It exposes the cyber war nonsense as well that Putin wanted Trump in power
Trump was more unpredictable whereas Biden could be read like a book, Putin’s calculus was something like:
- The US and NATO had no intention placing troops in Ukraine
- The US (in particular) had no appetite to even risk conflict
- US and allies would be slow to support Ukraine with military equipment
The Afghan withdrawal was a huge blow to the Biden administration. Trump said he wanted to withdraw, but didn’t because probably was advised (as was Biden) something along the lines of a Taliban victory. Intelligence expected this outcome but was surprised by the collapse of the Government forces.
In fairness to Trump, and I’m not a fan of him, he definitely displayed to USA’s enemies that has not to be taken lightly and he was taken seriously. He was just bombastic and unconventional in his approach which put off a lot of western commentators.