« For years, Trump has used rallies and social media to inspire random violence against his domestic opponents. This has led to a self-purge of the Republican Party and forged a docile cohort of congressional cadres. The people who submit to Trump perceive him as a strongman, but what they are experiencing is their own weakness. And their weakness cannot magically become strength in the wider world.
[ ... ]
The weak strongman helps the People’s Republic. Time was not really on China’s side before Trump. While a generation of Americans had feared that China would surpass the US economically and militarily, the trend lines in recent years were no longer so clear, or indeed had reversed. But now that Trump has set a course to destroy America’s state capacity, China can simply take what it once would have had to struggle to gain.
Wall Street might profit from the TACO trade in the short term, but a weak strongman brings only losses. While Trump’s supporters might be tempted to believe that he has made America a titan among nations, the opposite is true. As a strongman, Trump destroys the norms, laws, and alliances that held back war. As a weakling, he invites it. »
— Historian Timothy Snyder at Project Syndicate (archived).
The weaker a leader is, the more likely he is to hire lickspittles and ambitious imbeciles who are even weaker.
The only people who regard Trump as "strong" are those view lying loudmouths as tough.
On a good day Trump is what Brits would call a "pub bore". On a bad day Trump is a totally unhinged loony.
MAGA zombies may regard his behavior as an indicator of strength, others understand that it's really narcissistic insecurity which Russia, Iran, and China are happy to take full advantage of.
There is a midterm election in less than 1½ years. We need to begin work on replacing those GOP Capitol Hill weaklings who continue to prop up Trump.
