With each other maybe? In practice they are very aligned.

They are only aligned in that certain parts of the western elites hate both of them.

They represent two completely opposite poles, geopolitically. Not horseshoe theory compatible: they are mutually exclusionary.

> He can't be both: these two don't align.

They could be both pulling at the strings, often in different directions with varying success. It could even be tracked by the people going in and out of favor with the admin: MTG, Carlson, Gubbard riding high? Russia's pull is stronger. Them becoming pariahs reduced to criticizing the Iran war from the peanut gallery? Israel has taken over.

My actual argument is that the theory that he's a puppet being pulled is not a serious one. Much like a chocolate for hunger, it's just an intellectually lazy explanation for people who look for intellectually lazy explanations.

That's a valid theory.