Russia’s billionaires lost trillions when Muammar Gaddafi fell in Libya. Putin failed to protect their interest, but maintained his power, and hence his own status as the wealthiest man in the world, by promising it wouldn’t happen again.

To this end, Putin has backed Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where Russians have invested fortunes and extended credit at even greater rates than they ever did in Libya. Putin has stayed true to his backers’ economic interests, even though the simplest rationale would have told him to cut bait and run long ago.

By manipulating the US election, Putin’s backers feel their oates and were especially excited to see their pal, Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State stand up for their interests.

Six days ago, Tillerson came through for Putin. He not only finally uttered something to the media, but when he did, he equivocated on the longstanding U.S. position that Bashar al-Assad must go. He stated that it would be the US position henceforth that it would be up the Syrian people to decide whether Assad stays or goes. In other words, the US would have no problem if he were to stay.

Assad again miscalculated. He somehow figured that because he had used chemical weapons on his own people before, Tillerson’s comment gave him carte blanche to do it again. (Barack Obama’s ineffectiveness allowed him to do this with impunity in 2013).

While the President may be in Putin’s debt, Trump is also apparently under the influence of strong women, like Nikki Haley and Ivanka herself. These women, and now Trump, may not be so prepared to let the latest violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Times of War (the 4^th Geneva Convention) without punishment.

Bashar al-Assad is a broken man and doesn’t seem to care whether he stays or goes. Russia’s oligarchs aren’t broken. They want Putin to keep America in line.

When you stop and realize what a terrible job it really is, you have to think deeply about why anyone would want it. If you think for a minute about the huge weight of the office, the incessant attention to anything and everything you say, the boring, agenda laden people around you, the supplicant donors, the media who would sit with you in the bathroom if allowed, the constant visits by heads of state, all the daily ceremonies celebrating anything and everything, one has to have a super sized ego or a deep down and massive inferiority complex to do this to him or herself.

And, really, the job of President is largely working with members of Congress who are as dumb as coal and interested in little more than padding their own pockets. They too made a deal with the devil for riches and status.

And, still worse, you have the responsibility of the world and all of the fast moving trauma and dangers associated with whims by other world leaders and actions by terrorists groups. In fact, you literally have singular responsibility, in the best case scenario, for solving or keeping the world from stupid but devastating wars and, even more, protecting the country and the world from nuclear catastrophe.

And, in the 21^st Century, it is worse and more scary than ever before. Now, we have to live with the possibilities, however frightening, of the President of the US setting off a cascading set of disasters leading to the end of civilization as we know it.

It’s really more than any sane person would want or do. And, as such, it is unfair to complain about anyone who is stupid enough to go for it.

Hillary was driven by a blind desire to bask in the power of it all, too stupid to realize how much things had changed, even since Bill. And, the only Republican left standing was equally driven by a fierce inner drive to be on top, and equally unaware of the huge dangers and inhuman responsibilities of the office.

Being President of the United States today is far different from what it was in years gone by. It is a job like no other, and not a very attractive one at that.

Around 1789, Marie-Antoinette, bride of France’s King Louis XVI, is believed to have said “let them eat cake,” when she was told that her French subjects had no bread to eat. Soon after, the French Revolution felled the Monarchy and Marie-Antoinette literally lost her head.

I doubt a revolution is in our future, but our national government today is top heavy with people, mostly men, who are as far from understanding the needs of the vast majority of Americans as the French Monarchy was in 1789.

The Trump Cabinet (not to mention Trump himself) is filled with billionaires and multi-billionaires. A few are lowly multi millionaires. But, as the New York Times has discovered, the vast majority of White House staff are themselves multi-millionaires. In fact, politicians in and out of Congress and on both sides of the aisle, are far more wealthy than most realize. Before Trump, and the emergence of the billionaire class in the executive branch, politicians have found increasing opportunities to fill their pockets, to become millionaires and more, while doing the people’s business.

But 7 in 10 Americans don’t have a $1,000 in savings. One half of one percent of our citizenry have 10 million or more dollars in savings, and many senior members of our government have resources that place them in the tiniest imaginable percentage of citizens.

America is now, more than ever before, in the hands of an extremely wealthy elite. The irony, of course, is that Trump and Republicans came to power because America’s working class rejected Hillary Clinton (and her husband) primarily because they felt she and Bill had hugely enriched themselves as a result of and during their roles in politics.

But, today – irony or not, those in power are furthest away than ever before from understanding the needs of most Americans. The replacement health care bill that went down just a bit ago is a case in point. But, that bill is just the beginning or a period ahead when the most wealthy are going to try to serve the population at large.

Given that history has shown time and time again that it is virtually impossible for most people of enormous wealth to understand and serve those with infinitely less, there is little reason to expect much from the men now in power. In fact, I would not be surprised to hear “let them eat cake” in today’s corridors of power.