DJT has miscaluated "bigly" imo. He's given Putin a significant geopolitical concession for a small economic benefit, high risk.

Sizing someone up is a lost art waiting for a comeback.

He hasn't miscalculated at all, because that would imply planning ahead and strategic think that is not present. He reacts like a plant towards sunlight. However, the sunlight is a paired supply of dominance and validation, generally through sexual conquest and displays of wealth.

He *admires* Putin and is frequently and plainly dismissive and disrespectful to the US Constitution. Values and ethics are for suckers, as he frequently and innappropriately notes (including military members that sacrificed for their country theatlantic.com - Trump americans who died at war are losers and suckers)

He did precisely what one would predict he would do. He did a dominance display over someone that depended on him (Ukraine) and was deferential to an entity that supplied validation (Russia) and in a way that enriched himself.

It's like describing a moth flying into a bug zapper as "miscalculating" when it really had no agency in the matter - it was just a basic matter of instinct. If a grown human adult grabbed the bug zapper because the moth flew into it and they trusted the moth's instincts, *that* would be a miscalculation.

The only miscalculation was the Republican, tech leadership, and US business community tying their wagons to him and his administration. And some in the tech leadership - irrationally and insanely - want to destroy US global power to create their own cryptocurrency based techno-libertarian society and are aiding this implausible and impossible outcome with the wealth, AI, and social media infrastructure that they control.

It is depressing to watch China ascend as the US self-immolates.