tormeh
Maybe the same as with drugs in sports: Self-experimentation can be an expedient shortcut, and scientists are often very competitive people. If results obtained through self-experimentation are rewarded, many scientists would be tempted to do it. Contrary to doping in sport, however, in science you need to at least do something different each time for it to be publication-worthy. That institutes a big skill floor and considerable risk, so I think a self-experimentation epidemic is unlikely. Generally I still think self-experimentation is good, precisely because it’s such a shortcut.
Nobody wants to be on the naughty-list of a person this powerful. Even if he loses, the Republican party and all its office-holding members will still to some degree answer to him. He’s not someone you want to pick a fight with unless you are willing to sacrifice something.
I don’t think so. I don’t think Trump has any allegiances to anyone but himself. He’ll only go along with what Putin wants so long as it serves Trump. That’s awful, of course, but he’s not a puppet.