Saturday, August 29, 2020
Trump's message discipline vanishes a day after convention
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/29/politics/2020-election-donald-trump-joe-biden/index.html
He told the crowd he'd like to see the first woman president, "but I don't want to see a woman president get in to that position the way she'd do it" and "she's not competent," he said, suggesting his daughter instead: "They're all saying, 'We want Ivanka.' I don't blame you."
Friday, August 28, 2020
Fuming over Uman ban, Bratslav sect vows to never back Netanyahu again
https://www.timesofisrael.com/fuming-over-uman-ban-bratslav-sect-vows-to-never-back-netanyahu-again/
Outraged by the Israeli government’s efforts to prevent the annual pilgrimage to Uman, Ukraine, the Bratslav Hasidic sect said Thursday that it would never again support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
F-35s to UAE? Why it's an amazingly bad idea
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.
‘We’re here. They’re not’: Trump claims a MAGA victory in an ongoing crisis
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 He and dozens of speakers heralded an outdated record on jobs, congratulated themselves for ending wars that remain ongoing and proclaimed victory against the coronavirus — often referring to it only as the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.”
Trump's garden party: The most notable and quotable moments from the GOP convention finale
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.
As Republicans Wrap Up Their Convention, One Thing Defines the Party More Than Any Ideology or Policy: Donald Trump
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.