Hypothetical: if Putin were to bomb invade a Baltic nation now, in the Trump era

[Blue3]

How would the world respond? What would NATO do? What would China do? Who would support Russia?

Most importantly, probably... how would the US respond under Trump, and how would that influence NATO?

Based on this old thread:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=191934.0

[dead0man]

NATO has to respond in such a situation, to do anything less is suicide.

[Beet]

Trump bomb invades North Korea

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Putin really screwed himself with his meddling in the U.S. election. Had Hillary won, the U.S. would take even harder line because of this. As of Trump, he has to constantly prove he's not a Putin stooge.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Yeah the true message of the trump era is that foreign policy kind of takes the president along with it, especially in a weak, divided administration. It would be war.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I don't think Trump makes any difference here. NATO would respond with full force.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I don't think Trump makes any difference here. NATO would respond with full force.

Trump would view it as a test of his strength by Putin if anything. Putin knows the line and how far to push it.

[dead0man]

They would be defended, and this is proof.

[DavidB.]

Putin will never do it, but of course NATO would respond forcefully.

[Flameoguy]

NATO article 5: An attack on any member shall be considered to be an attack on all

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'm sorry for a grim comparison but it's like when you launch a massive ICBM attack on another nuclear power: it's just obvious they'll respond.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

lso, let's dispel with the fiction Trump's election somehow alters the geopolitical situation here. The Kremlin seemes to be stupid enough to believe it would, but...

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

He wouldn't bomb. Or invade. It would be more like Ukraine. Unrest leading to violence, Russian forces on the far side of the border. Sure, NATO can position their own forces, and then media can show pictures of them clashing with "demonstrators" while a guerilla/terror war ramps up. Cyberattacks and propaganda everywhere.

Maybe all ending in a new government that's had lots of covert meetings with Russian agents that threatens to pull out of NATO.

[Kingpoleon]

Tillerson, Mattis, McMaster, and Kushner would presumably unite to make sure we responded appropriately. With the assistance of The Triple Ms(Macron, Merkel, and May), we could easily count on all our allies, plus Ukraine. Within a week, we would see a massive amount of troops gathering in Poland, awaiting permission to enter the Baltic nations and Ukraine. The armed forces would outnumber Russia considerably. It would take a literal intervention by China to keep Russia from getting steamrolled, and that's not really likely. Even then, India, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, and the separatists in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong would eventually defeat China, even if Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and all the communist states in the area fall in line. Regardless, President Xi Jinping recognizes he is outmatched in a war. However, if Russia completely collapses, he would be surrounded by a powerful India, as well as Japan, Indonesia, Australia, and America's growing influence in East Asia. Therefore, the most likely scenario is that China, and maybe even India, would send massive funds to Putin. India and Russia are continuing to grow closer and closer, which has consistently scared China, but not as much as a pro-Western Russia and India would.