The Formidable Yet Pointless Meetings of Trump with Putin and European Leaders
These meetings turned out to be a farce, a show, useful only as a campaign tool. (I told you so)
Democracies and dictatorships don’t have much in common, but they share something.
Trump, Putin, and European leaders share a fundamental trait: charisma.
It may seem obvious, but without charisma, a leader goes nowhere. Some have more, some have less, yet all—whether in a democracy or a dictatorship—need at least a minimum dose to govern effectively.
No dictator remains in power for long if the people do not support them. Consider Ceausescu in Romania or Joe Biden in the United States. The former was executed; the latter lost an election. In both cases, the people determined the fate of their leaders.
This dynamic was already true during the Roman Empire, and it will likely remain so forever.
Why this preamble?
Because we need to understand that the thought occupying a leader’s mind most often is not “how to govern the state well,” but rather “how to stay popular” and satisfy their electoral base.
Trump does not wake up thinking about taxes, the military, or Ukraine. No. He thinks about his voters, the MAGAcrowd, and how to keep them calm and happy. Everything he does is oriented toward this goal.
Of course, presidents deal with national issues, but in reality, they are merely the frontmen, the public face. Behind them operates an enormous apparatus: offices filled with bureaucrats and officials who truly keep the state machinery running, even making unpopular decisions. They can do so because they are not elected and owe no accountability to voters. It is then up to the president to find a way to “sell” these decisions, framing them to the public as “an opportunity, a revival, a chance.”
Using this Mental Model as a foundation, I want to explain why I was convinced these meetings would accomplish nothing. And indeed, I was right.
Is it a coincidence that it was Putin who went to America, and not Trump to Russia?
Is it a coincidence that Zelensky went to Washington alongside so many other European leaders?
Is Putin truly interested only in territories?
Are Trump and Putin friends and allies, as some claim? Is Trump really Putin’s “puppy”?
(Spoiler: no).
Let’s answer these questions one by one.
