How would a Russian govern the US?

[matt819]

Mineral Man has a new post discussing how the buffoon-in-chief and his sycophants are dismantling the social safety net: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210708663.

He's absolutely correct, but of course trump is going much further, in ways that are discussed daily in the legitimate press.

I keep thinking about how the US would be "governed" if an actual Russian were elected president, or installed as president in a coup. And I can't help but conclude that trump is "governing" precisely how an enemy of the United States would govern.

Dismantling government agencies.

Attacking - financially, politically, emotionally, actually - minorities.

Attacking and discrediting agencies that he can't quite dismantle.

Ensure that government agencies and their cabinet secretaries do precisely the opposite of what they are expected to do.

Install judges who will continue the attacks long after trump, and maybe even the republican party, is gone.

Attack all allies and endorse Russia and Putin.

Destroy the NATO alliance.

Enact a budget that increases the deficit and hampers future, rational, presidents for undoing the damage that is being done.

Perhaps my mythical Russian leader, or my less mythical Russian asset in the WH, would be more subtle. That is way intelligence assets are directed to behave - with subtlety. But trump and subtlety are an oxymoron.

With today's advocacy for Russia to rejoin the G-7, to return to the G-8, there is no question left at all that he is a Russian asset. He has destroyed American alliances. He has destroyed American businesses. He has increased the chasm between the wealthy and the poor. He has exacerbated, deliberately, racism, sexism, LGBTQ discrimination, religious enmity. Etc. Etch.

Call it paranoia, but I truly believe that he is nothing more or less than a Russian asset carrying out Russian directives.

[roamer65]

1. It's starting to remind me of the ABC mini-series "Amerika".

[Girard442]

2. I believe Trump's mission is to destroy America.

In the aftermath of the destruction, it's not hard to image Putin installing a puppet who would actually run things. To visualize what that would be like just look at how Putin runs Russia now.

[kysrsoze]

3. Completely agree. It's so glaringly obvious. Enough is enough. Time to remove him.

[Initech]

5. Putin is the one who's mission it is to destroy America.

And Trump's the pawn making it happen.

[Girard442]

7. Totally agree, but I've always liked to call him a toady.

[Thomas Hurt]

4. smaller gov't is a more centralized gov't and the gov't of totalitarianism....

more power in fewer and fewer hands. More easily corrupted. More wealth and power to be had by those in control.

[DetlefK]

6. An honest and snark-free summary of how Putin governs:

- Putin restricts access of the press to him. You only get access to him on his conditions. He will only answer your questions if he feels like it. This has lead to self-censorship among russian media because they all want Putin to talk to them.
If you get a critical question anyways, change topics by bombarding the interviewer with memorized statistics.

- A strictly vertical government. Officials are responsible to their superiors and ultimately Putin, not to the voters. It usually goes down like this:
Step 1: Voters complain publicly about a problem.
Step 2: Putin swoops in and blames the low-level guy directly in charge.
Step 3: Putin plays big man and creates a spectacle for the media where he takes on incompetent and corrupt officials.
Step 4: The problem gets some kind of short-term solution, which gets played up big in the media and Putin gets hailed as a hero for solving the problem.
Step 5: As soon as the public moves on and the media stops reporting, the government stops caring about the problem. The problem got kind-sorta solved in a half-assed way and Putin got his heroic treatment, and that's what really counts.
E.g. A few years ago, Putin made a big show about taking care of illegal landfills where Moscow's trash is dumped in rural regions. He closed down ONE illegal landfill. And as soon as the cameras were gone, the trucks returned. Recently, people have started protesting again about these very same landfills.

- Cultivate an image of being calm and competent. People elect Putin because he's simply the only electable candidate. I know one Russian who is strongly anti-Putin and he said even he would vote for Putin, because all the alternatives are even worse: All other candidates are either a) normal politicians but without enough public profile, b) straight-up lunatics, c) fame-hungry celebrities.
(That's why nobody is voting for Navalny: Putin has successfully painted him as a hysterical troublemaker.)

- Crack down on dissent in the name of national security and patriotism.
* E.g. the russian government is regularly proposing to regulate and monitor the internet in the name of fighting terrorism and protecting children from harmful content.
* E.g. all russian organizations that receive foreign funding are dubbed as "foreign agents", which is a soviet-era term for "spy". How many organizations are affected by this? Almost all organizations dealing with society, human rights and the environment, because all these organizations were founded by foreigners after the collapse of the Soviet-Union to support russian society.
(Fun Fact: The russian Attorney-General has the power to unilaterally shut down any such "foreign agent" organization on a whim. No hearing, no trial, no recourse.)
* E.g. when the organization of the mothers of soldiers demanded to know from the russian government if any russian soldiers had died fighting in Eastern Ukraine, Putin swiftly declared such information a state-secret.
* E.g. Putin is working hard to keep his private life private. When a newspaper dared to write an article about his marriage, Putin shut down the newspaper within a week.

- Infiltrate and co-opt any and all political groups. Don't allow any independent organizations. E.g. if there's an organization for the protection of the environment, have the government found and run an organization for the protection of the environment. If anybody wants to get engaged for the betterment of Russia in any field, he will find a government-controlled group ready to welcome him.