A few of my observations about Putin and Trump seeming to be two peas in one mental pod.
They are two would-be autocrats, one now in power, the other wanting to return to power. Both make decisions completely by themselves. Do they get input from others? Perhaps. If they do, do they pay attention? Doubtful. Do they get information that they don’t want to hear? That seems likely. Do they think they know better than everybody else? That seems highly likely. Do they believe their own propaganda or their own conspiratorial views of the world? That also seems very likely. Very few people talk to Putin or to Trump, perhaps some advisors on the inside but certainly no one outside the inner darkness of their existence.
And so we think that they are not getting the full gamut of information. They get what they want to hear. In any case, they believe that they are superior and smarter. And that is the problem of a despotic existence. It’s why their despotism, or even just authoritarianism, is all-powerful and brittle at the same time. Both despotism and authoritarianism create the circumstances of their own undermining.
The information gets worse. The sycophants get greater in number. The corrective mechanisms become fewer. And the mistakes become much more consequential.
Gene Fitzgerald, Salt Lake City
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