Here’s the Key to Understanding Trump’s Chaos
Category: News & Politics
Via: hallux • 6 months ago • 51 commentsBy: Christopher Collins YesterdayThe Conversation - The Tyee
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Historically, the United States hasn’t always been easy to deal with, but it was consistent. Even countries that disagreed with American policies knew there was a logic underlying its actions, and this predictability gave the country some credibility.
But now, under President Donald Trump’s second administration, American foreign policy has become haphazard and contradictory, driven by a leader who believes his ability to exercise power around the world is constrained only by his own morality.
This is new and, for observers around the world, perplexing. As Prime Minister Mark Carney recently said : “Washington has changed. There is almost nothing normal now in the United States.”
Trump maelstrom
Some, like U.S. Vice President JD Vance, are labouring to erect a retroactive, pseudo-intellectual scaffolding around this chaotic mess, seeking to frame it as a coherent doctrine . But it’s become increasingly clear there’s no grand plan, just a Trumpian maelstrom of impulsive reactions, extractive transactions and personal grudges that shift with the news cycle.
To understand this political dysfunction, a German thinker from more than 100 years ago, Max Weber , offers a helpful guide.
Most famous today for his theory of “ the Protestant work ethic ,” Weber’s writing also explored the concept of “patrimonialism.”
This is a system of governance in which a ruler treats the state as personal property, governs by whim and uses the state’s resources to reward cronies and enrich family. Drawing largely on his understanding of the Ottoman Empire, Weber called the most extreme form of this system “sultanism.”
Reading Weber today, it seems the best description of how the U.S. engages the wider world could be termed “sultanism with American characteristics.”
Loyalty over experience
Consider Iran. Following the start of Operation Epic Fury, the Trump administration cycled through so many conflicting war aims that CNN was able to assemble a montage of the contradictions.
Senior administration officials worked feverishly to build a strategy around the operation, but it soon became clear that this “ war of choice ” was started based on little more than the president’s whim .
Weber’s framework extends to the people around Trump. In sultanistic systems, staff are selected based on loyalty, not merit, and serve the ruler, not the state.
As Weber wrote, this leads to “an administration and a military force which are purely personal instruments of the master.”
We see this pattern vividly illustrated by the Trump administration’s approach to staffing senior roles , including those leading high-stakes diplomatic negotiations.
Look at Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer and longtime Trump friend with no foreign policy experience, who has served as the administration’s lead envoy on some of the most sensitive negotiations in the world.
Or Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, who, despite having no background in foreign policy, was entrusted with key roles in Middle East diplomacy, while his investment firm pursues deals with the same Gulf states he is negotiating with on behalf of his country.
Serving the sultan
These are not appointments that a merit-based system would produce. But right now in America, officials serve the sultan, not the republic, which is why their speeches are regularly given for an “ audience of one .”
Furthermore, in seeking the sultan’s favour, appointees regularly debase themselves on television, such as when Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to be the next head of the Federal Reserve, refused to admit Trump lost the 2020 election.
This sultanistic pattern of rewarding loyalty and punishing defiance is expanding. Federal disaster relief, long treated as a non-partisan obligation of the government, has become a stark illustration of this logic.
Since the start of his second term, Trump has approved just 23 per cent of disaster funding requests from blue states , compared to 89 per cent for red states. In some cases, the conditionality for disaster aid has been made explicit: for example, in 2025, as fires ravaged Los Angeles, Trump threatened to withhold aid unless California enacted voter ID laws — a condition with no relationship to disaster recovery.
This fear of punishment also helps explain why, fearing for their businesses, many media companies are bowing to “ the court of King Trump .”
‘Orgy of corruption’
Finally, Weber’s framework sheds light on what may be the most defining feature of the Trump administration: a blurring of the lines between public office and private enrichment. Under sultanism, the distinction between the ruler’s personal wealth and the state’s treasury is, at best, notional.
Trump and his team have governed accordingly, with perhaps the most egregious example being hundreds of millions of dollars of insider trading around the Iran war. In a healthy democracy, this “ orgy of corruption ” would be investigated and prosecuted. But in a patrimonial system this is simply how things work: the state exists to serve the ruler and his inner circle.
This is what the world must now manage. A sultanistic system does not respond to appeals to shared values or long-standing agreements. It responds to leverage, personal relationships with the ruler and transactional incentives.
Policymakers and business leaders increasingly understand they are dealing with a court that rewards fealty and punishes defiance. That’s why the Swiss gave Trump a gold bar in exchange for lower tariffs, and why the Qataris gave him a “ palace in the sky .”
In 2026, appeals to shared democratic values or common national interests are pointless; bring the sultan something he wants or face punishment. Weber helps explain why.
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Begs the question whether or not 77,193,105 voters should be charged with aiding and abetting.
after trump's assaults on american values, traditions, our government, judicial institutions, and the constitution, those that support him now need to be deported to a country run by one of trump's dictator pals, right after the trump crime family has been dealt with permanently.
Nah...deport the family to the same location. Let's see how long they stay alive
it would be amusing to witness melania's attempts to influence succession to the throne of the maga kingdom ...
Example what igknorantzruling can accomplish.
The dumbing down is up, asz the doltz can't even sea the depths of the corrupt. They just turn a weigh that sinkz US All, N all due to minds too stubborn and small to accept that they got seriously played by listening to a party and president and the LIES that they say'ed, said over and over again and it was always a question as to when would they be able to hear, and say, WHEN would they, could they, realize the real lies they were led to B leave in, as their gullibility has disgraced US All and should be considered a sin, instead, the religious 'right' has just taken it all inn, striding along side the blasphemy wanna Be King, whose praise they somehow still sorta sing, for he has appointed to the quarts, UnSupremes that thwart, watt we've all herd this country was supposed to be about, and through they and 47, we work to be without, without a doubt the most laughed at while simultaneously feared POS Party that created a POS Country lead painted by an even bigger POS Liter thanx to those who enabled the quart appointed cheater, scum bag Constitution delete-er who scraped beneath the lowest bottom feat-er to deceit-er peep holes who should have known better, and now everyone is seeing watt ignorance when knot tied to reality brings US, as it brought US a real heavy petter who should have been vettered bettered instead of pushed and prodded, while the GOP silently allowed n even knodded , till they couldn't untie it, as we are all now stuck in a pile of shit, waiting for more, cause we've become a country whore led by a pussy grabbin pimp pull n pill poppin to keep him hoppin down the not so FUnny trail of tears requiring a lot more beers to read the news that has gotten so old by an old FOOL who fooled and SOLD US OUT
thanks Trump voters for being so damn devout
as the GOP, MAGA, and the IGNORANT FOOLS who would even still have us believe, it is all a giant witch hunt hoax and that the world is all out to get Trump who robs and lies to us all every fckn day, and in about every fckn way
to go folks, funny if notso serious were this and they jokes, no one sane, or width half a divided brain, thinks this is a laughing matter,
asz they think it is a very serious and pathetically fecal splatter, cause the present and once former, is below the lowest rung on the bell curve latter
and/ore neither by knight nor day Saint
eric trump and his maralago faced wife were the second people off the plane in china this morning after trump. the trump family has gone to china to make deals for them to make more money. people shrug at all this massive obvious corruption and it is killing our country's sense of honor and our credibility
less than a third of that number will admit to voting for him last time now ...
That is wrong on so many levels. How often do we hear accusations of partisanship from the right when their own goddamn president engages in partisanship. Biden never withheld disaster funding from red states. Neither did any other POTUS that I can recall in my lifetime
just look at what financial damage trump has done to colorado over tina peters and our vote by mail elections. there's valid reasons why maga scum have to walk around with concealed weapons and their empty heads on a swivel here ...
If America today acted like it did for the first 240 years of our existence Trump would be in prison right now. In the past ten years we have lost our way and gone off the rails.
But you told us America was a bad place
if you want to talk to me try and make sense
I understand where you are coming from. I'm still waiting on the person that said a wet paper bag can out debate me, but when I gave the challenge, all I got was silence.
Sounds like the paper bag won.
Yes because everyone knows that when you give a challenge, and the person that is challenged chickens out with that challenge, then the challenged has won. s/
Sounds exactly like democrats saying Iran has won the war.
Are you stating you won, due to being challenged...?Cause if so, you have won, as I never wish to debate with one challenged, cause life is challenging enuff, know need to challenge, cause being challenged, to me, is challenging enough....
Most conservative comments I've read recently seem to fit that bill. Perhaps they need their own debate forum sort of like their own Olympics where they can compete only with others who are similarly challenged.
They sure are a special ....
The first 240? They weren't so squeamish about hanging back then
The problem is, for the past 240 years there had to be a crime committed, an investigation conducted by PROPER authorities generating real evidence, a criminal trial and a guilty verdict to put somebody in jail.
To date, we have seen 10 years of investigations into EVERYTHING he's done and the best that could be generated was some charge that's NEVER been used and well past it's statute of limitations, no criminal trial which also means no guilty verdict.
All do to an activated unSupreme Quart of jesters. R U actually going to claim Trump is INNOCENT, and a victim of endless hoaxes and witch hunts ? Cause that is truly sadnif that is your argument.
Never claimed he was innocent. Re-read what I actually said.
That's not an incorrect statement. Not mine, but not incorrect.
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Thread Removed for META, petty insults and to keep it from getting worse
So they are crying because he's not the push over Democrats have been.
Tell me again, why should I care about what a Canadian has to say?
Wasn't that hard to follow. But then again, not actively looking for something to cry about made it easy.
Democrats have been "investigating" that for 10 years and come up with nothing. Meanwhile these "investigators" are involved with the very thing they are supposedly "investigating" as well as Chinese spies and rampant fraud.
Considering most conservatives will likely never even step foot out of their counties let alone their States, many are ignorantly stubborn about not giving a fuck about what the rest of the world thinks. For the rest of America that has moved into the 21st century and embraced technology and reality, having good relationships with our global partners, especially those who share a border, are considered good things. Just because there are a few million poorly educated isolationist xenophobes who don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves doesn't mean our nation should follow suit. Fuck those miserable isolationist losers.
Gas prices went from mid 2.50s to anywhere from 2.14 to 2.27 in North Florida.
Sounds pretty way down to sane folk.
Really?
Try to keep up.
North Florida is within the 2.28 average range. Your chart has it in the blue
...who live in North Florida.
paying $5.49 at the pump for the premium gas my car burns won't change the way I vote in november ...
todays Drudge Report
TRUMP'S FIVE-ALARM ECONOMY...
Wholesale prices hit 4 year high!
Water costs rising faster than inflation...
Time to worry like it's 1999...
Oil crisis could become full-blown global catastrophe within month... MORE
Hormuz block prompts hoarding of vital supplies...
USA slipping into 'Competitive Authoritarianism?'
Can you repost the article you posted when inflation was 9 percent under dementia boy?
would that be the 9% that corruption boy created by blowing covid off as the flu the first 7 months after he was first warned about it? the same flu that thankfully killed off more maga than innocent americans for the next 2 years? maybe those maga would still be here if they had injected bleach ... /s
Eric and Lara Trump were first ones off the plane in China after the president. They were ahead of all the cabinet members and dignitaries. Show them the money !
My God the petty whining
If they were the last ones off the plane the complaint would be that they were trying to hide.
Say the conservatives after spending several years whining about Hunter Biden going to China with his dad. And where is that $1.5 billion that Hunter supposedly got from China? Oh yeah! That was a total fucking lie! But Republicans don't give a fuck, and now they're completely unconcerned at the MAGA bus of opportunists with their lips wet slavering at making deals in China. Once again, we are shown how rightwing conservative hypocrisy truly knows no bounds.
trump probably gave xi the green light on taiwan during his iran humiliation tour, for free passage back over the pacific to the US ...
Not sure where that 1.5 billion came from, maybe made up, however, he did get about 11 million between the Chinese and Ukraine for doing what?
If you need proof of this, let me know, or you can google it yourself.
Chances are the business Eric Trump has is a legitimate business, not like the Hunter thing where it was ONLY name association.