example, Michael Corleone attends his nephew's baptism while he is consolidates power.

If he wanted NATO help with Iran, you should never had insulted them, over and over again.

[OMGWTF]

13. T💩p is the Dunning-Kruger Poster Boy

Too stupid (and arrogant) to know that he's stupid.

[maxsolomon]

14. Sobering.

America fucked itself electing this senile narcissist a second time.

[multigraincracker]

15. I have a degree in Clinical Psychology.

My guess is that most experts think he is on the F-ing Nuts Spectrum.

[ananda]

16. He has serious frontal lobe damage.

And no impulse control.

[ihaveaquestion]

18. Republicans and MAGAs (Yea, I know it's redundant) are the problem! Cheeto is just their most catastrophic result.

They have been electing bigoted, greedy, angry, ignorant assholes for decades! I don't know how other countries can ever trust the U.S. ever again. It doesn't matter if a sane, intelligent Democrat is elected President and the Congress flips to a blue super majority for the next two terms and beyond. We can't be trusted as long these destructive fucks are allowed to have unchecked power.

I want my representatives to enact some ultimate fixes... make sure there are real and effective checks and balances on power and that accountability isn't just about revenge against enemies. If a candidate doesn't promise and then follow through with these things, I cannot support them.

[Escurumbele]

19. In 2015, during the campaign, I was driving, had the radio on, the guy on the radio asked people to call

and answer one question, "Why do you think trump should not become president of the USA?"

First, I did not know what radio station it was, I had been forwarding at random, I was driving and could not stop, but I wanted to call and say what I don't think anyone has said about trump yet what I am about to write.

Besides all the awful character attributes that trump has, the most dangerous one is his LACK OF UNDERSTANDING THAT ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. This is a guy who doesn't have the ability to think beyond his actions, he cannot evaluate what consequences his actions can have, he just goes and does something without analyzing the pros and cons. This is very dangerous because to save himself from people knowing the atrocities he committed against children, his life of pedophilia, his crimes, he would not think twice about pushing the nuclear button because in his mind, everyone but him and his family will blow up and die, and I don't even know if he would think about his family. He is a very dangerous man with no scruples, no morals, who lacks the capability of analytical thought.

And that is the reason the USA is in a quagmire in Iran, and the reason why allies are giving him the finger, and the reason why he is bringing the USA down with him. He is a mafioso, he has all republicans compromised, we don't know how, but he has, reason why they don't dare to go against him.

Some people are very good at being bad, trump, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and the rest are the example. When these people were kids, when they read the Superman comic books, they all hated Superman, their hero was Lex Luthor.