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A friend emails with a question:

Why is Trump so intolerant of Iran and yet so tolerant of Putin and Kim Jong Un?

This is an easy one. President Obama signed a treaty with Iran but treated both North Korea and Russia harshly. Trump is motivated largely by a hatred of Obama, so he always wants to do the exact opposite. That means hating on Iran but cozying up to North Korea and Russia. I think you’ll find that this simple heuristic accounts for pretty much all of Trump’s country-specific sentiments, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Germany, Canada, Ukraine, Cuba, and so forth. Helluva way to run a railroad.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

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And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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