WHO IS MOST POWERFUL PRESIDENT? PUTIN, XI JINPING OR TRUMP?

Most powerful would be either China’s Xi Jinping or Russia’s Vladimir Putin. U.S.A.’s Donald Trump is probably third.

For China, it starts with the most populous nation at four times the size of the U.S.A. Along with that is a general willingness of the population to follow as leadership directs, not completely, but reasonably well. A large land area that has extremely important resources for modern times provides needs as leadership sees fit as it decides in most cases, and leadership has been willing to sacrifice some quality of life with mostly minimal resistance. Leaders also have strong legal authority.

China has been aggressively pursuing trade agreements and business opportunities around the world to increase its influence. At the same time, it has been quietly avoiding anything looking much like military aggression, except fairly close to its borders, which keeps much of the world from feeling any threat. This again raises its influence.

China’s technological lead in some critical areas may be widening. It perhaps took permanent lead in computer technology a couple years ago, holding the top spot in the TOP500 rankings for four years, and now holding the top two spots. Most disturbing is that they’re doing it with their own designs rather than using basic foreign technologies. China’s space technology has been progressing well. It’s had two space stations in orbitsince last year, the first being launched in 2011 but probably falling out of orbit next year (joining U.S.A.’s SkyLab and the Soviet Union’s Mir). A third space station is scheduled for the 2020s. Military technology may be on the verge of surpassing other nations, especially submarines. Nuclear powered missile subs and cruise missile technology has China’s navy moving up. Other technologies have been taking leadership positions, too.

Russia also has a significant population size that generally follows leadership, combined with extensive land resources. Putin appears to have strong control, but more aggressive military moves outside of its borders keeps trust by other nation’s lower. Those military stands have been unpopular for much of the world even though there is some legality in international law behind them.

Political actions have been highly questionable, but it appears that control is able to override any legal obstacles. Numerous government officials have died and some have been apparently murdered without consequences. Such a relatively high number is naturally suspicious. Even more so when a couple are clearly murders.

A willingness to try to manipulate a U.S.A. Presidential election and having capability for some degree of successare indications of relative strength. The linked intelligence community report is perhaps preliminary in that much more has been tracked and covered in the nine months after it. It’s currently questionable how much more will be released for public review.

Russia’s resources make it self-sufficient in energy. It’s currently the 2nd greatest exporter of crude oil. And it’s also self-sufficient in almost all significant industrial raw materials and also has rich reserves of nonfuel minerals.

Although Russia is extremely rich in terms of mineral and other resources, it faces major obstacles of exploitation due to weather and terrain. With land area twice that of Canada, the 2nd largest nation, Russia has just under half of the size of the U.S.A. population. Labor to move to remote areas with difficult climate is expensive, and the Russian economy is not yet in a condition to afford it. And stiff restrictions against use of extracted resources by foreign investors keeps funds low. However, its large reserves of most fossil fuels and other exports such as timber, copper, diamonds, aluminum and steel, etc., bring significant income.

The U.S.A. is less resource-rich in numerous areas than the other countries. Most importantly, numerous ‘rare earth’ metals critical to modern technology need importing in significant quantities. So, for example, nearly a third of our imported platinum-group metals comes from Russia, and about half of our gallium and germanium imports come from China. That implies dependencies and vulnerabilities. Many other raw material imports imply indirect vulnerabilities, either because foreign sources may choose to restrict exports or because shipping is inherently vulnerable.

The U.S.A. currently holds an advantage in food production above the needs of its population. A relatively mild climate with a relatively large arable land area will help maintain advantage unless climate changes disrupt them.

The U.S.A. also has technological leadership in many advanced areas. However, there are continuing internal pressures to hold to older technologies and methods while reducing support for a number of modern ones, partly ceding leadership to other countries.

Powers of the U.S. President are strongly limited by the Constitution. For the most part, what power exists is internal to the country (one major exception in time of war). There is additional power in negotiating international agreements, but the effects are primarily limited to whatever can be purchased with accumulated wealth, though much wealth exists.

Outside of laws passed by Congress, U.S. Presidential power on a daily basis is mostly limited to a ‘power of oration’. If enough citizens choose to follow, or citizens of enough private power, a U.S. President may wield major influence in many areas of national effort. Yet, a large enough group of opposing citizens can reject any Presidential speeches, and there is no power to do much about it. There is no national police force that is directly (legally) responsive to a U.S. President’s personal orders.

Though relatively weak compared to Russian and Chinese Presidents, the U.S. President still represents the U.S.A. internationally and has the weight of U.S.A. reputation available. There is enough power in that to influence many international affairs, though the U.S.A. is only 5% of the world.

Internal and external influence based in reputation is what most ‘power’ actually is for the U.S.A. President. That both limits it and raises it to 3rd place at best

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