Trump is a rapist to the core of his being. That’s what he does. He sees a shiny object and he takes it. It used to be women and girls, but that door is pretty much closed to him by his aging biology. Now it’s countries- minerals, oil and money.

This. Anyone who thinks Trump has any motivation other than his own bank account and making sure that people are talking about him every day, that the airwaves and social media are full of Trump, and that his name will be featured prominently in history books, is way off the track. This is evident in every word he speaks or tweets.

There may be people around him who have other motivations and are able to get him to go along with their ideas, as long as they can be made to fit into the above criteria. And some of those people may even be operating from what to them seems a place of using their power to genuinely try to better the world, although this seems increasingly unlikely in Trump's second term. It's all about accumulating more power and more wealth. And if that means that people have to die, or go without health care or good education in the wealthiest country in the world, so be it.

Egos unchecked. Character matters.