Day 212: The Dangerous “Targeted Looting Phase” of Trump’s Presidency Has Begun
- john raymond
- Aug 20
- 3 min read
If Day 135 marked the end of the stormfront and the entry into the deceptive calm of the storm’s eye, then today marks the beginning of the aftermath phase—where exhaustion sets in, debris litters the field, and opportunists scavenge what remains.
Trump and Putin have fired their salvos; the impact was real, but the gambits have been largely blunted. What remains is not dominance, but depletion. This is the looting phase: dangerous, chaotic, but telling—because it reveals that the storm itself has passed its zenith.
The Evidence
Trump and Putin Exhausted
Operation Spiderweb, the failed inversion in Alaska, the multilateral resistance in Washington, the strikes on Iran’s nuclear program—all of these represent the high-water mark of Trump and Putin’s offensive capacity. Each was designed to shock or paralyze; each was blunted.
The Bunker Metaphor Holds
As on Day 135, Trump projects from a bunker. His attacks on the Federal Reserve, his purges of intelligence officials, his choreographed demands for “peace talks”—these are not confident acts of a regime on the rise. They are flailing maneuvers of one that is cornered.
The Looting Phase Manifest
Domestically: National Guard deployments and ICE overreach indicate scavenging at home—securing what spoils can still be grasped.
Internationally: The Alaska summit and Washington multilateral revealed the hollowing out of Trump’s narrative power. Allies no longer treat him as inevitable; they convene around Ukraine, not him.
Politically: Congress reconvenes in two days, with the Epstein scandal and Johnson’s failed recess maneuver ensuring that Trump faces political siege on multiple fronts.
The Analysis (Using the Raymond Method)
Pillar One: Regime Security Trump and Putin are both in survival mode. Their actions no longer expand control but conserve dwindling legitimacy. Like looters after a hurricane, they scavenge institutions, narratives, and allies to prolong regime life.
Pillar Two: Asymmetric Warfare Ukraine and the EU have matched and surpassed the asymmetric gambits once monopolized by Moscow. The drone strikes, the sanctions, the resilience of Western economies—even amid pain—have stripped Russia’s veneer of inevitability.
Pillar Three: Byzantine Traitor-General We now face a clear version of the Byzantine generals problem. If enough of the “good generals” (European leaders, Canadian partners, anti-Trump factions in the U.S., Ukraine itself) coordinate, they can overwhelm the traitor-general dynamic of Trump and his GOP enablers.
The calculus shifts: defection from Trumpism may no longer carry certain punishment. While loyalty now almost certainly brings growing costs.
Enemy-Intent (Minimax) The adversary has played most available cards. New moves exist—Trump can try to start a war, Putin can escalate nuclear rhetoric—but each is high-risk, high-cost, and unlikely to reverse their structural decline.
The Implications
The Danger Persists The targeted looting phase is dangerous precisely because it breeds unpredictability. National Guard deployments, ICE abuses, and weaponized agencies can inflict severe short-term harm even as long-term momentum turns against the two regimes.
Western Reinvigoration The EU, Canada, and broader anti-Trump and anti-Putin coalitions are now better positioned than in January. Leaders like Rutte, who once legitimized Trump, face mounting pressure to abandon indulgence and align directly with the anti-fascist camp.
Shattered Inevitability The myth of Trump’s inevitability is punctured—by Newsom’s political strikes, by Zelenskyy’s defiance, by Ukraine’s sustained offensive, by the American economy’s struggles. All these erode both domestic compliance and international passivity.
Endgame Horizons The most probable trajectories are now visible:
Putin’s regime ending in assassination or implosion.
Trump’s regime collapsing under scandal, economic rot, and coalition resistance, with his imprisonment now being the logical terminus.
Not the Conclusion, But the Beginning of the End
What Day 135 signaled as the entry into the storm’s eye has now given way to aftermath: the looting phase.
The storm is not harmless—it lashes still with arbitrary violence—but the pattern has inverted. Trump and Putin are no longer dictating events; they are scavenging from the wreckage of their own failed gambits.
The task now falls to the coalition of “good generals”—those who recognize the threat of Trumpism and Putinism—to coordinate, consolidate, and finish the job.
The storm has passed its peak. The danger remains, but so too does the chance for decisive victory.
Comments