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Tension between Trump and Iran increases
Trump was ready to authorize the attack on Iran but reversed course "10 minutes before the strike" when he learned 150 people could die in the attack, Trump said in a series of tweets. But according to Fox News [of all places], it was reported that Trump knew about the estimation of casualties hours before his decision.
In addition, Trump initially said he thought "Iran made a very big mistake" [negatively] but later said "I have a feeling it was a mistake". And now he's back to his war mongering mode. What will he said next? It wasn't Iran?
"Everybody says he is a war monger and now they say I'm a dove… I'm a man with common sense" said Trump before boarding Marine One. Who said he is a "dove"? Probably nobody.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the White House is "suffering from mental disability" and behaving as "no sane person," in the wake of new sanctions. Sounds like he's talking more about Trump.
Trump whined why the US is protecting oil shipping lanes, contradicting what his own Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said about the Strait of Hormuz. Pompeo said just the week before that they would do everything to make sure ships can go through the Strait. Trump is also complaining that the US is paying for something to protect that it doesn't use.
Trump doesn't believe he needs congressional approval to make a military strike against Iran. "I do like keeping them — they have ideas, they're intelligent people, they'll have some thoughts. I actually learned a couple of things the other day when we had our meeting with Congress, but I do like keeping them abreast, but I don't have to do it legally." So he's doing it illegally?
Trump signed an executive order imposing fresh sanctions on Iran, amid increased tensions between the long-time foes and told reporters the sanctions will target Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his office. Already 80% of Iran's economy is sanctioned. Khamenei obviously has no wealth stashed in the US and probably little elsewhere
Trump claimed the sanctions would have been imposed regardless of the incident over the drone. US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the order was in the works before last week's downing, but was in response to that as well as to previous Iranian actions in the Gulf.
In a non-shocker, Senate Republicans tallied enough votes to block a largely Democratic-backed amendment that would require Trump to get congressional approval before striking Iran militarily.
Trump announced that he's delaying for two weeks US Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that were planned to take place in 10 major US cities, saying deportations will proceed unless Congress finds a solution on the US-Mexico border. Of course you know that if nothing occurs in the two weeks, Trump will blame the Democrats and not his part for the failed talks.
"Some cities are going to fight it, but if you notice, they're generally high crime cities. If you look at Chicago, they're fighting it. If you look at other cities, they're fighting it. Many of those cities are high crime cities and they're sanctuary cities," Trump said. You know he has no statistics to back him up other than knowing Chicago has crime issues but no correlation that it is related to illegal immigrants.
The House of Representatives voted by 230-195 to approve $4.5 billion in aid for the growing crisis at the US southern border — a vote that followed Democratic infighting over the package and a White House veto threat. It is not clear whether the House and Senate will be able to reach an agreement the President will sign off on. Four liberal Democratic freshmen voted against the measure, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. 3 Republicans voted with the Democrats.
With a man and his 23 month-old child found dead near the US-Mexican border, Trump right away blamed the Democrats for what happened. He puts the blame on them even though both the House and Senate approved $4.5 billion in spending while he may veto the spending and he has pushed to block migrants desperately trying to enter the US from Mexico. Where will they go?
On top of this, there are major issues at the detention centers where young children there are lacking food, water, sanitation, medical or psychological help. Parents weren't supposed to be separated from their children but it is still happening.
Trump left the White House last weekend for a last-minute trip to Camp David. Maybe it was to escape Washington at a moment when he appears increasingly disenchanted by advice from his inner circle and out of sorts with some of the mainstays in his Cabinet. No members of Trump's cabinet came along, nor did his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney.
Ahead of the G20 summit in Japan, Trump said "We have a treaty with Japan. If Japan is attacked, we will fight World War III. We will go in and we will protect them and we will fight with our lives and with our treasure. We will fight at all costs, right? But if we're attacked, Japan doesn't have to help us at all. They can watch it on a Sony television, the attack." Got that?
There was some talk of Trump killing the treaty. [The treaty says that Japan can't have a full military except for defensive purposes in exchange for US to defend Japan if attacked and allow US forces to have bases in Japan – this during the Cold War.] Trump also went after Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany saying that Germany isn't paying their share of the NATO budget while "We pay for close to 100 percent of NATO" and "seven are paid up". In fact, the US pays 22% and none of the countries are behind their payments. The seven are actually those who spend 2 percent of their national economies on their own armed forces by 2024 and not what they pay for NATO's budget. Makes him look like a fool… again.
Robert Mueller's long-awaited public testimony in mid-July will give Democrats their best and perhaps last chance to seize on the Russia scandal to try to inflict a decisive political wound on Trump. Of course, expect Trump to start calling Mueller name and other comments. He already said "Presidential Harassment!" after the announcement. Trump also claimed that Mueller deleted FBI text messages.
Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders is resigning amid the dramatic increase in the number of undocumented migrants crossing the border, a fight over how to address it and controversy over how children are being treated. Reports say children are living in such bad condition full of filth, sickness and other issues.
As usual, Trump claims that he is concerned about what's happening at the detention centers and claims [don't ask me how he measured it] that it is better now than under President Obama's eight years. Interesting because I don't remember so much media coverage and the fact that there has been a large increase of immigrants crossing the border compared to when Obama was President.
Tom Homan, the former ICE director and now a Fox News contributor, seemed to suggest that Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan leaked information about the ICE operation to media. McAleenan was resistant to the plan, concerned in part that it could hurt negotiations with congressional Democrats for ICE funding. Trump named Honan as "border czar" but Honan has not yet accepted the job.
Eric Trump said he was spat on by an employee at a Chicago-area restaurant. "It was purely a disgusting act by somebody who clearly has emotional problems" and who then cast blame for the incident more broadly on the Democratic Party. So he thinks the Democrats were the ones who told the individual to do it and is the only party who have followers with "emotional problems"? Maybe the employee was a Republican voter who dislikes his father.
And the real witch hunt begins: The House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena testimony from White House counselor Kellyanne "The Witch" Conway after a federal agency recommended that she should be fired for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act that limits the political activities of federal employees. The panel would vote to hold Conway in contempt if she ignores the subpoena.
Earlier this month, the independent Office of Special Counsel sent the Trump administration a letter outlining Conway's "numerous violations" of the Hatch Act, finding that from February to May she publicly criticized the field of Democratic presidential candidates and sought to boost the Trump campaign while in her official role at the White House.
Trump's protocol chief, Sean Lawler, has been suspended indefinitely just ahead of the G-20 meeting in Japan pending the outcome of a State Department investigation into his conduct. A large chunk of the protocol office was aware of this behavior for a long time. They're surprised, to be honest, that this hadn't been dealt with sooner.
In something that is not a real shocker, the Palestinians and allies aren't really already panned the economic part of a peace plan proposed by Trump and delivered by Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner which includes $50 billion in grants, low-interest loans and private investments over 10 years. The political portion will be announced after the Israeli elections in September.
The New York Post's former top editor, Col Allan, a supporter of Trump and an old "lieutenant" of owner Rupert Murdoch and current paper advisor, ordered the removal of a story about writer Jean Carroll's sexual assault allegations against Trump. The Post's story about Carroll's sexual assault allegations was mysteriously scrubbed from the tabloid's website. Was Allan thinking that nobody reads, watches or listen to the news other than the Post?
Tweets that Twitter deems to involve matters of public interest, but which violate the service's rules, will be obscured by a warning explaining the violation and Twitter's reasons for publishing it anyway. Users will have to tap through the warning to see the underlying message. Twitter said the new policy applies to all government officials, candidates, and similar public figures with more than 100,000 followers. This will include Trump.
Trump claimed he wouldn't watch the first Democrat debate – but did. After 30 minutes into the debate, he tweeted "BORING!"
Former President Jimmy Carter suggested that a full investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election would show that Trump didn't win the presidency. Expect a Twitter storm by Trump shortly. Until now, the former one-term Democratic president had shared a warmer relationship with Trump more than Trump has had with any other living president.
The battle over adding a citizenship in the Trump administration proposed census could affect future voting. The Census Bureau's own experts concluded including a citizenship question on the census would discourage undocumented individuals and other minorities from participating. It would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites. Advocates for those groups say their absence from the count would disadvantage their communities when government resources are distributed and dilute their constitutionally granted representation in Congress.
Trump picked Stephanie Grisham to be the new White House press secretary and communications director. Grisham has been a member of Trump team since the summer of 2015, when she signed on as traveling press secretary. She went on to become a close confidante of not just Trump but, just as importantly, first lady Melania Trump — for whom she has served as communications director. Grisham is keeping that role. We will see how often she has press briefings.
American women's soccer co-captain Megan Rapinoe, on asking about going to the White house if the team wins the world cup: "Psssh, I'm not going to the f_____g White House," she fired back before the reporter finished the question. "No. I'm not going to the White House. We're not gonna be invited. I doubt it."
Trump extended a White House invite to Rapinoe and the team, regardless of whether they win or lose. The only problem? Trump tagged the wrong person. He later corrected the tag and saying "…but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job!…"
Ummm. While tweeting about the Rapinoe issue, trump also adds " Other than the NBA, which now refuses to call owners, owners (please explain that I just got Criminal Justice Reform passed, Black unemployment is at the lowest level in our Country's history, and the poverty index is also best number EVER), leagues and teams love coming to the White House." So he's putting the NBA, criminal justice reform and black unemployment in there for what reason? Oh ya.
"Megan should never disrespect our country, the White House, or our flag, especially since so much has been done for her and the team," Trump tweeted. I don't think it is really any of the three Rapinoe has a problem with, just one person.
Filed under Politics Tagged with border security, donald trump, iran, sanctions, strait of hormuz
About ebraiter
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He's impeached
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The circus continues to implode
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