Section: POLITICO – U.S. Edition (USA)
Trump’s new normal
Donald Trump again blamed President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the rise of ISIS. He questioned his opponent’s “physical stamina” to eradicate the terrorist group. And he again interspersed what his campaign hyped as a major foreign policy speech — his third to date — with falsehoods and half-truths, promising an end to nation...
Trump struggles for a campaign reset
New revelations about the foreign financial ties of Donald Trump’s campaign chairman are threatening to steal the thunder from the Republican presidential nominee’s much-hyped foreign policy speech, adding to the turmoil that has engulfed his presidential bid.Paul Manafort on Monday blasted a New York Times report that detailed secret...
100 days of Donald Trump
In April, a few weeks before Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, he stood on a stage in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and made a bold prediction. “At some point, I’m going to be so presidential that you people will be so bored,” he said. “And I’ll come back as a presidential person.” The remark raised a challenging...
Would Hillary keep John Kerry on?
Time is running out for John Kerry.With less than six months until a new president takes office, the U.S. secretary of state is working furiously to reach a political settlement in Syria, hold together the international coalition fighting the Islamic State, and tame a Russian bear prowling in Syria and Ukraine.Friends and allies say the energetic...
What If the Green Party Stopped Being Kooky and Started Getting Real?
HOUSTON — In Philadelphia, at the Democratic National Convention, the woman had been a delegate for Bernie Sanders. But now he was gone and she was here, on stage at the talent show at the Green Party convention in the student center at the University of Houston, very far from the center of the political universe. She hadn’t known much...
How to Hack an Election in 7 Minutes
When Princeton Professor Andrew Appel decided to hack into a voting machine, he didn’t try to mimic the Russian attackers who hacked into the DNC’s database last month. He didn’t write malicious code, or linger near a polling place where the machines can go unguarded for days.Instead, he bought one online. With a few cursory...
U.S. and Russia brawl over race for U.N. chief
The U.S. and Russia have turned the race for United Nations secretary-general into the latest front in their escalating war for geopolitical influence.Washington, which is believed to want a woman in the U.N. role, has been backing Argentina’s foreign minister in the secretive selection process, U.N. sources say. Meanwhile, U.N. sources say...
Trump tries to stop the bleeding
Donald Trump is facing a whirlwind of criticism from Republican leaders — including some of his closest allies — as he fends off reports of a staff shake up, another intervention and even rumblings that he could be urged to step aside as the party’s nominee. On Wednesday, Paul Manafort, Trump’s top strategist, flatly denied a report...
Trump changed views on Ukraine after hiring Manafort
Donald Trump sounded like a supporter of Ukraine’s territorial integrity last September, when he spoke by video feed to a gathering of political and business elites in Kiev. “Our president is not strong and he is not doing what he should be doing for the Ukraine,” Trump told he group of pro-Western businessmen, diplomats and politicians. “I...
Doubts Start Creeping In for Democrats
For four days in Philadelphia, almost every comment I heard from Democratic operatives, pollsters and policy wonks reminded me of an old Jackie Mason line about married couples.“Ask them if they’re happy, you get a number. ‘Are you happy?…’ ‘Thirty-one years … ‘”Ask about Hillary Clinton’s prospects in November, you...
