Trump’s View of Everything in the World

Trump says he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” military drills with South Korea, citing his “very good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un” — whom he calls “unthreatening and respectful.”

Kim Jong Un is unthreatening and respectful? Hello?

Trump also says he’s miffed at South Korea for refusing to help the United States in its conflict against Iran — a conflict that was initiated entirely by Trump alone and is over 4,000 miles away from South Korea.

Wha?

Many are bewildered by how badly Trump treats America’s traditional allies and friends, like South Korea, and how nicely he treats traditional enemies and dictators, like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

But there’s no reason for bewilderment. All you need do is get into Trump’s transactional lizard brain to see that, for him, the world contains only three kinds of nations or people: vassals, mooches, and thugs.

Vassals, Mooches, and Thugs (oh my)

Vassals or potential vassals have huge resources but little power. Trump thinks they should pay tribute to Trump and America. Their resources should be extorted and extracted — some for the United States and a bit off the top for Trump himself.

In his head, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Venezuela are vassals. He believes Greenland will also become one, as will Cuba.

Trump’s view of vassals isn’t limited to foreign nations. For him, domestic vassals include American corporations, Wall Street banks, Republican members of Congress, Larry and David Ellison, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, ABC, NBC, and CBS. He believes all can be extorted to pay tribute to Trump and America.

Mooches have little power but significant resources, and in Trump’s view they are taking advantage of the United States and Trump by getting more than they’re giving back in tribute.

Mooches are to be scorned, berated, and squeezed for all they’ve mooched. In his head, mooches include Europe, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico.

Domestic mooches include big universities receiving large government grants, Washington law firms making lots of money off government business, and immigrants.

Thugs have great resources and great power and are as dangerous and capricious as Trump. In Trump’s head, they’re to be handled gently, respected, wooed, and flattered. They include Russian president Vladimir Putin, China’s president Xi Jinping, and North Korean president Kim Jong Un.

Domestic thugs include Elon Musk, the Supreme Court, and the bond market.

Trump sometimes makes mistakes, assigning a nation or person to one category when it belongs in another. He thought Iran was like Venezuela, a potential vassal with huge resources but little power. He’s discovered, too late, that it’s a thug. Now he doesn’t know what to do.

He thought of all women as vassals, to be exploited. But then he ran into E. Jean Carroll and discovered that some women can be powerful and stand up to him, thug-like.

He assumed all universities were vassals, too. Columbia University turned out to be one, but Harvard is proving to be a thug.

Our mistake in trying to understand Trump is to think of him as bound by laws, treaties, laws, and norms — and at least cognizant of alliances and power politics. But Trump doesn’t feel bound by anything and isn’t cognizant of anything beyond his transactional lizard brain. To him, every nation or person is either an opportunity to extract money and power, an affront justifying bad treatment, or a menace requiring pacifying.

If you’re dealing with Trump, you want to be a thug. If you’re a vassal, you’re forever dependent on him. If you’re a mooch, he’ll step on you and keep you pinned to the ground.