Musings on Trump's Kaleidoscopic Strategic Vision and Hypernormalization

   By Rudy Barnes, Jr., May 31, 2025

Trump has a kaleidoscopic vision of America’s geopolitical role that changes with his  whims.  The NY Times described that vision as “One World, with Three Powers”: America, China and Russia.”  But Trump recently criticized his “old friend” Putin as “going absolutely crazy” after his heaviest bombardment of Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

Trump said “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,” 

Trump told reporters: “I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin.”  But criticizing a demagogue like Putin for killing people is unusual for Trump, who never criticized Netanyahu for killing over 50,000  Palestinians in Gaza, even after Netanyahu was accused of genocide by the UN.

When a nation’s leader, whether it’s Putin or Netanyahu, orders bombing that kills civilian noncombatants, it’s not just bad politics, but it's also a crime under international humanitarian law.  Both Putin and Netanyahu should be charged with war crimes, but Trump has never considered that strategic option since all of his policy decisions have been personal and transactional.     

     

Trump’s anger with Putin’s aggression in Ukraine was likely caused by its failure to conform to Trump’s preferences for peace in Ukraine, and Putin's obvious failure to notify Trump of his planned aggression. Trump may have thought that Putin was his “friend” but he has proven to be a typical Russian adversary; and Trump has traditionally berated and humiliated his adversaries.

Unlike previous U.S. presidents, Trump will not likely issue a national security strategy that would limit his power to support Netanyahu’s expansion of Israel, while ignoring the 50,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza.  At the same time Trump will likely avoid any reductions to Social Security, Medicare or other popular entitlements that would violate his campaign promises.

The House has already approved Trump’s budget; and there’s not likely to be any serious opposition in the Senate to funding defense priorities that will increase America’s massive national debt of over $36 trillion.  Trump once said that he could pay off the national debt with crypto currency, and he has since made family investments in crypto currency a priority.

Trump’s political strategies have always been relative and changing concepts to keep his adversaries off balance, but his recent anger with Putin and threats of WWIII have aggravated a public disorder known as hypernormalization.  “It captures the juxtaposition of the dysfunctional and mundane”, and raises troubling uncertainties about the future of America.

Notes: 

Trump’s Geopolitical Vision: One World, Three Powers? (America, Russia and China) Is based on traditional geopolitical considerations  “Trump’s recent actions and statements suggest he might want an arrangement where the United States, China and Russia each dominate their spheres of influence.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/us/politics/trump-russia-china.html. 

Following Putin’s massive attack on Ukraine, Trump asserted that Putin “has gone absolutely crazy.”  “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,” Trump posted on Truth Social.  Hours earlier, Trump had told reporters: “I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin.”  https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/25/politics/trump-putin-ukraine-airstrikes.

With Trump challenging America’s Constitutional democratic framework and with his Republican Party that puts loyalty to Trump over supporting and defending the freedom and democracy of the Constitution, it’s little wonder that American people are experiencing a neurotic malaise known as hypernormalization.  It “captures the juxtaposition of the dysfunctional and mundane,” and the result is a growing sense of extreme unease that accepts the greed, hedonism and moral corruption exemplified by Trump and his loyal minions such as Musk, as the values of a new American era replacing traditional American values we have known in the past.  Traditional Christianity seems complicit with Trump’s Republican regime, since most white Christians elected Trump as their President twice, and democracy is ultimately the rule of the majority. 

In short, hypernormalization has created a depressing realization that America’s values have changed for the worse with Trump’s Republican regime, and we need to accept that ugly reality.   

Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real. See https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/hypernormalization-dysfunction-status-quo.