#usa2016

Masha Gessen on the Trump-Putin relationship

“When people say that [Trump] is going to calm down [once in office], that he’s not going to be the character his campaign rhetoric conjured — they have absolutely no basis for saying that.

It is not characteristic of Trump to be calmer.

And to not be the character that he has spent, not just the entire 18 months of the campaign creating, but his entire life creating.

It’s also not characteristic of past presidents. American presidents, by and large, are very consistent with their campaigns.

This fallacy that campaigns are just campaigns, and governing is a different beast, has no basis in fact. 

A number of studies show that between 70% and 80% of campaign promises are in fact carried out. 

So we need to be very serious about this.

Not just because autocrats, as a rule, tell you exactly what they’re going to do. But because politicians, as a rule, tell you exactly what they’re going to do.