Latest news with #America-last
Toronto Star
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Toronto Star
In his own words: Trump's Iran strike tests his rhetoric on ending wars
During his campaigns for president, Donald Trump spoke of the need to stop engaging in 'endless' or 'forever wars,' and said removing 'warmongers and America-last globalists' was among his second-term foreign policy priorities. Trump's move to strike Iranian nuclear sites risks embroiling the United States in the sort of conflict he once derided. Like other recent American presidents, Trump said he would not permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. In recent months, he had held out hope that diplomacy could avoid the strike he announced Saturday.
Hamilton Spectator
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
In his own words: Trump's Iran strike tests his rhetoric on ending wars
During his campaigns for president, Donald Trump spoke of the need to stop engaging in 'endless' or 'forever wars,' and said removing 'warmongers and America-last globalists' was among his second-term foreign policy priorities. Trump's move to strike Iranian nuclear sites risks embroiling the United States in the sort of conflict he once derided. Like other recent American presidents, Trump said he would not permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. In recent months, he had held out hope that diplomacy could avoid the strike he announced Saturday. Trump's consideration of military action had opened a schism among his 'Make American Great Again' movement and drew criticism from some of its most high-profile members. Here's a look at some of Trump's rhetoric before his announcement Saturday about the strikes: 2024 campaign Trump often drew lines of contrasts with his Republican primary opponents. In January 2024, at a New Hampshire rally, he referred to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley , who was U.N. ambassador during Trump's first term, as a 'warmonger' whose mentality on foreign policy is, 'Let's kill people all over the place and let's make a lot of money for those people that make the messes.' During a Jan. 6, 2024, rally before the Iowa caucuses, Trump told supporters that returning him to the White House would allow the country to 'turn the page forever on those foolish, stupid days of never-ending wars. They never ended.' Rolling out his foreign policy priorities during that campaign — something Trump's orbit called ' Agenda 47 ' — he posted a video online in which he talked of how he was 'the only president in generations who didn't start a war.' In that video, Trump called himself 'the only president who rejected the catastrophic advice of many of Washington's Generals, bureaucrats, and the so-called diplomats who only know how to get us into conflict, but they don't know how to get us out.' First term In his first term, Trump often referenced his anti-interventionist pledge. During his 2019 State of the Union address, he said, 'As a candidate for president, I loudly pledged a new approach. Great nations do not fight endless wars.' There were frequent clashes with some of his advisers over whether or not the United States should take a more involved stance abroad. That included his hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, with whom Trump had strong disagreements on Iran, Afghanistan and other global challenges. As Turkey launched a military operation into Syria targeting Kurdish forces, Trump in October 2019 posted a series of tweets citing his anti-interventionist stance. 'Turkey has been planning to attack the Kurds for a long time. They have been fighting forever,' Trump posted Oct. 10, 2019, on the platform then known as Twitter. 'We have no soldiers or Military anywhere near the attack area. I am trying to end the ENDLESS WARS.' A week later, he reiterated his position: 'I was elected on getting out of these ridiculous endless wars, where our great Military functions as a policing operation to the benefit of people who don't even like the USA.' 2016 campaign Candidate Trump was vociferous in his disdain for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling them both mistakes. 'We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place,' Trump told CNN in October 2015, referencing Afghanistan. 'We spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have the oil,' he said of the Iraq War during a March 2016 town hall hosted by the same network. During a primary debate, Trump engaged in a terse exchange with Jeb Bush particularly over U.S. military action in Iraq, launched by President George W. Bush, the Florida governor's brother. 'We should have never been in Iraq,' Trump said in February 2016. 'They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none and they knew that there were none.' What about earlier? Trump's press secretary said Wednesday that the president's beliefs that Iran should not achieve nuclear armament predated his time in politics. And his earlier writings indicate that, while candidate Trump has said he opposed the Iraq War, those sentiments were different before the conflict began. In his 2000 book 'The America We Deserve,' the businessman wrote that he felt a military strike on Iraq might be needed, given the unknown status of that nation's nuclear capabilities. 'I'm no warmonger,' Trump wrote. 'But the fact is, if we decide a strike against Iraq is necessary, it is madness not to carry the mission to its conclusion. When we don't, we have the worst of all worlds: Iraq remains a threat, and now has more incentive than ever to attack us.' ___ Kinnard can be reached at Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. 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Time of India
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
In his own words: Trump's Iran strike tests his rhetoric on ending wars
During his campaigns for president, Donald Trump spoke of the need to stop engaging in "endless" or "forever wars," and said removing "warmongers and America-last globalists" was among his second-term foreign policy priorities. Trump's move to strike Iranian nuclear sites risks embroiling the United States in the sort of conflict he once derided. Like other recent American presidents, Trump said he would not permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. In recent months, he had held out hope that diplomacy could avoid the strike he announced Saturday. Trump's consideration of military action had opened a schism among his "Make American Great Again" movement and drew criticism from some of its most high-profile members. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like War Thunder - Register now for free and play against over 75 Million real Players War Thunder Play Now Undo ALSO READ: US forces bomb Iranian nuclear sites; 'Fordow is gone' says Trump Here's a look at some of Trump's rhetoric before his announcement Saturday about the strikes: Live Events 2024 campaign Trump often drew lines of contrasts with his Republican primary opponents. In January 2024, at a New Hampshire rally, he referred to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was U.N. ambassador during Trump's first term, as a "warmonger" whose mentality on foreign policy is, "Let's kill people all over the place and let's make a lot of money for those people that make the messes." During a Jan. 6, 2024, rally before the Iowa caucuses, Trump told supporters that returning him to the White House would allow the country to "turn the page forever on those foolish, stupid days of never-ending wars. They never ended." Rolling out his foreign policy priorities during that campaign - something Trump's orbit called " Agenda 47 " - he posted a video online in which he talked of how he was "the only president in generations who didn't start a war." In that video, Trump called himself "the only president who rejected the catastrophic advice of many of Washington's Generals, bureaucrats, and the so-called diplomats who only know how to get us into conflict, but they don't know how to get us out." First term In his first term, Trump often referenced his anti-interventionist pledge. During his 2019 State of the Union address, he said, "As a candidate for president, I loudly pledged a new approach. Great nations do not fight endless wars." There were frequent clashes with some of his advisers over whether or not the United States should take a more involved stance abroad. That included his hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, with whom Trump had strong disagreements on Iran, Afghanistan and other global challenges. As Turkey launched a military operation into Syria targeting Kurdish forces, Trump in October 2019 posted a series of tweets citing his anti-interventionist stance. "Turkey has been planning to attack the Kurds for a long time. They have been fighting forever," Trump posted Oct. 10, 2019, on the platform then known as Twitter. "We have no soldiers or Military anywhere near the attack area. I am trying to end the ENDLESS WARS." A week later, he reiterated his position: "I was elected on getting out of these ridiculous endless wars, where our great Military functions as a policing operation to the benefit of people who don't even like the USA." 2016 campaign Candidate Trump was vociferous in his disdain for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling them both mistakes. "We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place," Trump told CNN in October 2015, referencing Afghanistan. "We spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have the oil," he said of the Iraq War during a March 2016 town hall hosted by the same network. During a primary debate, Trump engaged in a terse exchange with Jeb Bush particularly over U.S. military action in Iraq, launched by President George W. Bush, the Florida governor's brother. "We should have never been in Iraq," Trump said in February 2016. "They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none and they knew that there were none." What about earlier? Trump's press secretary said Wednesday that the president's beliefs that Iran should not achieve nuclear armament predated his time in politics. And his earlier writings indicate that, while candidate Trump has said he opposed the Iraq War, those sentiments were different before the conflict began. In his 2000 book "The America We Deserve," the businessman wrote that he felt a military strike on Iraq might be needed, given the unknown status of that nation's nuclear capabilities. "I'm no warmonger," Trump wrote. "But the fact is, if we decide a strike against Iraq is necessary, it is madness not to carry the mission to its conclusion. When we don't, we have the worst of all worlds: Iraq remains a threat, and now has more incentive than ever to attack us."
Winnipeg Free Press
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
In his own words: Trump's Iran strike tests his rhetoric on ending wars
During his campaigns for president, Donald Trump spoke of the need to stop engaging in 'endless' or 'forever wars,' and said removing 'warmongers and America-last globalists' was among his second-term foreign policy priorities. Trump's move to strike Iranian nuclear sites risks embroiling the United States in the sort of conflict he once derided. Like other recent American presidents, Trump said he would not permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. In recent months, he had held out hope that diplomacy could avoid the strike he announced Saturday. Trump's consideration of military action had opened a schism among his 'Make American Great Again' movement and drew criticism from some of its most high-profile members. Here's a look at some of Trump's rhetoric before his announcement Saturday about the strikes: 2024 campaign Trump often drew lines of contrasts with his Republican primary opponents. In January 2024, at a New Hampshire rally, he referred to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was U.N. ambassador during Trump's first term, as a 'warmonger' whose mentality on foreign policy is, 'Let's kill people all over the place and let's make a lot of money for those people that make the messes.' During a Jan. 6, 2024, rally before the Iowa caucuses, Trump told supporters that returning him to the White House would allow the country to 'turn the page forever on those foolish, stupid days of never-ending wars. They never ended.' Rolling out his foreign policy priorities during that campaign — something Trump's orbit called ' Agenda 47 ' — he posted a video online in which he talked of how he was 'the only president in generations who didn't start a war.' In that video, Trump called himself 'the only president who rejected the catastrophic advice of many of Washington's Generals, bureaucrats, and the so-called diplomats who only know how to get us into conflict, but they don't know how to get us out.' First term In his first term, Trump often referenced his anti-interventionist pledge. During his 2019 State of the Union address, he said, 'As a candidate for president, I loudly pledged a new approach. Great nations do not fight endless wars.' There were frequent clashes with some of his advisers over whether or not the United States should take a more involved stance abroad. That included his hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, with whom Trump had strong disagreements on Iran, Afghanistan and other global challenges. As Turkey launched a military operation into Syria targeting Kurdish forces, Trump in October 2019 posted a series of tweets citing his anti-interventionist stance. 'Turkey has been planning to attack the Kurds for a long time. They have been fighting forever,' Trump posted Oct. 10, 2019, on the platform then known as Twitter. 'We have no soldiers or Military anywhere near the attack area. I am trying to end the ENDLESS WARS.' A week later, he reiterated his position: 'I was elected on getting out of these ridiculous endless wars, where our great Military functions as a policing operation to the benefit of people who don't even like the USA.' 2016 campaign Candidate Trump was vociferous in his disdain for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling them both mistakes. 'We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place,' Trump told CNN in October 2015, referencing Afghanistan. 'We spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have the oil,' he said of the Iraq War during a March 2016 town hall hosted by the same network. During a primary debate, Trump engaged in a terse exchange with Jeb Bush particularly over U.S. military action in Iraq, launched by President George W. Bush, the Florida governor's brother. 'We should have never been in Iraq,' Trump said in February 2016. 'They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none and they knew that there were none.' What about earlier? Trump's press secretary said Wednesday that the president's beliefs that Iran should not achieve nuclear armament predated his time in politics. And his earlier writings indicate that, while candidate Trump has said he opposed the Iraq War, those sentiments were different before the conflict began. In his 2000 book 'The America We Deserve,' the businessman wrote that he felt a military strike on Iraq might be needed, given the unknown status of that nation's nuclear capabilities. 'I'm no warmonger,' Trump wrote. 'But the fact is, if we decide a strike against Iraq is necessary, it is madness not to carry the mission to its conclusion. When we don't, we have the worst of all worlds: Iraq remains a threat, and now has more incentive than ever to attack us.' ___ Kinnard can be reached at
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's executive actions have more muscle this time around, but many are just posturing
President Donald Trump's first week was dominated by his use of executive authority to convey action, an amped-up version of his first-term strategy. His first nearly five dozen executive actions are more numerous, go further and are better engineered than the ones he made in the earliest days of his first term in 2017, when he only signed one executive order on his first day and five in his first week. This time around, many of Trump's early actions took Biden-era policies directly to the paper shredder with rapid fallout or led to the immediate dismissal of some federal workers, for instance. 'The American people spoke loud and clear that they wanted President Trump to finish the job he had started,' said Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation. 'This is what finishing the job looks like. Step one: Pull out, root and branch, all the woke and America-last policies of the Biden and even the Obama administrations.' But others don't do much other than signal the president's agenda, and a few are unlikely to survive legal battles. 'It's a mixed bag. Some of them are very specific policies, which are probably within the power of the president,' said Elaine Kamarck, director of the Center for Effective Public Management at Brookings. 'Others are sort of pie in the sky, like ending birthright citizenship.' A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Here's a look at a handful of those executive orders and how quickly they may make change. DEI programs Trump on Monday issued a sweeping order to halt diversity programs throughout the federal government — and already, DEI websites have gone dark and workers in DEI positions have been directed to be placed on paid leave. Withdrawal from the World Health Organization Trump's order was widely anticipated and could cause the WHO to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in fees. The U.S. is expected to lose access to the global network that sets the makeup of the flu vaccine every year. Global health experts have said the decision could weaken the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's ability to keep an eye on international health threats. Trump's order also calls for the secretary of State to halt negotiations on a pandemic agreement that has been in the works with WHO member countries for years. Withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement The president is pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, where it had served as a rallying force under former President Joe Biden to organize the 200-member nations to address climate change. IRA spending freeze Trump froze spending under Democrats' climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which will halt billions of dollars in spending leftover from the Biden administration. His orders will also pave the way for the federal government to auction leases for far more federal land and water to the fossil fuel industry. He can also pull the plug on new leases for wind farms — a technology he's publicly lambasted for years — which the Biden administration made a centerpiece of their clean energy policies. Ending federal censorship Trump issued an executive order 'ending federal censorship,' intended to keep the government from intervening in social media content. The order is the culmination of years of GOP frustration with platforms' content moderation decision-making, and specifically the Biden administration's pressure on platforms over what it saw as mis- and disinformation. But it's not clear if the order will be any more than symbolic. The federal jawboning behavior it polices has largely ended, and there are fewer specifics in the order than Trumpinitially suggested when he promised a dramatic new social-media policy on the campaign trail. Trans sports ban Trump wants to define sex across the federal government as male and female, but his order doesn't exactly bar transgender students from women's sports — yet. While groups that have spent years lobbying for a definition of sex to be based on biology immediately lauded the order, the prominent conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom on Tuesday acknowledged that there must be agency follow-up. The administration must push forward with regulations that reaffirm that federal laws do not include protections for gender identity to make an impact beyond messaging. Stripping the IRS And just as Americans are preparing to file their taxes and looking forward to refunds, Trump's hiring freeze singled out the Internal Revenue Service for unusually strict treatment. A moratorium on hiring for tax collection and other jobs can't be lifted at the agency until the Treasury secretary, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, and the new so-called Department of Government Efficiency Service decide it's 'in the national interest' — a vague term the order doesn't define. It probably won't affect the current filing season, former IRS officials say, but the agency didn't answer a request for comment. Birthright citizenship One of Trump's most controversial campaign promises was ending birthright citizenship as a tactic for chilling undocumented immigrants from having children in the U.S. But it's a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment, and legal experts largely agree it's a major stretch. A federal judge on Thursday blocked the order, which is expected to make its way up to the Supreme Court. Transgender troops The president also repealed a Biden-era rule allowing transgender troops to serve openly in the military, another order that's expected to face quick legal challenge. And DOGE Trump's directive establishing the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (really, it just renamed the Digital Service, an existing agency, as the DOGE Service) is also the subject of three federal lawsuits over conflicts of interest resulting from private interests — say, those of the world's richest person — in federal decision-making. Robert King, Matt Daily, Bianca Quilantan, Toby Eckert and Jack Detsch contributed to this report.
