Trump’s Iran peace deal costs Putin $110m a day
Trump’s Iran peace deal costs Putin $110m a day Source link
All posts tagged: Trumps
Judge in Boston blocks parts of Trump’s mail-in voting order : NPR
President Trump holds up an executive order to limit mail-in voting as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick looks on in the White House’s Oval Office in March. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Alex Wong/Getty Images An executive order by President Trump that seeks to enlist the U.S. Postal Service to limit voting by mail has hit a legal hurdle. On Thursday, a Boston-based judge blocked key parts of the order that, at least so far, has not directly affected mail-in voting for this year’s midterm primary elections. The ruling applies to this fall’s general election and earlier races in nearly two dozen mainly Democratic-led states, plus Washington, D.C., that filed one of the five lawsuits against Trump’s order. The legal fight, however, is likely to continue. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the new ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, a nominee of former President Barack Obama, as a separate appeal of an earlier ruling by another federal judge moves forward in a similar set of lawsuits based in D.C. Among other …
Trump’s Other Paint Job – The Atlantic
Halfway through President Trump’s first term, as construction crews were busy installing hundreds of miles of barriers along the southern border, a puzzling edict came down from America’s aesthete in chief. Trump wanted the border wall painted black. The president had already lost an argument about what his “big, beautiful wall” should look like. Trump envisioned a solid-concrete structure, like the one Israel has built through the West Bank. But U.S. Customs and Border Protection already had a preferred prototype, consisting of vertical steel bars that, crucially, allowed border agents to see through to spot potential threats on the Mexican side. The competing visions pointed to a larger fundamental question: Whose border wall was it? How quaint that seems now. Trump in his second term treats federal property as his own, demolishing the East Wing of the White House, adding his name to the Kennedy Center, and ordering the construction of a 250-foot arch opposite the Lincoln Memorial. His fixation with paint continued as he ordered a blue coating on the Reflecting Pool that turned …
The Whiplash of Trump’s Iran Capitulation
Almost everything in the Trump administration seems like an implausible pitch for a television show, containing so many oddball plot devices and weird twists that even the most creative showrunner would veto most of them. Wait, what? The president wants to invade Greenland? Marco Rubio is clomping around in the wrong-size shoes? And what’s this about Bobby Kennedy and a dead raccoon? But nothing compares to “the Iran war” as an off-the-rails subplot that defies comprehension: A major military operation that began with thunderous promises of regime change in Tehran and the remaking of the Middle East is now fizzling out with Vice President Vance gamely standing around in Switzerland while Donald Trump proclaims that Iran needs missiles and the new ayatollah’s emissaries demand more reparations. The whiplash is so extreme, the outcomes so ludicrous, that no sensible screenwriter would attempt to sell any of this as a coherent story. Four months ago, Trump promised the people of Iran that he was going to bomb their oppressors out of power, and that once the smoke …
Trump’s No-Limits Presidency – The Atlantic
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. In an interview with The New York Times early this year, Donald Trump was asked, “Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to?” “Yeah, there is one thing,” he said. “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me, and that’s very good.” The answer was not very reassuring, especially to anyone familiar with Trump’s ethical or cognitive track record. Last week, the reporter Marc Caputo, of Axios, brought the idea up again: “What have you learned about not just the exercise of power but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?” “There are no limits,” Trump replied. “I haven’t learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but, you know, there are no limits. …
“He really doesn’t care”: Warren slams Trump’s decision to hold up affordable housing bill
Elizabeth Warren was taken aback by Donald Trump‘s decision to hold off on signing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The Democratic senator from Massachusetts told CNBC on Wednesday that the inner workings of the president’s mind are a complete mystery. “If you’re asking me to get into Donald Trump’s head and figure out what’s going on there, you need somebody else,” she said. “I don’t have any idea. This just doesn’t make any sense.” Trump shared on Wednesday that he had no plans to sign the housing act, which passed the House with bipartisan support, into law. He called out Warren on Truth Social, saying that he would not sign the bill into law unless Congress passed the controversial SAVE America Act. That act would add new restrictions on voters in federal elections, including photo ID requirements. GOP lawmakers have repeatedly stated that they don’t have the votes to pass the act. “The Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill, which is of minor importance compared to lower interest rates, and even FISA, pales …
How right-wing media turns Trump’s failures into conspiracies
Donald Trump’s signature beautification project, meant to prove his unique genius for getting things done quickly, cheaply and beautifully, is visibly, undeniably failing. As the “Great American State Fair” is slated to kick off its 16-day showcase Thursday for the United States’ 250th birthday, a sulfurous metaphor for the state of the American republic sits pooling in the heart of the nation’s capital. You can call it a swamp. The bizarre ordeal with the renovation of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is important not because of the pool itself. Americans have bigger concerns than algae in Washington. It matters because it illustrates a broader pattern that has defined Trump’s political career and increasingly characterizes his administration’s communication strategy. More than merely mismanaging reality, the White House is actively replacing it with conspiracy. The project has collapsed into an emblem of systemic incompetence and cronyism that the administration has attempted to mask through a dizzying array of official conspiracy theories, weaponized law enforcement and cynical trolling. The Reflecting Pool reopened on June 6 after over $16 million …
Why MAGA buys Trump’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool hoax
The word “narcissist” comes from the Greek myth of Narcissus, which tells the story of a young man so enamored of his image in a reflecting pool that he is unable to look away. He eventually dies from his own egotism and turns into a flower. Donald Trump is no doubt ignorant of this story, even as he loves to imagine himself connected to the glories of antiquity, so it’s fitting that he is reenacting the tale from Ovid’s poetry as a distorted, expensive farce. Like the mythical figure who gave name to Trump’s most prominent personality flaw, the president became fixated on the famous Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, hoping to repaint it so that it mirrored his imagined brilliance. Instead, the algae-ridden water has turned into an on-the-nose metaphor for his own decrepitude, as tourists have begun swarming it so they can mock this totem of Trump’s failures. The same man who threatened to sue and ban comedians for satirizing him is now overseeing an effort to falsely accuse people of “vandalism” as a …
House passes affordable housing bill, sends it to Trump’s desk
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (FL) speaks on Day 3 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 17, 2024. Mike Segar | Reuters The U.S. House on Tuesday voted 358-32 in favor of an affordable housing bill aimed at lowering costs for homebuyers and reining in institutional investors, sending the package to President Donald Trump’s desk. The legislation, dubbed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, is a rare bipartisan measure in a deeply divided Congress. It advanced out of the Senate on Monday night by a vote of 85-5, after months of debate and different versions ping-ponging between the House and Senate. Lawmakers struck a final deal on the legislation last week. Trump is scheduled to sign the legislation at the Capitol on Wednesday, ahead of a planned meeting with Senate Republicans, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office. “With final passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, Congress is paving a path back to homeownership for American families who have been locked out for …
Column: Trump’s second term is a murky, embarrassing and costly spectacle
Every time I get asked by a TV anchor what I think about the drama of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, my favorite “historical” headline from the Onion comes to mind: “World’s Largest Metaphor Hits Ice-Berg.” And every time I do, I hear from defenders of the Trump administration complaining about the disproportionate media coverage of what should be a very minor story in the grand sweep of things. They have a point. President Trump has done some good work rehabbing Washington, D.C., where I live. But the Reflecting Pool has bedeviled him. Algae keep returning to the pool, despite the administration’s best efforts, and attempts to remedy the problem have yielded further problems. I can think of scores of stories that deserve more attention on the merits. But there are two problems with this complaint. First, it was Trump who invited extensive scrutiny of the effort. “I’m very proud of it,” he said before the algae counteroffensive. “I’m very good at building things and constructing things, so I hope you go take a look …