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Yahoo
a few seconds ago
- Yahoo
Bernie Sanders Diagnoses Democrats' Biggest 2024 Campaign Failure
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) accused Democrats of turning their backs on the working class while recently breaking down why Vice President Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential campaign failed. During a stop in Wheeling, West Virginia, of his 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour, the nation's most prominent progressive told a packed auditorium Saturday that Harris had 'too many billionaires telling her not to stand up for the working class of this country.' Sanders was unapologetic when asked if his comments were too harsh during Sunday's episode of CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'I like Kamala, she's a friend of mine,' he told host Dana Bash. 'But her core consultants, you know, were very influenced by wealthy people.' 'How do you run for president and not develop a strong agenda which speaks to the economic crises facing working families?' the Vermont senator said. Detailing the struggles that every day Americans face, Sanders said, 'We have more income and wealth inequality today than we've ever had. We've got 60% of our people living paycheck to paycheck.' 'You've got a health care system which is broken and dysfunctional, and despite spending so much, we're the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people,' he went on. 'How do you not talk about these issues?' While Bash reminded Sanders that 'affordability' was part of Harris' platform, he dismissed her ideas as too 'vague' for average voters to see as real solutions to real problems. His strategy for winning back the working class? Unwavering support for struggling Americans. 'Is it a radical idea that we join every other major country on Earth and guarantee health care to all people? Is that a radical idea?' he asked. 'You tell me how many people are talking about that.' Also advocating for livable wages and easier access to higher education, he said, 'These ideas exist all over the world. They don't exist in America. And they don't exist because of the power of the oligarchs economically and politically.' 'In my view, the current political system in the United States of America is broken and corrupt,' he went on. Sanders' message wasn't without a glimmer of hope, however. 'If we stand together, if we're united, if we don't let Trump divide us up, there's no stopping what we can do as a nation in terms of improving life for ordinary people,' he told Bash. Related... Bernie Sanders Rips 'Extremely Dangerous' Paramount-Trump Settlement: 'Government Extortion' Bernie Sanders Says Yes To Love, No To AI Girlfriends Bernie Sanders Makes Rare Endorsement In New York City Mayoral Race
Yahoo
a few seconds ago
- Yahoo
Trump's Peace Prize envy is just the latest round in his obsession with one-upping Obama
Donald Trump's renewed efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia may in fact have their roots in Trump's most famous political grudge. As the president prepares for a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska — potentially to be attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well — one of his former advisers sees a pattern emerging in Trump's second-term foreign policy agenda that indicates the US president is seriously pining for what he sees as the ultimate sign of global recognition and respect: a Nobel Peace Prize. But what John Bolton described to ABC's This Week on Sunday as Trump's latest fascination may have deeper psychological roots. And the biggest clue providing a glimpse into the president's psyche is the simultaneous focus of his entire national security team on Barack Obama, Trump's first-term predecessor and a figure many have argued propelled Trump's political ambitions through mockery and dismissal. Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser, explained Sunday that Trump's peacemaking attempts in Ukraine were part of a clear bid for a Nobel Peace Prize. He pointed to the president's efforts to claim credit for halting other global conflicts as part of the same concerted campaign; the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict, and India's clashes with Pakistan. 'I think what Trump has done is make it clear that he wants a Nobel Peace Prize more than anything else.... the way to his heart? Offer to nominate him,' Bolton told ABC News. Though Bolton said that Trump was having mixed success: 'I don't think what he has done materially changes the situation in -- in any of those circumstances, or several others he's mentioned, like Pakistan/India, where the Indians, not just the government, the entire country are outraged that he tried to take credit for [a peace agreement].' On Friday, the president invited the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia to the White House to sign a peace agreement. The deal is aimed at ending decades of conflict, but builds on a peace process moderated by Russia's Vladimir Putin and a previous agreement crafted by Russia that the two countries signed. Writing Thursday on Truth Social, Trump boasted of his role in reaching the agreement. The agreement between the two nations will create a major trade and transit corridor called the 'Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.' It will connect mainland Azerbaijan with the autonomous Nakhchivan region, satisfying a major objective of the Azerbaijani government in the peace talks between the countries. Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard and Attorney General Pam Bondi collaborate on an effort to reignite interest in 'Russiagate' and the 2016 investigation into the Trump campaign. And the president himself continues to rage against a man he now accuses of 'treason' and efforts to rig the 2016 and possibly 2020 elections. Gabbard has eagerly echoed his accusations and argued that the Obama administration's efforts to call out Russian election interference efforts should be considered a 'coup'. Bondi acted to give the pair as much political cover at the Justice Department as possible; the embattled attorney general opened a grand jury probe into the 'Russiagate' investigation this past week, even despite a previous DOJ special counsel review finding no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the case. No charges have been filed yet against Obama or anyone else. Combined with Trump's bid to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a clear pattern is emerging. As former RNC chair Michael Steele (the only Black chair in the Republican Party's history) wrote earlier this year in an op-ed for MSNBC: 'It's clear that Obama has been living in Trump's head rent-free for the last two decades. Some think he first ran for president because Obama made fun of him at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. He mistakenly called Biden by Obama's name multiple times while campaigning, once even saying he beat Obama in 2016.' 'Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize? Trump spends years obsessing about winning it himself,' Steele added. In March, Bolton saw the connection too. He told the New York Times that Trump 'saw that Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize and felt if Obama got it for not doing anything, why should he not get it?' The Times noted other instances where Trump has publicly and privately groused about not getting the award in spite of Obama's reception. 'If I were named Obama, I would have had the Nobel Prize given to me in 10 seconds,' the president told the Detroit Economic Club last year. The evidence is clear: Trump is entering the latest phase of a years-long obsession with a political foe who consumes more of his attention than Joe Biden and even, at this point, Hillary Clinton. Obama is, in reality, Trump's one unvanquished foe remaining on the left. But he's also the last U.S. president who commanded clear respect and admiration not just in the U.S. but around the world, where he was invited to speak before the legislative bodies of the UK, Canada and Australia as well as to huge crowds elsewhere, like Germany and his father's home country of Kenya. The 44th president, the nation's first Black commander-in-chief, struck a nerve in Trump early and the man who would succeed Obama spent years coordinating a false, racist campaign of abuse centered around Obama's heritage and birthplace. Hillary Clinton won his attention and became a focus of his anger during and after the 2016 election, though she's largely faded from his view. But while the president can order his Cabinet members and aides to launch probes and issue statements tarnishing Obama's reputation, he's found so far that his ability to solve geopolitical conflicts is far more limited. Even as Trump has seen some success bullying U.S. trading partners into line with his 'reciprocal' tariffs, his promises to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza overnight have dissolved into failure. The international community waits to see whether this grudge-turned-ambition will propel Trump to actually force the end of a three-year war in Ukraine or the bloody siege and starvation of Gaza caused by Israel's blockade, or whether he will once again be frustrated by the realities that have thwarted his efforts so far.
Forbes
3 minutes ago
- Forbes
Meet CNN's Jessica Dean: ‘We Take People All Over The World'
For CNN anchor Jessica Dean, the weekends are anything but quiet. Having just passed the one-year mark as host of the primetime weekend edition of CNN Newsroom, she leads around seven hours of live coverage every Saturday and Sunday — hours that often unfold against the backdrop of history in real time. Since officially taking the role on August 3 of last year, Dean and her small team have found themselves at the center of some of the most consequential breaking news of the past 12 months. They've navigated the chaos of the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Penn.; reported on the fall of the Assad regime; covered former President Biden's cancer diagnosis; delivered updates on the Boulder fire attack; and tracked U.S. military strikes on Iran. 'You have to think really fast and you have to trust yourself,' Dean says about the work. 'And you also have to trust your team.' That trust comes from years in the field — which, for Dean, has included stints doing local news in Arkansas and Philadelphia, joining CNN in 2018 and covering the midterms that year, traveling with then-candidate Joe Biden's presidential campaign, and reporting through the early Covid pandemic. Dean says her job now feels like the culmination of all those experiences. 'People come to CNN when big things happen,' she says. 'We take people all over the world… and there's such value in that — to give them on-the-ground reporting and to help them through those moments. 'Going back to Iran, you know, we had Fred Pleitgen in Iran. We had Clarissa Ward in Israel. We're able to take people there … It's tough out there right now for news. It's a moment for us, I think, where we really need to prove ourselves to viewers and they need to be able to trust us. And, especially on our show, I really try to honor that, and we work really hard to get it right and make sure people, if they're going to spend their time with us, walk away knowing more and are better informed.' CNN faces a new era as viewers shift to digital Dean's work, needless to say, also comes at a pivotal time for CNN and for cable news in general. The network, founded in 1980 as the first 24-hour television news channel, built its reputation on major live events — from the Gulf War to election nights. Today's viewers, of course, don't get their news the same way anymore. People might bounce between live TV and clips on social media — or even no TV at all, preferring to get their news in snackable bites from social media. For CNN, the challenge is holding onto its reputation for real-time, trustworthy coverage while finding new ways to reach an increasingly scattered digital audience. Dean sees that as an opportunity. 'CNN has a lot of exciting things ahead as we transition more into the digital world,' she says. 'Right now, you can watch us on linear television, which is amazing. But being able in the next year to kind of expand beyond that is going to be exciting. And one thing I know for sure — there will not be a shortage of news.' Cable news viewership has been under pressure industry-wide, with competition from on-demand content and shifting demographics. But when a major story breaks, audiences (or at least a portion of news audiences) still turn one or more of the big three — CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Dean's weekend broadcast is often where those first crucial hours play out for CNN. 'It's not my job to tell people what to think,' she says. 'It's my job to give them information and let them decide what makes sense to them.' The pressure to be accurate, measured, and fast is real. 'We don't want to be alarmist, but we also want to make sure viewers are getting all of the information,' she says. 'It's not my job to tell people what to think. It's my job to give them information and let them decide what makes sense to them. And I've found that people respond really well to that.' The year ahead will bring continued experimentation for CNN as it looks to integrate more digital-first storytelling without losing its core live-news DNA. Dean, for her part, is focused on her lane. 'Those seven, maybe eight, maybe nine hours each weekend — we can do that well. We can get it right.'
