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Former Under Secretary of State in Obama admin & Editor of TIME. Author of “Information Wars: How We Lost the Battle Against Disinformation” & the audiobook, “Mandela: The Lost Tapes.” Analyst @MSNBC
President Trump thought President Putin had friends, and that he was one of them. President Putin has interests, not friends, and Russia's interests trumped America's. Now Trump has even backed down on a ceasefire. My take:
"Putin is still milking Trump’s fanboy affection. He was the big winner today because he didn't have to compromise."
What’s the Dealmaker-in-Chief without a deal? Some thoughts on the summit—and my interview with Putin in 2007.
"Putin is still milking Trump’s fanboy affection. He was the big winner today because he didn't have to compromise."
Please don't use the description "high-stakes" for the summit. (A.) It's a journalist cliche with virtually no meaning, and (B.) it plays into Trump's theatrical framing of the whole artificial made-for-TV "event."
"Conservatives have for generations used denigrating language to describe the condition of major cities & called for greater law enforcement, often in response to changing demographics in those cities driven by non-white populations relocating in search of work or safety from racial discrimination."
President Donald Trump's rhetoric in his federal takeover of Washington police echoes that of conservative politicians going back decades who've denounced American cities with majority non-white popul...
Trump said several times in his press conference that Zelensky has been in power for three-and-a-half years, the implication being he hasn’t ended the war. Let’s be clear, his nation was invaded without provocation by a much larger nation seeking to conquer it.
Crime in DC is at a 30-year low. It's not even in top 10 dangerous cities in US. Throughout history, autocrats use a false pretext to impose government control over local law enforcement as a prelude to a more national takeover. That's far more dangerous than the situation he says he is fixing.
I sincerely hope for a peace agreement, but Trump has already handed Putin a victory. He has invited a fugitive of the International Criminal Court to US territory. He has talked about "land swaps," something Zelensky opposes. Remember, we bought Alaska from Russia for 2¢ an acre. That was a deal.
“They paved over paradise and put up a parking lot.” 🎶 — Joni Mitchell
The new No-Rose Garden
The head of state choosing CEOs, where factories are built, how much tariffs and interest rates should be, welcome to autocratic socialism in the USA.
Among the many flaws of Trump's tariffs (besides, of course, that they are illegal) is that US companies & consumers pay them; foreign companies & countries will find other markets, hurting the US economy; and the chaos and uncertainty of Trump's policies will deter companies from building here.
