That's created a lot of space for these guys to move closer to Israel and the U.S. We're now treating them not as bloodstained oppressors who rule without the consent of their people, but as Guys We Can Do Business With.

Yes.

I disagree with this:

Right-wing populism has changed that a lot, and Trump especially has changed that. The message is loud and clear to these rulers: we don't care anymore. We don't care that you're not elected, we don't care that you deny basic democracy to your people, we don't care if you deny them political freedoms or the right to choose their own leaders or the right to free press or assembly or anything else. That's your business.

This isn't a Trump thing. Rather, the insistence on democracy as the Frist Principle through which the United States will deal with you is the change in traditional US foreign policy - not Trump. If anything, Trump is returning the US to more of a Realpolitik stance of the type most frequently espoused by Kissinger and Nixon but also employed by every other post-WWII US President: Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ...only until you get to Jimmy Carter do you see a move away from that model.

It's along the lines of "We get that so-and-so is a scumbag, but it's fine as long as he's *our* scumbag". This is the kind of a foreign policy you set up in a bipolar world where battle lines will be drawn up sooner rather than later.

There's another reason why the US is moving in this direction and why Trump wants both the middle east and the conflict in the Ukraine settled yesterday: they're both sideshows. The main event is over the Pacific and the US needs worldwide stability to enable focus there.

For those who doubt me that we're shifting our eyes to the Pacific, I give you this:

yahoo.com - F phoenix patch authentic

Eagle-eyed viewers will immediately understand the connection between the squiggly line on the side of the patch and the colors of the Phoenix. Especially astute viewers will immediately make the connection to the "FBC" initials on the right.