There is also the scenario where everyone close to him wants him dead, because he really is an evil sob. Ambitious people are just waiting for the slightest weakness and they will strike. As he gets older, the more likely it is to happen

Appeasement and rewarding for unprovoked aggression and invasion of another Country, is never going to lead to anything really positive in the end.
I would never support that.

Russia should not be allowed to even try to, never mind take Ukrainian territory.
Give anything to Russia at all, then it's likely they'll be back for more in the future.

Sure. And some people could live up to 99 being a warmonger out of pure spite and stubbornness. Putin does seem capable of this, but if it's something like terminal illness, spite would only help so much... that said, the US could theoretically end the war at anytime. Sure, why not? It's a thing that has been done. So I think that is the leverage we hold in these "talks". Which is probably more just to build pressure than to try to negotiate anything immediate...

Trump is transactional, he wants to increase his personal wealth. Selling arms to Nato/Ukraine nets him billions. Why would he want a ceasefire? :laugh:

While we are on the subject of Trump, have you seen the oval office recently? It's just wall to wall gold everywhere. It's so tacky :laugh:

"Gold everywhere" has been his personal aesthetic since forever. But actually, looking at what I did see of the oval, it actually fits in with the history of the place much more nicely than I'd seen in terms of how he decorated other buildings, which often looks very tacky. However, the gold leaf works well for the history/classic feel of the building and it gives a very antique feeling without not looking too modern. (It'd never look right)

Probably it is meant to move prominent/international guests more than us to be honest. If you go into internationally well-known hospitals in the US that are frequented by higher class populations, they're decorated very very similarly and that is a common aesthetic among the rich... yes, with gold leaf and giving the look of opulence in a hospital. The oval office doubles as a museum, so at least it makes more sense here at least...

At least he didn't go full bright ass gold among even all the little artifacts, which most people generally do when they do for gold leaf, they go very bold. There's touches of white gold in there as well and it balances it better and it's not screaming "GOLD!" all over the entire frame... the furniture reads very successful doctor office lobby though... again, a very common aesthetic in that space...

Edit: This was a thing also at some point:

Gold Toilet Offered to Donald Trump Will Be Housed at Winston Churchill’s Birthplace
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/...lls-birthplace

But I seem to remember there were rumors of a golden toilet well before that because his gold fetish was that well known.