Saturday, August 19, 2017
Sunday, June 4, 2017
Ghitis: Trump has finally gone too far
Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review, and a former CNN producer and correspondent. The views expressed in this commentary are her own.
(CNN)Is it even possible for the United States to lead the world with Donald Trump as president? We'll know the answer in the coming months, as Trump attempts to discard every ideal and principle that gave the United States a unique place in history, even as others in the country -- including state and corporate leaders -- roll up their sleeves and work to prevent him from dismantling the work of his predecessors.
What we do know is that the time has come to retire the term "leader of the free world" when speaking of President Trump. It was a title once bestowed upon -- and earned -- by the men who held the presidency. Perhaps it will be again under another president.
To be sure, American leadership has never been perfect. The country has long struggled to balance its ideals, its interests, and the realities of a complicated world. It has often made grievous mistakes. But until Donald Trump moved into the White House, American presidents made a genuine effort to lead not only the country but the world in a direction that was generally consistent with its values. No more.
It's not just Trump's latest decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement -- a pact that 194 other nations have signed. That was only the latest in a continuing stream of decisions by Trump and his top deputies to turn aside our nation's place as a beacon of progress, stability, and global stewardship.
Trump exits Paris climate accord 05:44
No, besides Trump's move to isolate the United States from the rest of the planet on the climate issue, he has weakened the alliance that was born back in the days when the term "Free World" referred to the part of the planet not under communist rule during the great contest between communism and democracy.
Indeed, from the moment Trump was elected, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made it clear that the close relationship between the two countries was contingent on respect for common values. Now, America's European allies, particularly after Trump's recent meetings with NATO and the G7, say they are not sure they can trust Washington. Instead of strengthening this key alliance, Trump has sharpened its divisions.
If America's allies are openly questioning US leadership, how can our President claim the title of Leader of the Free World?
The United States (and its President) first became the leader of the so-called Free World during the Cold War, when President Harry S. Truman decided that the country would stand for more than its own narrow interests and work to support freedom. But the philosophy that turned America into a world leader dates much earlier, to the founding days of the republic, a time when individuals with a daunting sense of history grappled with profound questions. This new nation would become a torch-bearer, a beacon to peoples everywhere, who would see their aspirations come to life in America's daring experiment in democracy.
The whole world was watching and the young United States became a global leader, a trend-setter, a shaper of ideas that resonated across continents.
Staff mum on if Trump believes climate change 00:54
The notions of individual freedom, a free press, true democracy, have not always been easy to defend in a world full of threats. But US diplomats have sought to bring them into the equation. Now Trump's diplomats have been instructed to move away from that. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently told his diplomatic staff that US foreign policy should separate "the way people are treated," from US foreign policy. Here we are talking about human rights.
It was a dispiriting declaration, announcing to the world that Washington won't much care about them, nor democracy and the rule of law. And it was a sharp turn from the trends of the past few decades.
When Russian propagandists started disrupting elections in the US and Europe, Trump didn't object. It fell to French President Emmanuel Macron to stand up boldly for a free press. This week, with Russian President Vladimir Putin by his side, an undaunted Macron called out the Russian "news" agencies RT and Sputnik as "agents of influence and propaganda."
In the aftermath of the two great wars of the 20th century, Washington also took the lead in developing international institutions, creating groupings, such as the United Nations, that aimed to bring together every country on Earth to tackle common problems, such as climate change.
Under Trump, "America First" seems to mean goodbye to that kind of global leadership.
How isolated is the US becoming in this new abdication? This week offered a stunning accounting: In the entire world, only two other countries are not part of the Paris Climate deal. One is war-ravaged Syria. The other is Nicaragua, whose government refused to sign in protest because it found the pact too weak in its protection against climate change. What a club: Syria, Nicaragua... and the United States!
As CNN's "GPS" host Fareed Zakaria put it Thursday in a discussion of Trump's abandonment of his presidential mantle of "leader of the free world": "For a young presidency, it is already the single most irresponsible act that this President has taken."
By moving America out of the Paris deal -- a process that could take years, an intriguing prospect considering the investigations dogging the Trump administration -- Trump is tapping the brakes on what had been America's surging leadership in clean energy innovation. He's doing it under the pretext of saving American jobs. But the argument does not stand up to scrutiny, and evidence is all around. Consider, for one example, the technological and manufacturing leaps of companies such as Tesla, the electric car maker, now the country's most valuable car manufacturer.
Fareed: No constraints means dirty energy 01:25
Now, instead of supplying key government support for the technological developments that have dazzled the world as American individuals and businesses have reached toward the future, under Trump, the government will act as an impediment to progress.
Trump claims he will work to come up with a better climate deal. That is a doubtful proposition. So far, he has not even managed to establish leadership in the global nationalist movement, which his campaign had flirted with so alarmingly. Since he was elected, the far-right in Europe has instead gone on a losing streak, with voters troubled by what they see happening in America. That is good news.
If there is any consolation in all of this it is that, while Trump is no longer leader of the free world, America -- the country and its people -- has not fully abdicated. American institutions are still working to promote individual rights, democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression, and protection of the environment through innovation.
The President is moving in one direction, but the entire country is not following. Quite the opposite. Trump's reversal of US policies has energized those fighting to preserve them. Trump has lost the title, but many Americans are still determined to promote the values that made the United States a global leader.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Obama Urges Americans To Protest Donald Trump Order
On Jan. 18, President Barack Obama told reporters in his final news conference that he would comment on his successor's actions only at "certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake."
He managed to stay quiet for less than two weeks.
Obama, who is still on vacation with his family after leaving office this month, issued a statement through his spokesman Monday encouraging Americans to publicly protest President Donald Trump's move to ban citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries - as well as refugees from across the globe - from entering the United States.
He also contested Trump's claim that Friday's executive order was based in part on decisions made during his administration, including identifying the same seven countries as harboring terrorism threats and slowing the processing of visas for Iraqis after evidence surfaced that two Iraqis seeking resettlement had been linked to terrorist activity in their homeland.
With regard to comparisons to President Obama's foreign policy decisions, as we've heard before, the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion," Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement.
Obama's decision to speak out - after pledging to do so in rare instances - underscores the predicament he and many of his top advisers find themselves in just days after leaving the White House. While the president repeatedly emphasiEven Roosevelt told Taft after returning from a vacation overseas that while some progressives were disappointed with the new administration's direction, "I will make no speeches or say anything for two months. But I will keep my mind open . . . as I keep my mouth shut."
"I don't think it's very common at all for an ex-president to be commenting on the performance of his successor," presidential historian Robert Dallek said. "This current incumbent is so out of sync with what the normal behavior of a president is that it calls for ex-presidents to respond."
During his last news conference, Obama sketched out the criteria for what would prompt him to speak out as a private citizen. He said threats to some of the key ideas he championed - including tolerance for minorities, immigrants and political dissent, as well as the need for broad voter participation among Americans - could prompt him to weigh into the public discourse.
"I put in that category if I saw systematic discrimination being ratified in some fashion. I put in that category explicit or functional obstacles to people being able to vote, to exercise their franchise," he said. "I'd put in that category institutional efforts to silence dissent or the press. And for me, at least, I would put in that category efforts to round up kids who have grown up here, and for all practical purposes are American kids, and send them someplace else, when they love this country."
Several journalists put in requests for comment to Obama's office in the wake of the executive order, Lewis said, and while the former president is trying to take time off with his family, "he's reading the news like everyone else."
"Donald Trump's thrown a monkey wrench into those plans," Brinkley said, adding that while "he's not going to be getting into the nitty-gritty of the policy fights"or serving as "a Democratic Party operative," he's "going to have to stay very engaged" on a few key issues.
"He'll be a voice of dissent, but done in a calm and reassuring way," said Brinkley, a Rice University history professor. "There was no way Barack Obama could have stayed silent on this immigration ban."
The very structure of Obama's post-presidential office - which includes a few of his top White House communications aides - highlights the extent to which he is already positioning himself to engage in political advocacy.
Obama - who in his farewell address called on supporters to engage in political organizing to advance progressive goals - praised the idea Monday of Americans taking part in peaceful protests in the wake of the executive order.
"President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country," Lewis said. "Citizens exercising their Constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake."
Over the past year, Obama and several of his closest allies expressed concern that he had been unable to transfer the enthusiasm he generated onto either another political candidate or the Democratic Party more broadly. In recent weeks, however, liberals have managed to organize major protests on issues including women's rights and support for immigrants and those seeking asylum.
"What is notable about the grass-roots response to Trump has been is that it is exactly the response that President Obama called for in his farewell address," former White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer wrote in an email.
While Obama expressed his opposition to Trump's latest policy announcement in fairly diplomatic terms, other members of his former White House team have been more forceful in expressing their dismay.
Susan E. Rice, who served as Obama's national security adviser during his second term, could not contain her outrage at the idea that Trump gave his chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon a regular seat on the National Security Council's principals committee and that the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would sit in only as needed
.Source : NDTV.
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Friday, January 27, 2017
Trump's first wall to overcome: Congress The president is plotting an aggressive agenda — but lawmakers struggle to do anything quickly.
PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump ordered Senate and House Republicans here to get to work: new trade deals, new construction projects, an Obamacare repeal and replacement, filling a Cabinet and a Supreme Court seat and reforming the tax code.
But the business mogul-turned-president is getting a reality check from Congress, which can't just wave through his agenda. Each piece of legislation Trump wants to pass will be a major lift on Capitol Hill — and much of it will spark fierce Democratic resistance — meaning it will take weeks or months of negotiation to come together.
“It’s a new world when you have 535 people on your board of directors,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) in an interview. “Donald Trump is a man of action. He wants things done and done yesterday. We like that about him, but Congress was not set up to act like that.”
Some of Trump's proposals, including his infrastructure pitch, aren't even priorities for Republicans. Instead, they're targeting health care and taxes atop their agenda, both monumental tasks that could easily exhaust much of the GOP's political capital. And the GOP congressional retreat here in Philadelphia — intended to help smooth over differences and speed things along — produced little progress on any of those big ticket items.
On Wednesday Trump tasked lawmakers with running “the busiest Congress we’ve had in decades, maybe ever.”“Now we have to deliver,” he told lawmakers. "Enough all-talk, no-action…. This is our chance to achieve great and lasting change for our beloved nation."
Trump's regulation freeze makes losers out of some U.S. businesses
President Donald Trump’s quick suspension of new federal regulations has triggered some unintended consequences: sudden pain and deeper uncertainty for a broad array of U.S. businesses.Oil and gas companies, ethanol producers, real estate agents and small farmers are among those that could be hurt by the regulatory freeze. Some are lobbying to preserve regulations that Trump put on hold.
“I want him and whoever’s in his Cabinet to look at what the rules are saying,” said Eric Hedrick, a West Virginia chicken farmer trying to save an Obama-era rule. “Don’t just say that it’s another regulation. Look at what it says. Look at what the rule will do for farmers and ranchers across the country.”
The sweeping executive order, signed hours after the president’s inauguration, was intended to help American businesses by halting rules developed in the waning days of the Obama administration. Trump later vowed to cut regulations by 75 percent.
While many businesses are cheering Trump’s sprint to deregulate, the reaction from some corners of the business landscape underscores how complicated the issue is. For every government regulation, there are winners as well as losers.
Trump’s moves have also created uncertainty, the one thing corporate executives curse even more than government interference.
The administration’s first week has shaken foundations that companies have been building on for decades. FedEx Corp., John Deere and Hollywood were among the big losers when Trump torpedoed TPP this week. Target, Wal-Mart and other big retailers that depend on imports are struggling to decipher the president’s statements on a border tax, which could force them to raise prices they charge to customers. “Disruption has come to Washington in a big, big way, in a way we’ve never seen before,” said Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation. In a speech to NRF members last week, Shay called the border tax “potentially disastrous.
”The National Association of Realtors, whose 1.2 million members lean Republican, was the first group to feel the pain of Trump’s regulatory freeze. Just hours after being sworn in as president, even before issuing his broad executive order on regulation, Trump rolled back an Obama plan to lower costs for some homebuyers.
The $831 billion mortgage insurance industry rejoiced. But real estate agents hold out hope that the reversal at the Federal Housing Administration is temporary. They are making their case to the public and to Trump.
“We believe that the benefits of the mortgage insurance premium cut will shine through during this review period, so it can be quickly put back into place,” NAR President William Brown said.
A renewable-fuel market indicator had its biggest one-day drop in more than six weeks after the Environmental Protection Agency said it would delay standards for adding biofuels to the U.S. gasoline supply.
Houston-based Westlake Chemical Partners notified shareholders that the president had suspended a tax rule favorable to the business. Other companies might get tax relief — a plan to raise estate taxes on certain businesses was suspended, too.
What Russians are Googling about President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump ’s approval ratings in the U.S. may be low, but they’re soaring in Russia.
More than 70% of Russians believe Trump will be a competent U.S. leader, according to a survey by VTSIOM, a state-run research center, The Moscow Times reported. In the U.S., 45% approve of Trump and 45% disapprove, according to a Gallup poll.
But how much do Russians know about Donald Trump? In the last week, the top Google searches in Russia about Donald Trump range from “Who is Donald Trump” to “Which celebrities supported Trump.”
The top related Google searches focused on Trump’s wife, and his children and what the inauguration.
Top questions in Russia on Donald Trump in the last 7 days:
1. Who is Donald Trump?
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Royal Gossip: Meghan Markle Is Already Receiving Royal Coverage ...
Royal Gossip: Meghan Markle Is Already Receiving Royal Coverage ...: Although she’s not officially a royal yet (she’s just dating Prince Harry ), actress Meghan Markle is already receiving the roy...
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Environment agency 'faces media blackout' under Trump
EPA staff banned from releasing press statements, blog updates and social media posts, Associated Press reports.![Trump has declared himself an environmentalist [EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2017/1/24/4821171eb8d5422f992c96b0c9ccdac8_18.jpg)
Trump has declared himself an environmentalist [EPA]US President Donald Trump's administration has instituted a media blackout at the country's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Emails sent to EPA staff since Trump's inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed the specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts, the news agency reported on Tuesday.
The Trump administration also ordered a "temporary suspension" on all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors, it said.
The orders are expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide.
The EPA did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment on Monday or Tuesday, AP added.
Meanwhile, during a meeting with executives from the auto industry, Trump described himself as an environmentalist.
He did not elaborate on why he views himself as an environmentalist, but the comments came after urging companies from the auto industry and beyond to bring jobs back to the US.
On Monday he made similar comments at a business breakfast, stating again without elaborating, "I'm a very big person when it comes to the environment. I have received awards on the environment".
On Tuesday, Trump signed two executive orders to advance the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines, drawing outrage from activists who have serious concerns over the potential damages to land and water sites that the oil-carrying pipelines could cause.
Erich Pica, the president of Friends of the Earth, a network of environmental organisations, condemned Trump's move in a statement sent to Al Jazeera on Tuesday.
She accused the president of pledging "his allegiance to the oil companies and Wall Street banks that stand to profit from the destruction of public health and the environment".
Source: AP news agency
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Donald Trump's Inaugural speech and Annotations By Reporters
We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people. Together we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come. We will face challenges. We will confront hardships, but we will get the job done.
Mr. Trump begins with a hopeful message designed to appeal to all Americans, but there is an implicit critique of what has come before. He follows in the footsteps of other recent presidents, including Mr. Obama, in thanking his predecessor for a smooth transition.
Mr. Trump begins with a hopeful message designed to appeal to all Americans, but there is an implicit critique of what has come before. He follows in the footsteps of other recent presidents, including Mr. Obama, in thanking his predecessor for a smooth transition.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporter
Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth.
This is literally true. The Washington area has become one of the most prosperous parts of the United States in recent decades, while much of the country has stagnated economically.
Binyamin Appelbaum, Economic Policy reporter
The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
Mr. Trump begins with the theme that won him the election: a stark contrast between him and the political establishment, an us-against-them frame pitting ordinary American people against the elites.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporter
What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. Jan. 20, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again
Mr. Trump's advisers had said this speech would be about reaching out and uniting the country. In this passage, we hear
an appeal to members of both parties.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporter
This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
This echoes his convention speech, and it paints a bleak picture of America's streets. Violent crime increased about 4 percent in 2015, but that is a small blip in a decades-long decline in crime. The United States remains far safer than it has been in generations.
Matt Apuzzo, National Security reporter
at the expense of American industry, subsidized the ..............
Corporate profits have reached record heights in recent years. The biggest American companies have benefited enormously from globalization. It's the workers who have suffered.
Binyamin Appelbaum, Economic Policy reporter
while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military.
The Pentagon spends about $600 billion a year on the American military, more than is spent on the next six largest world militaries combined. Hardly a depleted force.
Eric Schmitt, National Security reporter
One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.
Mr. Trump studied the first inaugural addresses of Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy while writing his own. There is a bit of a ring here of Reagan declaring that the United States was an “exemplar of freedom.” It also hits on Trump’s “America First” message, a nationalistic approach that was thrilling to his supporters and alarming to many others.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporter
I will fight for you with every breath in my body, and I will never, ever let you down. America will start winning again, winning like never before. We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.
It is interesting that he chooses not to say more about immigration, given his message during the campaign. It appears to be an effort for a more inclusive tone, but there are still rumblings that he will take aggressive action to crack down on undocumented immigrants soon.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporter
There should be no fear. We are protected, and we will always be protected.
This is a remarkable statement for an inaugural address. Mr. Trump takes a paternalistic approach to elucidating the dangers facing the nation and reassuring Americans: Don't be afraid; the nation will protect you.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporte
We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action, constantly complaining but never doing anything about it. The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action.
Mr. Trump may be taking pages from his predecessors, but the style of his rhetoric seems unique for an inaugural address. There is nothing flowery about this language. It's a simple message, very simply delivered.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporter
A new national pride will stir ourselves, lift our sights and heal our divisions.
Mr. Trump casts this nationalist message as a unifying one, but it is the very thing that sowed fear in liberals, including many people of
color, during his campaign. One of the biggest questions of his presidency will be whether it will heal or intensify the nation's divisions.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporter
Together we will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again.
America has never been wealthier. The issue, as Mr. Trump noted earlier in his speech, is that the middle class is not benefiting from that prosperity, which is accumulating disproportionately in the hands of a wealthy minority.
Binyamin Appelbaum, Economic Policy reporter
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