I think that any foreign policy move made by Trump should always first raise the question - Does Russia Benefit?
Trump is abruptly withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, abandoning our allies, the Kurds - an astonishing betrayal setting up the slaughter of American allies. U.S. troops are humiliated and enraged by the depth of dishonor of this move by this dishonorable president.
So, who benefits? It is said that Trump has investments in Turkey and this narcissistic president can only think in terms of what benefits him - and he is sucking up to the Turkey strong man Erdogan in order to make millions of dollars for himself. That could very well be true given the character of this president.
However - Does Russia Benefit? Well, it does. A lot. Putin is allied with the Syrian dictator, Assad, and the forces of Assad, Iran, and Russia all move into the vacuum of the American withdrawal. So, yes, Russia does benefit.
Looking at Trump foreign policy we see Putin's Russia benefits on almost every front - America weakens its foreign policy leadership in the world by pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership in the far east, weakens its foreign policy leadership by attacking and threatening NATO in Europe, weakens its leadership in the Americas by pulling out of NAFTA.
Looking at Trump domestic policy we see Putin's Russia benefits by Trump's attack on and virtual destruction of the State Department, by his attacks on his own CIA, FBI and all Intelligence Agencies, by his attacks and weakening all science based policy across all government agencies.
Putin can't make Russia strong because it is a fairly insignificant economy, about the size of Italy as I understand it. So, Putin does what any top notch former KGB officer knows how to do - weaken and destroy his enemies - America, NATO, pretty much everybody in the world - by weakening their foreign and domestic powers.
Trump is an incompetent and ignorant man with no real foreign or domestic policy other than what can make him money. Putin, however, has a very clear American domestic and foreign policy. And it is pretty clear to me that Putin controls Trump. Trump is pretty easy to control for a KGB agent - feed his fragile grandiose ego, feed him money, or.... threaten him with lifetime prison for things like money laundering and tax fraud.
Trump hasn't a clue, but Putin and the Russian Oligarchs know exactly what they are doing.
