http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/286119
Is it safe to put sophisticated American weapons—such as F-35 fighter-bombers—in the hands of an Arab dictatorship—such as the United Arab Emirates? The historical record points to three dangers that raise questions about the wisdom of the current proposal to provide these jets to the UAE.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/28/trump-rnc-acceptance-speech-403980
President Donald Trump on Thursday presented a picture of America recognized mostly by his fiercest supporters.
He boasted that a coronavirus vaccine would be ready by year’s end “or maybe even sooner,” even though scientists are uncertain about that pledge. He pushed businesses and schools to open, even though many still cannot do so safely. He promoted yet another “powerful” treatment — convalescent plasma — even though doctors caution the evidence is still developing. He boasted about low fatality rates, even though roughly 1,000 people are still dying of Covid-19 each day.
Trump’s 71-minute speech delivered a version of reality that he wanted America to see, one that diverged from what many Americans are experiencing in a turbulent year but fit a version of MAGA success he’s sold to his base. He and dozens of speakers heralded an outdated record on jobs, congratulated themselves for ending wars that remain ongoing and proclaimed victory against the coronavirus — often referring to it only as the “China virus” or the “invisible enemy.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/28/trump-rnc-thursday-superlatives-404184
President Donald Trump got the convention party he always wanted for his 2020 acceptance speech — he just had to put it on in his government-owned backyard.
A key part of Trump’s reelection message is presenting himself as a bulwark against chaos in the country, whether it’s violence in some American cities or the “cancel culture” he decried Thursday night.
But one of Trump’s biggest challenges is that he’s the president now. Biden on Thursday sought to deflect the claims by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that Americans “won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America” by pointing out that people are living now in Trump’s America.
https://time.com/5884030/republican-party-of-donald-trump/
If you were tuning into American politics for the first time to watch this week’s GOP convention, you’d be excused for your confusion over how the Republican Party proposes to run the country. There is no official platform. The planks seem constructed out of personality and feelings, not policy or details. During his three-plus years in office, its leader, President Donald Trump, has erased any lingering doubts that the Republican Party is functioning as more than an appendage of the Trump identity, and that it might be beholden to his brand of gut-driven politics for years.
In accepting this reality, Republicans may have made a deal that could give them another four years in the White House, but will set them back decades. After all, Trump won’t be around forever to marshal his supporters’ votes with the flair of a reality show star, and a second-term Trump will have nothing to lose in thrashing norms and institutions the GOP has backed for generations. The party that lionized Ronald Reagan’s demand that Moscow “tear down this wall” in Berlin is now silent when Vladimir Putin’s chief rival is poisoned.
Richard Grenell, America's former acting director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany, claimed he watched U.S. President Donald Trump “charm” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, despite the commander-in-chief’s famously chilly relationship with his counterpart in Berlin.
“But that’s the Democrats. Between surveillance, classifications, leaks, and puppet candidates, they never want the American people to know who’s actually calling the shots,” Grenell said. “But with Donald Trump, you always know exactly who is in charge. Because the answer … is you.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/27/politics/pentagon-russia-syria/index.html
The Pentagon slammed Russia's military on Thursday for what it called "deliberately provocative and aggressive behavior" that injured multiple US military personnel following a collision between American and Russian armored vehicles in eastern Syria.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/286127
American Jewish rabbis are erring by endorsing — and opposing — President Donald Trump, according to Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of Great Britain who said he has always studiously avoided showing an affinity for any particular candidate.
The consequence of blurring the line between politics and Judaism can be significant, Sacks said.
“You
mix religion and politics, you get terrible politics and even worse
religion,” he said, adding later, “I’m afraid I have absolutely not the
slightest shred of sympathy for anyone who, as a rabbi, tells people how
to vote.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53942272
While law enforcement was building a physical protective bubble around the White House, the Republican Party has spent the past four days constructing a psychological bubble around the president - a more comforting reality sheltered from the tumult of the past six months.
The goal for the party this week has been to welcome a winning coalition of voters into this bubble - not just Trump's loyal base, but also disaffected suburbanites who may be uncomfortable with the president's policies, women put off by his confrontational tone and ethnic minorities concerned about the nation's growing racial tensions
Recent polls have indicated a sizable majority of Americans believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction. That's poison for an incumbent president seeking re-election.
Grievance has always been part of the fuel that has powered Trump's rise - a sense, among his supporters, that something valuable is slipping from their grasp and the unlikeliest of politicians, Donald Trump, is the one who will help them preserve it.
"Always remember," Trump said in a reprise of a line he has said before, "they are coming after me, because I am fighting for you."
It's the recipe for a bare-knuckle autumn campaign, as Trump and his supporters dig in for what will be a long, brutal battle to retain the presidency.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chris-wallace-trump-rnc-speech-too-long
While "there certainly were impressive fireworks" on the National Mall following the conclusion of the Republican National Convention Thursday night, "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace said he was "surprised at the lack of fireworks" in President Trump's speech.
"Then he went after Joe Biden, and he had some good lines ...,'" Wallace said, "but I have to say .... his delivery -- and we have seen the president turn on a crowd -- was surprisingly flat and it didn't seem to have the bite that he usually does have in his speeches."
Wallace added that the speech was "far too long -- 70 minutes exactly" and resembled a State of the Union address.
"One other thing we have to note," Wallace concluded, "and that is the event itself. The fact that there were 2,000 people in close quarters on the Soth Lawn there with seemingly very few of them with masks, no social distancing, ignoring all the public health recommendations, I suspect that's gonna get a lot of comment in the next few days.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/27/politics/donald-trump-joe-biden-debates-drugs/index.html
President Donald Trump has spent a lot of breath -- and tweets -- attempting to cast former Vice President Joe Biden as a doddering old man who doesn't really know what's going on.
"I don't know how he could have been so incompetent in his debate performances and then all of a sudden be OK against Bernie. My point is, if you go back and watch some of those numerous debates, he was so bad. He wasn't even coherent. And against Bernie, he was. And we're calling for a drug test ...
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/27/media/fox-news-tucker-carlson-kenosha-shootings/index.html
Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday suggested it was not surprising that a teenager arrested in connection to a shooting allegedly took up arms and tried to "maintain order" during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
