Who is the American Putin?

chairman of the joint chief of staff has even more discretion and control over launching nuclear warheads than potus, so probably him

Not gonna go in technical on who exactly has the most power - because realistically nor I or the general public know or will ever know in their lifetimes.

Look at all politicians and figureheads in the US of A. Their actions, both in speech and politically, are that of puppets. Their actions and words are likely directed by people with secondary interests, whether that be monetary or for cultural divide, I'm not so sure. And what's important to take away from what I'm saying is that the scapegoats typically targeted by contrarian figures such as a banking family we all know, or perhaps Jews in power, are all practically innocent, and in reality those that hold 'the most power' are unseen for good reason.

You're right in that in Russia and China, the question of 'who is in power' is more accurately defined as leaders such as Putin and Xi control all other people with political influence. The reality is that America has been trying to build the image of their presidents up to be akin to the infamy of these two leaders, to little success.

No one. Putin and Xi are both Machiavellian figures who rose from the depths of communist party turmoil in each of their countries and proceeded to lead them to new heights by introducing "capitalism" in a way where the state still controls most of the ultimate result. They've both remained in power for decades and will kill any real challengers that rise up. There is no figure in American politics that is even remotely capable of being compared to either of them. 

They're obviously not "good" people, but you have to recognize their capableness and intelligence. Most politicians in the US get their job lacking both and just by saying the correct lines they're given by large donors. The smartest figures in American politics aren't the public facing ones who are elected, it's the forever bureaucrats who remain in power regardless of what team wins every 2-4 years and the donors who decide which politicians get backed.

Klaus Schwab

Surely whoever has the deepest pockets.

The people who code the search algorithms for Google

Interesting question - I think we can more or less equate lobbying power in the congress and senate as real power, since those branches write most of the laws in the US. Therefore, it appears that in the US no individual (unlike Russia and China) would hold the most power, but instead a list of corporations in every industry who has power to pull strings on the future of their respective industry and in a sense the country. By that idea, in every corporation, whoever the majority shareholder/ group of shareholders acting together will be the ones who hold the most power, and will likely be the ones who are truly driving the country/ controlling the country. That’s my one minute answer, happy to hear what others think if I’m wrong.

Dick Cheney obviously.

Even Xi doesn't have the level of personal power that Putin has. We've never heard of Xi ordering assassinations because his political rivals are all within the CCP and Xi derives his legitimacy from the CCP. Assassinations will destroy the foundations of his power. Putin is literally a 1 man show at this point.

Hölder

That got me thinking, who would be the Putin or Xi of the United States? I mean, I'm sure that there is not an actual Putin but in other words, who is the american with the most power? Who would be the guy that if he wanted war against a small nation, we would go to war against that small nation for no other reason than he wants that war. A simple answer may be the president but I don't think that's true.

So, the question is, who would be willing to wage war for the sake of their own ego, or to preserve their own hold on power, and would basically say to the international community and most of their domestic audience "fuck you" and make up a whole bunch of lies to justify their decision?  The answer is obviously Donald Trump. 

You need someone who craves personal power, who is willing to employ violence to get/preserve it, who doesn't care about tradition or law (e.g. is willing to forego a constitution to keep their hold on power), who cares little for other people's lives or welfare, has a loose relationship with the truth, and who could foreseeably convince  enough people to follow him/her into a military conflict.  The only person that fits that bill is Mr Trump.  A large minority of this country will believe literally anything he says.  He's already shown that he's willing to use violent rhetoric to gain power, and actual violence to maintain it.  He doesn't give two shits about tradition, institutions, legality, any of that - the world exists to enrich and aggrandize himself.

It's not too much to say that Mr Putin is exactly what Mr Trump wants to be.  He just isn't intelligent or ruthless enough.  The ridiculous displays of masculinity, the authoritarian approach to wielding power.... I'm not even sure why you asked the question, when the answer is so obvious.