XX. Putin and Trump apparent commonalities

On C-Span the other day, Washington Journal program, a political analyst, Mr. Eland,  who has been associated with a conservative think-tank in the DC area, the CATO Institute, made the case that NATO may have outlived its usefulness.  His reasoning seemed in line with Trump's position, viz., our involvement in NATO should be reviewed, particularly since some European countries have not lived up to their financial obligations to support it .  Further, he contended that Russia has a legitimate interest in securing the Ukraine as part of its natural sphere of influence.

Now, I understand that a "sphere of interest" can be thought of as a region or geographical area in need of especial protection from harm or endangerment, such as a waterway that is in need of security from instability and closure by some country's hostile attempt to control it for its own purposes at the expense of trade and commerce among regional neighbors.  But to treat an independent nation as being within another country's "sphere of influence," especially when that independent nation is legitimately pursuing its own affairs without affecting the rights of any other nation to act within its own boundaries seems "illegitimate."

In any case, the apparent fact that someone of Trump's advisers was close to a former Ukrainian President got me to wondering:  what if there were really some fundamental political stances of President Putin that are shared with Presidential candidate Donald Trump?

For instance, we know that the Russian Revolution got rid of the aristocratic government in Russia. That Revolution championed the cause of the Russian Proletariat--the Russian working class.  And that class took over the central government.  Maybe, Trump's stance on behalf of the workers in the US could be compared to it.  Trump admits he knows the tricks and nefarious dealings of the present-day ruling elite in the US; and thus is in position to right the wrongs on behalf of the working class.  He further contends that he alone is in position to make use of such knowledge.

Also, while Putin's support is primarily from the white Russian population, both in Russia proper and its present satellites, casting aspersions on those in that region not of Russian descent, Trump relies upon his candidacy from primarily the whites in America, delimiting it further to white men..

Now, if indeed the Russian government is aiding the hackers to leak DNC info that could prove an obstacle for Hilary in her race to the Presidency, one might be presented with a possible motive for Trump's avowed neutralism in his characterization of Russia's politics toward the US, despite the current Administration's adversarial position.  And, what Putin might be desirous should Trump win in the US are a sure-footing against NATO and the independence of nations formerly under Russia's "sphere of influence," especially the Ukraine.

Well, this is just  a series of conjectures that make up a Whack-O Theory!  Nothing but conjecture.

But this Theory would explain a further adamant contention by Trump, namely, get rid of international trade deals in existence now so as to reconfigure them to better promote American worker interests.   Now, we know that Trump has yet to make clear that he understands, automation is the major factor in worker displacement around the world.  He might be wanting us to believe that these international trade deals are simply swamping the US workers off the map.  Be it known, however, that most of these trade deals come with a juridical court system to handle international disputes in trade and commerce, e.g., the WTO.  So, there's methods to cope with disputes over trade deals that can be taken up when appealed to by a member nation or its internal corporation.