The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website August 16, 2017:
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings among Republicans fell from 91 percent in June to 79 percent in a poll released Wednesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
President Donald Trump’s approval rating has sunk to its lowest point since he took office, with only 35 percent of Americans saying they viewed the job he’s done favorably, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The new Marist poll found that 55 percent disapprove of Trump after seven months on the job.
Trump saw a sizable dip in his polling numbers among “strong Republicans,” from 91 percent in June to 79 percent, which analysts said shows a crack in the base on which the president leans heavily.
“While Republicans are still largely in Trump’s corner, the cautionary tale for the president lies in the softening of support at his base,” said Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Since his numbers among Democrats and independents are weak, a crack among his most ardent supporters is something Trump can ill afford.” Continue reading “Trump Approval Rating Dips to Lowest Point of Presidency”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on Friday slammed President Trump’s rhetoric toward North Korea as “reckless” and urged him to pursue a diplomatic solution to Washington’s escalating tensions with Pyongyang.
“We need to engage in diplomacy. That’s the one thing that Donald Trumphas not yet done,” Lieu said in a video posted on Twitter by VoteVets, a progressive advocacy group.
“And before the president takes us down the dark and bloody path of a catastrophic war, he needs to first engage in diplomacy,” he added. “He owes that to the American people and I call on the president to do that first before issuing provocative and senseless and reckless statements.” Continue reading “Dem rep: Trump North Korea statements ‘reckless’”
The following article by Rema Rahman was posted on the Roll Call website August 11, 2017:
Pres. Trump at his Bedminster National Golf Club (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump escalated the war of words between the U.S. and North Korea early Friday, tweeting that the military was “locked and loaded” should Pyongyang make good on its threats to strike U.S. targets.
“Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely,” Trump tweeted. “Hopefully Kim Jong-un will find another path!”
Trump has spent much of the week warning the isolated nation that the U.S. would unleash its nuclear arsenal if it continued its threats.
The president’s comments came amid reports this week that North Korea had developed a nuclear warhead that can ride atop its suddenly effective long-range missiles.
Trump spoke at length to reporters Thursday on a host of issues surrounding the heated rhetoric between the two countries. When asked if he would decide to increase the military’s presence in Asia, the president said he was “looking at it right now.”
“We are preparing for many different, alternative events if North Korea — if — he has disrespected our country greatly,” Trump said of Jong-un. “He has said things that are horrific. And with me, he’s not getting away with it. He got away with it for a long time, between him and his family. He’s not getting away with it. It’s a whole new ballgame.”
The regime this week asserted it had a strike plan ready targeting the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, prompting Trump to imply the U.S. would hit the country with “fire and fury.”
In response to North Korea calling the president’s comments “nonsense” Trump said it was simply a matter of the regime having not “heard it like they heard it.” The president also brushed off the notion that his comments were too harsh.
“Maybe it wasn’t tough enough,” he said adding that he was backed up “100 percent” by the military.
“You’ll see. You’ll see,” Trump said when asked what would be tougher than “fire and fury.”
Despite the escalating threats between Washington and Pyongyang, Trump has couched his comments by assuring Americans anxious about the possibility of a nuclear war to be “comfortable” and that he would “like to de-nuke the world.”
“I would like Russia and the United States and China and Pakistan, and many other countries that have nuclear weapons, get rid of them,” Trump said. “But until such time as they do, we will be the most powerful nuclear nation on Earth by far.”
Trump’s threats were welcomed by at least two Republican senators Friday morning.
Sen. Lindsey Graham told a South Carolina radio station he was confident that if all-out war broke out between the U.S. and North Korea “we will win.”
“He’s right and he’s drawing a red line that he’s not going to subject the homeland to a nuclear attack by North Korea,” Graham said of Trump’s comments.
The South Carolina Republican said Trump was “sending a real clear signal” that should have been sent two decades ago and that negations, sanctions and other efforts to stop North Korea from building a nuclear arsenal have largely stalled.
“We sent Dennis Rodman. I can’t believe that didn’t work,” Graham said of the retired American basketball player who has taken several trips to North Korea.
Sen. Rob Portman told CNN Friday that the U.S. had to “honor our red lines.”
“What [Tillerson, Mattis and Trump] are all saying is that should there be a preemptive strike by North Korea, the response will be swift,” the Ohio Republican said.
The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website August 10, 2017:
THE BIG IDEA today is by Robert Costa. James returns next week.
Remember this scene?
“These are central casting. If I’m doing a movie, I’d pick you general,” a smiling President Trump said months ago (see the video above) during his inaugural luncheon at the Capitol, pointing at Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. “And General Kelly,” he added, gesturing toward John F. Kelly, his pick to run the Department of Homeland Security.
The following article by Rebecca Shabad was posted on the CBS News website August 8, 2017:
Congressional Democrats blasted President Trump on Tuesday for warning that North Korea will be “met with fire and fury” by the U.S. if it continues to ratchet up tensions involving its nuclear program.
The president made the remark during a briefing on the opioid epidemic from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey where he’s on a 17-day vacation.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Mr. Trump said. “As I said, they will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
The following article by Steven Rosenfeld was posted on the National Memo website February 5, 2017:
President Trump, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, at the Homeland Security headquarters. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Two weeks into Donald Trump’s belligerent presidency, one must ask: Where will this administration’s launch its first serious international conflict?
The White House’s announcement Friday of narrow economic sanctions against Iran, in response to its dumb test firing of a missile, came after Trump made it sound like Iran had done something outsized and horrific. It hadn’t. Still, the president tweeted hours before announcing the sanctions, “Iran is playing with fire” and, “They don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me!” Continue reading “6 Countries Trump Has Already Insulted And Provoked”
