Republicans Say Americans Are Willing to Suffer Higher Prices for Trump

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-tariffs-higher-prices-inflation-2039190

The Reuters/Ipsos poll found 53 percent of Americans believe the economy is on the wrong track, up from 43 percent from its January 24 to 26 poll. Additionally, a memo from Trump's top pollster Tony Fabrizio and his partner, Bob Ward, this month said their polling found 59 percent of voters in 18 swing districts are concerned about their personal financial situation, including 61 percent of swing voters and 53 percent of President Donald Trump's voters.

A recent Gallup poll, which surveyed 1,004 Americans between February 3 and 16, showed Trump's approval rating on the economy at 42 percent, with 54 percent disapproving, amounting to a net approval rating of minus 12 points.

Gallup noted that Trump's rating is lower than any president's first term February reading in recent history, including those for Joe Biden (54 percent), Barack Obama (59 percent), George W. Bush (53 percent) and Bill Clinton (45 percent).

This may be a worrying sign for Trump, who vowed during his campaign that inflation would "vanish completely" when he returned to the White House.

New polling shows majority of Americans are not happy with Trump presidency

Trump’s regime is fated to collapse

 https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5171000-why-trumps-regime-is-fated-to-collapse/?tbref=hp

Disregard the social-science jargon and notice that Deutsch’s model nicely describes the Trump administration. The putatively omniscient and omnipotent president occupies the apex. Just below him are a score of fulsome yes-ministers too terrified to provide him with correct information or disagree with his views. Existing governmental institutions are being eviscerated by Elon Musk, leaving their remaining employees in exceedingly vulnerable, atomized positions that encourage buck-passing, kicking the can down the road and many other dysfunctional behaviors that merely compound the structural inability of the system to make decisions efficiently and effectively.

Just as Putin has been a disaster for Russia, so too Trump will be a disaster for America. Fortunately, although hyper-centralization may sound like a good idea for a man who believes he is ushering in a golden age, it doesn’t work. Unbeknownst to them, both Trump and Putin are fated to find permanent residence on the ash heap of history.

The other bit of good news is that, since both men are at the cores of the hyper-centralized systems they have constructed, those systems are unlikely to survive in their absence. There is hope for a restoration of democracy in America, and perhaps even in Russia.

Wall Street Journal on Trump foreign policy: Less ‘brave new world’ than ‘dangerous old one’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5173239-trump-foreign-policy-criticism/?tbref=hp

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board went after President Trump on foreign policy on Sunday, saying it is “less brave new world than a reversion to a dangerous old one.”

The board highlighted recent actions such as Trump trying to “wash his hands” of Ukraine and threatening allies in Europe and North America with even higher tariffs than adversaries like China. 

“All of this would amount to an epochal return to the world of great power competition and balance of power that prevailed before World War II. It’s less a brave new world than a reversion to a dangerous old one,” the board wrote.

“He says he wants ‘peace,’ but is it peace with honor, or the peace of the grave for Ukraine and accommodation to Chinese domination in the Pacific? And why isn’t he increasing defense spending?” it added.

Canadian premier says he will cut off electricity exports to US ‘with a smile on my face’

 https://thehill.com/policy/international/5173914-ontario-premier-doug-ford-tariff-threat/?tbref=hp

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday he is prepared to cut off electricity exports to the U.S. if President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods go through.

“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything — including cut off their energy with a smile on my face,” Ford told reporters at a mining convention in downtown Toronto, the Toronto Sun reported.

Ford doubled down on his pledge to retaliate by matching tariffs, noting the U.S. is a major customer of Canada’s electricity.

“They rely on our energy. They need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard, we’re going to come back twice as hard,” he said.

Co-Founder of WWE Confirmed as Education Secretary

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/co-founder-of-wwe-linda-mcmahon-confirmed-as-education-secretary/

 McMahon was given the job for her outspoken plan to shutter the Education Department, which would fulfill a longtime promise by Trump. “I told Linda, ‘I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job,’” Trump said last month. “I want her to put herself out of a job.”

Russian missile experts flew to Iran in proximity to direct attacks on Israel - Is Trump more an ally of Russia or Israel?

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/russian-missile-experts-flew-to-iran-in-proximity-to-direct-attacks-on-israel/

Several senior Russian missile specialists have visited Iran over the past year as the Islamic Republic has deepened its defense cooperation with Moscow, a Reuters review of travel records and employment data indicates.

The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two group bookings as well as the passenger manifest for the second flight. The flights came 10 days after Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel, and two weeks before the second and most recent attack, respectively.

Menachem Avel – Telephone

Igros Moshe ( OC IV #40.11)  Question Is the mitzva of comforting mourners (nichum aveilim) fulfilled by a telephone call? Answer  There are two factors in comforting mourners. 1) The benefit to the mourners since they are very upset and they need comforting which normally requires going to their home 2) The benefit to the deceased as is stated in the gemora (Shabbos 152). The Rambam rules that comforting mourners  takes precedence over visiting the sick since it is showing kindness with the living and the dead  The Rambam is obviously referring to a situation where there are others who will be taking care of the sick otherwise there might be a problem of pikuach nefesh.  It seems to me that the benefit to the mourner can be fulfilled by a telephone call. In contrast the benefit to the deceased can only be fulfilled by going to the place of mourning or where the body is located. Even for the mourners it is clearly preferable that he receive a physical visit. Consequently in actuality whenever  it is possible he should go personally and thus fulfill the mitzva in the best manner. Nonetheless a telephone call is at least a partial fulfillment of the mitzva. If it is impossible to go in person because of illness or he is involved in doing another mitzva then he can at least fulfill the mitzva with a telephone call.  It is clearly permitted for the mourner to to speak on the the phone and receive words of comfort. However just to make a telephone call to ask how some is doing – even a child – it is forbidden for the mourner 

Would Americans accept Trump’s concessions to Russia?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/03/trump-concessions-russia-polling/

The real question is: What kind of concessions might Americans be willing to stomach to achieve that peace?

And more specifically: How much do they worry about those concessions emboldening and enabling a powerful adversary in Russia?

 It’s clear that President Donald Trump is pressuring Ukraine to make concessions. But Americans aren’t sold on giving up territory, and many are concerned about Russia’s threat.

It turns out Americans seem pretty concerned about major concessions to Russia — even as they are willing to entertain them.

Trump seems to have, at the very least, calculated that the war in Ukraine is approaching a lost cause and that major concessions are necessary. But Americans are not so clearly on the same page. They have trended in Trump’s direction, but selling a deal that emboldens and rewards an invading adversary that most Americans regard as a significant threat would seem to be a pretty difficult political task.

Future of Israel-Russia relations after Trump abandons Ukraine

https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/future-of-israel-russia-relations-after-trump-abandons-ukraine/

Since Oct. 7, 2023, our relations with Russia have cooled significantly, but they have not led to a rupture as was the case after the 1967 war. Moscow continues its unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and remains a strategic ally of China, Iran and North Korea. This new strategic axis greatly worries the Americans. They therefore prefer to neutralize it and strengthen their naval forces in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific rather than in the Mediterranean.

In the current geopolitical context, faced with the weakness of European security, and in the face of Putin's hegemonic intentions, we cannot blindly follow Donald Trump's logic on the solution of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. Moreover, let's be modest, we do not have the means to influence the political course of the superpowers. We should therefore maintain normal bilateral relations with Russia without offering it mediation to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Republican Heckled at Town Hall Over DOGE Cuts: ‘Dump Musk!’

https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-republican-keith-self-heckled-at-town-hall-over-doge-cuts-dump-musk/

 A Texas Republican was interrupted with “boos” and chants calling for him to be voted out of office at a heated town hall about Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cuts.

Rep. Keith Self was greeted by two dozen protesters carrying signs that said “Dump Musk!” and “Do Your Job!” when he arrived for the event at the Collin College Conference Center in Wylie on Saturday, Newsweek reported.

Solidarity Leader Lech Wałęsa: Trump’s Zelensky Meltdown was ‘Like Communist Secret Police’

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/cold-war-hero-lech-walesa-writes-angry-letter-to-trump-after-his-attack-on-zelensky/

Legendary Polish anti-Communist Lech Wałęsa has slammed Donald Trump’s Oval Office attack on Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, comparing it to Soviet secret police tactics.

Wałęsa, 81, signed a letter along with 38 other Poles who had been held captive by the Communist regime, telling Trump that the Friday spectacle filled them “with horror and distaste.”

The former Polish president previously revealed that he met Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2010, and attached a photo of the two of them to the letter, which he posted on Facebook on Monday.

Sen. Roger Marshall booed at northwest Kansas town hall

https://thehill.com/homenews/5173328-sen-roger-marshall-booed-at-northwest-kansas-town-hall/?tbref=hp

 A town hall meeting hosted by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) in rural northwest Kansas Saturday morning included questions and answers, shouting, applause, boos and Marshall leaving the event early. 

Trump’s Embrace of Russia Rocks NATO Alliance

 https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/trumps-embrace-of-russia-rocks-nato-alliance-9cc0d63a?mod=hp_lead_pos2

BRUSSELS—The argument between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart at the White House sent relations between the two countries into a tailspin. It also caused serious damage to an alliance at the heart of the post-World War II order: NATO.

Trump staked out a position that many European allies saw as siding with Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin, by dismissing the security concerns of a friendly country in need of Western help. He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was losing the war and had “no cards.”