@michael_martinez Lots of points there but you did a good job or summarizing them. I can't go over each one but in general terms I think you are right.

Trump has no Grand Plan that he made up himself, he is an opportunist and he wings it. I think he's roughly following Project 2025 a Big Plan written by others. I doubt he's actually read it but he's going off a verbal summary told to him by people who have read it.

Trump has other influences like Musk and some other billionaires and corporations, so that gets bolted on alongside Proj. 2025. And then he also gets distracted by anything shiny he hallucinates on his own like putting resorts and casinos in Gaza. And he will say anything that excites his public mob of followers, because he loves the attention.

I still think Putin might be blackmailing Trump but that is just speculation so I don't want to dwell on that.

I do think Trump is not very brave, he fears nuclear war. Also I think he knows Putin is dangerous, so many oligarchs that have opposed Putin have had fatal accidents near windows and stairs which is an old Russian Communist MO, so Trump knows he's dealing with someone dangerous.

Not sure we are solving the problem but it's good to write out my thinking and to read yours.