"Trump, you're not supposed to sit on the same side as Putin, you're supposed to sit on the other side of the board..."
"Over here?"
"No, Trump. Opposed to Putin."
"You can't tell me no, that's illegal."
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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Let's not go back to pretending Putin is smart again please. They are both bloated, arrogant pieces of shit that surround themselves with yes men and don:t care for reality until it hits them in the head.
I mean... Putin is far, far more intelligent than Trump.
Yes, they're both arrogant, brutal bullies, surrounded by yes men... but, to keep with Trump's metaphor, Putin can actually correctly read most of the cards in his hand, and can actually manage a poker face.
Trump on the other hand, correctly understands maybe a single card in his hand, doesn't realize he is constantly accidentally turning and angling his cards so everyone can see them, drops a card or two every 30 seconds, and is also completely convinced he has the greatest poker face in the history of poker faces, when in reality he has near 0 ability to hide his true expressions in an actual adversarial situation.
Saying somebody is smarter than Trump is like saying somebody smells better than a skunk. It applies to everybody.
I'm not sure it applies to the people who voted for him.
Agreed lol.
3 day special military operation... Two invasions? Yea Chechnya wants a word
Any time the "anti-terror" police does work? The russian demographies maybe? Or the fact that outside of the oil russian real growth has been sinking?
Putin is a dick-tator. He thought the EU would back down on Ukraine, he "read his cards" incorrectly.
He's having to beg china for help since the russian industry would collapse without their assistance.
The really important point here is that idiots are very capable of doing extreme harm. And we need to take it seriously even if they are stupid, just don't portray them as something they are not.
I don't disagree with you, but let me put it this way:
When I say 'Putin can correctly read most of the cards in his hand?'
'Most' just means 'more than half'.
But yeah, stupid people with great power are very, very dangerous.
Kind of... the whole point of a democratic government is to be able to have internal abilities to check and block the stupidity of any one person, and make power be more diffuse...
But when that breaks down or is subverted, you go back to very powerful, often very stupid people in charge.
The difference is that in this case, Putin has a plan and an end goal of sorts. Trump is just hitting buttons on the controller at random.
Trump has all kind of pieces that don't look regular but it is still possible to play chess with them.
Nixon tried to be perceived as a mad man. Bush played a Texan. Can we be sure that Trump is dumb?
I mean is he not smart? If anything it seems his career as a dictator has been wildly successful.
You know how musk got to his position by being rich? Putin got to his position by being born into upper politicial class and getting a cushy kgb job in the soviet era
Then he won an election by promising to give his new oligarch friends a lot of stuff for their sponsoring of his campaign.
I don't know enough about 2000s Russian politics to contest that statement, but his destabilization of Europe and takeover of America don't seem like things you can do by just being rich.
Buy bots to spread all the anti-establishement narratives? Spread misinformation of all kinds just to see what sticks? It's not really a 5d chess move. It's just throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks. Even getting lucky with it.
In that case why isn't everyone else as successful? I doubt Iran or China lack the funds but I don't see Trump swearing fealty to Xi Jinping.
...but I don't see Trump swearing fealty to Xi Jinping.
Yet.
What time is it?
Because putin inherited the kgb machinery that he helped to build, which was explicitly designed to undermine any non-russian power base globally.
Showing him using actual chess pieces doesn't mean he's smart. You don't have to be intelligent to play chess. But, yeah, I think most people associate the idea of chess at all with high intelligence.
Not quite right. To be accurate, Trump should be attempting to eat the pieces.
This is making it seem like one of them is playing according the rules.
In all seriousness neither one of them can play chess or understand the rules.
The dalek as a rook is a solid switch.
For all of those complaining about the chess pieces or whether either of these guys could understand how to play the game -- how about this. Putin side is the same, looking at a chess board doesn't imply intelligence. If you need something, maybe rearrange the chess pieces to show he isn't really that tactical. Change Trump's side to him sleeping and shitting himself with hamberder chunks and stains down his shirt.
Better?
In chess, white has a natural advantage.
Cartoon would work better IMO if Trump had checkers
It's all wrong.
Putin's white queen doesn't stand on a white field. Are Putin's pieces black in disguise?
But Trump isn't white either because his field for the queen is also not white.
They play a game that looks like chess, but it is something else.
But Putin's white queen is on a white field? Am I missing something?
When you set up a chess board, the rule is "white to the right". The bottom right square should always be white, then moving inwards, Rook, Knight, Bishop, King/Queen. The queen is fashionable, her dress always matches her shoes, so the queen always starts on the square that matches her color.
Correct. My mistake. The field where she is supposed to be is black though.
No. White queen is supposed to be on white field
This made me realise there is an error after all - the corner field where Putin's closer rook is is supposed to be black.
So the queen is on the wrong field. The whole chessboard is mirrored.
Yes, correct. And the field should be d, the fourth field from the left.
The orientation of the board is wrong.
Oh, right! The left-hand corner should be black for both players. I.e. they're playing sideways on the board.
Some of those toys aren't even US franchises... I think it's the Czechoslovak Igráček as the a7 pawn, in front of the UK Dalek. Might have been brought by Ivanka but that would be a very deep reference for a cartoonist who can't correctly color a chessboard.
Dr. Who is now owned by Disney so it’s effectively a US show now
I don't know if this is that internet hyperbole thing but just want to point out that Disney bought the worldwide distribution rights for a couple dozen episodes, not the actual show itself. BBC still owns the show and has the UK distribution rights.
I was under the impression that Disney had significant creative control over the development of the most recent seasons, but I could be wrong. I guess I was just thrown off by the fact that every ad for the latest season I’ve seen has a Disney logo on it, and I assumed it went the way of so many American shows and franchises Disney has engulfed.
I'm not sure what this comic is supposed to mean but to me this is what US vs the rest of the world looks like. US government spend trillions in war and they have an arsenal of weapons we cannot even think of. US was testing swarm of drones more than 10 years ago
It represents what Trump is working with on the cerebral level when compared to Putin. Has nothing to do with military.
There is no actual relationship between someone's skills at chess and the pieces that they use.
I would assume that someone competent would use actual chess pieces.
If you're really good, you don't need the pieces at all.
Chump should have had checkers instead.
Bold of you to assume he knows how to play that game.
Pretty sure Darth Vader can solo this one