> must still be justified Trump Brain doesn't do that calculus. Trump Brain maintains lists of who is Good and who is Bad, and moves people among the lists at

> must still be justified Trump Brain doesn't do that calculus. Trump Brain maintains lists of who is Good and who is Bad, and moves people among the lists at need. > Cutting off military aid before peace negotiations was clearly upside down and backwards Not in Trump Brain. At that time, Putin was on the Good list, so Trump Brain was obligated to stop the arms. The good news is the lists are fluid, and the likely outcome given Trump Brain is support for Ukraine with more enthusiasm than Biden et al. ever had. You can see this in this latest snap decision to lift limits on range: all concern about nuclear war vanishing as if it never existed. You can see it in his latest words, since Trump Brain is, for better or worse, forever committing candor. He wrote, "This is Zelensky’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not 'Trump’s,'" Again, the personalities here are all that matter to Trump Brain, and Putin made the Bad list. Today, on Putin: "He’s playing with fire!" So Trump Brain is still hung up on Putin (personally, note) two days later. That's a long interval for Trump Brain: Putin on the Bad list for the whole holiday. The worm is turning. This is no longer a campaign issue to beat Biden over the head with. Now Putin is a problem for Trump Brain, and Trump Brain has absolutely no loyalty for those that disappoint. Zero. It was always going to get here, because the reality of Ukraine and Putin was always going to come into conflict with Trump Brain's placement of Putin on the Good list. But Trump Brain had to figure this out on its own: you can't tell Trump Brain anything that conflicts with current standing. Even trying gets you on the Bad list, which is one mistake Zelensky made. If Zelensky had the first clue, he'd be on a plane wearing the finest Italian suit ever made to get to Trump before the end of the news cycle and thank Trump publicly and exclusively for lifting the range limits, giving Trump all the credit, deserved or otherwise. The fact that Putin, personally, is now the problem as far as Trump Brain is concerned, and likely to remain so given circumstances, might actually pay off handsomely: when the kleptocrats of Russia decide they need to solve their Trump problem, removing Putin becomes their expedient. Ultimately, that's what this is going to require in any case, so perhaps Trump Brain is on to something.