My guess is that this need to ‘conquer’ is a function of his pathology, and his belief that it will make his base love him more. And that Putin - and the pro-Putin actors within the administration - have really cleverly cultivated and encouraged this psychological quirk of Trump’s.
A refusal to engage on that level of discourse would, at the very least, have revealed how far he would be willing to go. It would have revealed his ultimate intentions - if he has any. Personally, I think it is the dissolution of NATO, but I could be wrong.
My guess is that he has an unconscious need to leave a trail of wreckage and shit behind him because that is what he’s done his entire life. It is helpful to ignore the content and look at the structure of his repetitions.
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