Watching the way Trump and Putin speak and act, one cannot help but feel how fundamentally different their mindset is from ours.
Seizing land through connections, force, and money, then developing it for enormous profit—Trump seems to view the world with the mentality of a ruthless land developer, which he really is. It is like a schoolyard bully who never bothers to study, but simply expands his turf and throws his weight around.
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Putin—and, historically, many Russians—think in a way not so different from Trump. In fact, Russia can be seen as a surviving relic of the great powers of the 19th century, when this land-grabbing, imperial mindset was the norm.
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It is not that business leaders in manufacturing, finance, or IT are especially virtuous. Their competition, too, is often marked by cunning and ruthlessness. Even so, at least they do not seize territory and destroy the lives of the people who live there—and that alone makes them less evil.