Yesterday I had dinner with two Russians, both intellectuals, living in the US. They defended Russia's war. They told me the entire propaganda, Zelensky this way, his wife that way, and Crimea, and Ukraine was "attacking" Russia and that's why they got the war... And the Soviet Union was good, all successor states owe their economy to them, they built it for them, and how ungrateful they are now... To this day, they still have this Soviet imperial mentality. They are young intellectuals aged between 35 and 40. Russia is hopeless, there will be no change at all. Young people are like that too. Isolate them completely, exclude them from any civilized system and that's it. Those who live in the West are also full Putin-friendly real Russians. Hopeless.
"...Trump does whatever he personally thinks is in his interest, and that no advisor has sway over him. Other knowledgeable people said that Trump is a blank slate who can be easily swayed one way or the other..." Both of these statements are true. The other truth is that there will be constant political sabotage, backstabbing and press leaks among Congressional Republicans. They will be constantly pushing back against Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy who have no authority to make anything other than recommendations. Soon after the Inauguration, Trump will go back to playing golf, holding his rallies and grifting, while we see more signs of his mental and physical decline. Regardless of what the US media says, Trump won a very slight margin of victory and along with economic issues, too many voters hold racist and misogynistic beliefs. It's going to be a mess, but not as bad as what you live with every day. However, I did read that Biden wants to authorize large sums of money for Ukraine before he leaves office.
Yesterday I had dinner with two Russians, both intellectuals, living in the US. They defended Russia's war. They told me the entire propaganda, Zelensky this way, his wife that way, and Crimea, and Ukraine was "attacking" Russia and that's why they got the war... And the Soviet Union was good, all successor states owe their economy to them, they built it for them, and how ungrateful they are now... To this day, they still have this Soviet imperial mentality. They are young intellectuals aged between 35 and 40. Russia is hopeless, there will be no change at all. Young people are like that too. Isolate them completely, exclude them from any civilized system and that's it. Those who live in the West are also full Putin-friendly real Russians. Hopeless.
"...Trump does whatever he personally thinks is in his interest, and that no advisor has sway over him. Other knowledgeable people said that Trump is a blank slate who can be easily swayed one way or the other..." Both of these statements are true. The other truth is that there will be constant political sabotage, backstabbing and press leaks among Congressional Republicans. They will be constantly pushing back against Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy who have no authority to make anything other than recommendations. Soon after the Inauguration, Trump will go back to playing golf, holding his rallies and grifting, while we see more signs of his mental and physical decline. Regardless of what the US media says, Trump won a very slight margin of victory and along with economic issues, too many voters hold racist and misogynistic beliefs. It's going to be a mess, but not as bad as what you live with every day. However, I did read that Biden wants to authorize large sums of money for Ukraine before he leaves office.