Latest news with #ArabAmericansforPeace
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Despite Trump's comments on Gaza, some Arab Americans still support him
While President Donald Trump's comments about wanting to "clean out" Gaza and forcibly displace its nearly 2 million Palestinians have stirred outrage and accusations of ethnic cleansing among U.S. allies and international law experts, some members of the Arab American community still believe he was a better choice than Vice President Kamala Harris. "I don't regret having supported the president. He promised us an end to the war, and he was able to get a ceasefire for us in Gaza, and for that we are grateful. Imagine how many hundreds of Palestinians we've been able to save because of the ceasefire," Bishara Bahbah, the chairman for Arab Americans for Peace told ABC News. Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire-hostage exchange deal five days before Trump was sworn into office. Both President Joe Biden and Trump have taken credit for the ceasefire deal. The Biden-Harris administration faced criticism from the Arab American community due to its perceived unconditional support for Israel in its war on Gaza. More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people and hundreds more were taken captive. "President Biden was asleep at the wheel, ignoring our our pleas with him. So we decided to tell President Biden that because you have ignored us, we are going to punish you at the polls, and that's one of the major reasons why we decided to establish Arab Americans for Trump," Bahbah said. Many prominent Arab-American advocacy groups and community leaders threw their support behind Trump or Green Party candidate Jill Stein due to the Biden administration's stance on Gaza. "For many people, this was very painful. This was not an easy choice, because they were looking at what was going on in Gaza, it was very hard for them to support President Biden," and later Vice President Harris, James Zoghby, the cofounder of the Arab American Institute, a political and policy organization that did not support Trump, told ABC News. MORE: Trump's threats to pull aid if Egypt, Jordan don't accept Palestinians could lead to new alliances, experts say Now, with Trump proposing the forcible displacement of Palestinians, and attempting to pressure Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza -- by threatening to cut billions in aid -- some groups have maintained their support of Trump and are waiting to see what actions he takes and are maintaining their opposition to Harris and Biden. "These were grotesque comments. They're unacceptable comments, they're absolutely horrific comments. But you know, at the end of the day, when you put them on a scale, they're comments. It's rhetoric, and I don't feel it is appropriate, nor is it honest to sit here and conflate it with the actions of the Biden-Harris administration, or to try and use that rhetoric to use it as a 'gotcha' moment to people who voted against the Biden-Harris administration," Hudhayfah Ahmad, the head of media for the Abandon Harris campaign, told ABC News. The Abandon Harris campaign, which started as the Abandon Biden campaign, gave both Democratic Party candidates an ultimatum, asking for them to call for an unconditional ceasefire or lose the group's support. Biden and Harris did not meet the deadline set by the group to call for a ceasefire, according to Ahmad. The Trump campaign was able to garner support from the Muslim American community largely in the last four weeks before the election by making public calls for a ceasefire and vowing to make it happen, Ahmad said. "There was never really any support before that," Ahmad said. "A considerable chunk of people who had previously committed to voting third party, said that I'm going to vote the Trump-Vance ticket at the top of the ticket, and I'll vote Green Party down ballot. I heard this from multiple people in multiple swing states," Ahmad said. But some community leaders felt that despite the actions of the Biden Administration in Gaza, Trump would be worse. "I was very much opposed to the hucksters who were trying to sell Jill Stein and to the folks who supported Donald Trump. It was a really not just a bad call, it was a dangerous call. And I felt that despite the insult, despite the hurt, we had a responsibility to think big. [Biden and Harris] were at fault for making our job more difficult," Zoghby said. "The pain that we knew would occur if Donald Trump got back into the White House was too great to too many people," Zoghby said. "Even though [Biden and Harris] didn't give us what we needed, we still had to recognize that letting Donald Trump back into the White House was was going to be a disaster." MORE: US officials could face international warrants if steps are taken to displace Palestinians in Gaza Arab Americans for Peace -- an advocacy group formerly called Arab Americans for Trump -- changed its name this month after hearing some of Trump's rhetoric surrounding the displacement of Palestinians, but a leader told ABC News they have not yet withdrawn their support for Trump. "Our objective from the very beginning for supporting Trump was peace. We were telling the Biden administration continuously to stop its aid to the Israelis because the Israelis are committing genocide with the arms that are provided by the United States and Western Europe," Bahbah said. "The change of the name does not mean that we are withdrawing our support for President Trump. It just means that we are going back to the root cause of our very existence, which is the promotion of peace in the Middle East," Bahbah said. Even community leaders who did not support Trump as a candidate argued that he secured a ceasefire. "Trump did this ceasefire solely for his own self interest and self image and self benefit. Nothing humanitarian about it at all," Ahmad said. "It's hard to say that anyone feels regret [for supporting Trump] when you take into consideration that we are no longer seeing a daily influx of videos and pictures of children, men, women, elderly, being butchered with U.S. weaponry. That has stopped completely," Ahmad said. Despite some holding onto support for Trump, his comments on forcibly displacing Palestinians drew sharp criticism from Arab Americans. "We are totally opposed to the idea of displacing Palestinians out of Gaza. Gaza belongs to the Palestinians, and it is not for anyone in the world to tell the Palestinians to leave that territory," Bahbah said. "Like my father, Palestinians are prepared to die on their homeland. And will not immigrate or be forced out of their homeland," Bahbah said. "There's time to wait and see how things will evolve before I can say 'I am really angry with the president, and I no longer supporting him.' That is not the case right now, because it's just the beginning of that process. But I also believe that the coming four years are going to be critical for the Israel-Arab conflict," Bahbah said. He said Arab Americans for Peace decided to support Trump because he promised to end the war in Gaza and ensure lasting peace in the Middle East. He believes Trump's pressure on Netanyahu stopped the war in Gaza. But Bahbah said he believes Trump's recent comments on Gaza are providing Israel cover to "destroy" the West Bank, drawing attention away from what is happening there. MORE: Trump sanctions against ICC could 'erode international rule of law,' court warns Other leaders in the Arab community strongly disagreed with Trump's comments on Gaza, and are skeptical of the motivations behind Trump's comments on wanting to forcibly displace Palestinians. "I think the purpose is to provide Netanyahu the cover to end this ceasefire after phase one and secure the hostages and go no further. Because I don't think Trump is interested at all in seeing this through on the terms that were negotiated -- which ultimately requires a full Israeli withdrawal and the reconstruction," Zoghby said. Netanyahu has faced criticism for not laying out a plan for what happens in Gaza after the war is over. The ceasefire agreement requires a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, but remains unclear if the ceasefire will reach its final stages. "I could get as indignant as everybody else about [Trump's comments] and it being illegal, but there's so much in that involves Israel's behavior toward Palestinians -- and the U.S.'s enablement of Israel doing it -- that is illegal, immoral," Zoghby said. Now they are awaiting on Trump to deliver lasting peace, Bahbah said. "We continue to insist and be a voice of reason, telling the president what we want as an Arab American community, and that is lasting peace in the Middle East based on a two state solution, keeping in mind that what brought us to this point is the Biden-Harris administration by allowing Israel to literally destroy the Gaza Strip," Bahbah said. But support for Trump is conditional on what actions he takes, some activists say. "We are not beholden to anybody or to any party. We will support whomever we think will end the wars and provide a permanent resolution to the Arab Israeli conflict and peace in the Middle East," Bahbah said. The group Abandon Harris plans to throw its support behind third-party candidates in the future, Ahmad said. "Our movement is solely structured behind morals, values, principles -- not parties, not individuals, not candidates," Ahmad said. Despite Trump's comments on Gaza, some Arab Americans still support him originally appeared on
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
An Arab-American Trump advocate on what comes next
Dr. Bishara Bahbah chaired Arab Americans for Trump during last year's election. As the Biden administration supplied aid to Israel without conditions, and as the war in Gaza continued, Bahbah's group urged voters to back the GOP nominee, send a message, and get a new deal. Trump won, helped broker a ceasefire, and seemed to be delivering on Bahbah's hopes. And then, last week, standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that the United States would take over Gaza and move out its inhabitants before it was rebuilt into something else. Almost immediately, Bahbah renamed his group — it's now Arab Americans for Peace — and warned that Trump was making a mistake that would affect millions of lives while ending his political alliance with a decisive voter bloc. Bahbah talked about the aftermath with Semafor, and this is an edited transcript of the conversations. David Weigel: What's happened since Trump stood next to Netanyahu and made that announcement? Dr. Bishara Bahbah: It seems like we've got two messages coming out of Washington. One is what's being floated by the president. The other is a series of clarifications and statements made by members of his administration, particularly Steve Witkoff and the secretary of state. So, one day the president floats an idea about making Gaza part of the United States. Another day, he's calling for the removal of people from Gaza so that it can be rebuilt and they can go back. The message from the rest of the administration is that we're awaiting the Arab response after the meeting of the heads of Arab states in Cairo later this month. When Trump proposed this idea, Netanyahu said that 'after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads. And they say, you know, he's right.' The idea is that by being so shocking, Trump can move people into a new negotiating position. Is that wrong? I describe it not as out-of-the-box thinking. I describe it as out-of-the- stratosphere thinking. The idea of displacing Palestinians in Gaza is just unacceptable, outrageous. You cannot dispossess a people from their land. The president is removing illegal immigrants from the United States, and now he's proposing to move inhabitants of a land, who own the land, from their own country? Yes, the ideas of the president are out of the box, but they're totally unacceptable. Can you break down why exactly this is unacceptable? Gaza is for the Palestinians. It's for nobody else. And for somebody to even insinuate that Gazans have to be relocated to make it a beautiful piece of territory for someone else is just ludicrous. Let me tell you the story of my father. In 1948, my parents fled to Jordan, lived in a refugee camp for two years, and then in 1950 returned to East Jerusalem, which was controlled by Jordan. In 1967, when the war started, neighbors came to us and said to my father: 'We are going to go and flee to Jordan because Israeli troops are coming.' My father said to them: 'Listen, I've left my homeland once. Right now, if I am to die, I would rather die on my land and in my homeland, rather than in another country.' Asking people to leave their homeland is just unthinkable. I understand that Gaza needs to be rebuilt. But when the President floated those ideas, he was sitting next to the man that demolished and utterly destroyed Gaza. He should have looked at Netanyahu and said: 'Why the hell did you do that to Gaza? If you wanted to take your revenge with regard to October 7, maybe, okay, you kill 1,000 people in return, you kill 5,000 people in return, you kill 10,000 people in return. You don't demolish the entire Gaza Strip, kill 47,000 people, and injure 120,000 people.' That's a criminal of war that we're talking about in Netanyahu. He's handing him more or less a Palestinian-free Gaza so he can enjoy the tranquility of a southern border. Netanyahu can enjoy the tranquility of a southern border, and an eastern border with the West Bank, by recognizing a Palestinian state through the two state solution. Another big Trump play has been urging Egypt and Jordan to take refugees from Gaza. Is it possible that what he's doing makes that possible? They will not. It's a matter of survival for both countries. Imagine if Palestinians went to the Sinai, for example, and some of them decided to launch missiles against Israel. They'd have war between Israel and Egypt. Imagine if the same happens with Gazans being displaced to Jordan, and they decide to do the same. There'd be a war between Jordan and Israel. The idea of displacing those people is not only a security issue for those countries, it stands against the principle of allowing Palestinians to have self determination and a state of their own. These two countries' regimes would not survive if they agree to President Trump's proposals. If Harris had won the election, what would be happening differently right now? Would you be in a better position? We were afraid, as a community, that if we supported the Harris-Biden ticket, the war in Gaza would have continued. That was our primary and immediate concern. When we kept telling President Biden to stop arming Israel so that it would stop attacking Gaza, we were ignored. Then we said to the president: 'Okay, you ignore us, and you don't listen to us? We're going to punish you. We're going to vote against you.' So, President Trump gave us two promises. One, he said he would end the wars. Two, he said he would provide a lasting peace in the Middle East that is satisfactory to all parties. Those two promises were very attractive. Yes, the President did not talk about a two-state solution, but we were told they did not want to talk about the two-state solution at that point, because they did not want to reward Hamas. The president fulfilled his promise with regard to ending the war in Gaza by forcing Netanyahu to accept the ceasefire. We are looking for the President to fulfill his second promise. If the administration wanted to get to a two-state solution, how should it change course now? Steve Witkoff is in the region, and he's pushing for the second and third phases of the ceasefire. Now, once the second and third third phases of the ceasefire are completed, that would mean the return of Israeli hostages, the return of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, and the withdrawal of Israel from Gaza. So I think what the President should be doing right now is he should facilitate the arrival of Palestinian security forces from the West Bank to Gaza to take over control of Gaza security. Then, negotiations can begin on a permanent solution to the conflict. There's not going to be any normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel unless there is a Palestinian state established. The Saudi position has actually hardened in that regard over the past several months, and they are now adamant about the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Emiratis came out with a statement that they would not provide any funds for the rebuilding of Gaza or the West Bank, unless there is a Palestinian state. I think that President Trump's ideas that he has been floating around have generated a backlash among Arab countries and toughened their position vis a vis any normalization with Israel. So if a Democrat is running for president in a few years, and they want to win you over, what do they need to do and say? Do they break from Biden, too? When Kamala Harris was asked, what would she do differently than what President Biden was doing? She thought about it and she said nothing. That answer cost her the presidency. They should distance themselves from the policies of the Biden administration. If somebody on the Democratic side is courageous enough to say, 'Listen, Biden did the wrong thing, Harris did the wrong thing,' then we would look at what they have to say very seriously. We also look forward to meeting with the president.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Trump Supporters Who Didn't Take Him at His Word
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Ask Trump supporters why they like the president, and chances are good you'll hear something like: He tells it like it is and says what he means. The question, then, is why so many of them refused to take him at his word. Over the first three weeks of the second Trump presidency, a recurrent motif is that Trump does exactly what he said he would, and then people who backed him react with shock and dismay. If you're surprised, you weren't paying attention—and judging from recent examples, many people weren't. When Trump announced his plan (I'm using the word generously) to occupy the Gaza Strip and convert it into an international real-estate development, the chairman of Arab Americans for Trump, which formed to back him during the election, expressed shock and betrayal, and announced that the group would rename itself Arab Americans for Peace. Some Arab American voters may have felt compelled to lodge a protest vote against Joe Biden's handling of the war in Gaza, even if it meant contributing to Trump's win, but no one should have been surprised that a guy who used Palestinian as an insult during the campaign was not a sincere champion for the people of Gaza. Some Venezuelan Americans in Florida are feeling similar outrage. Trump continued to make gains with Hispanic voters in 2024, but this month he ended Temporary Protected Status, a designation that allows noncitizens to stay in the country, for about 300,000 Venezuelans, with more TPS designees likely to lose their status later. 'They used us,' the Venezuelan activist Adelys Ferro told NPR. 'During the campaign, the elected officials from the Republican Party, they actually told us that he was not going to touch the documented people. They said, 'No, it is with undocumented people.'' In fact, both Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance said they wanted to deport people legally allowed in the country, such as Haitians in Springfield, Ohio. Some voters just convinced themselves that their own groups wouldn't become targets. They're not alone. Some Kentucky educators who voted for Trump are aghast that his administration is trying to cut off federal funding that they need to keep their schools functioning, despite his campaign-trail promises to abolish the Department of Education. 'I did not vote for that,' one principal told CNN. 'I voted for President Trump to make America first again and to improve our lives.' The Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police union, endorsed Trump for president, then decried Trump's decision to pardon January 6 rioters who attacked police officers—never mind that he had promised pardons while campaigning. CEOs and bankers who decided they liked Trump better because he favors low taxes and less regulation are suddenly chagrined to learn that he was serious about tariffs. A Missouri farmer who voted for Trump is horrified that the administration is freezing federal funding for conservation programs, even though Trump promised to eliminate environmental programs and slash government spending. All of this was foreseeable. In a 2015 tweet that remains depressingly relevant a decade later, Adrian Bott joked: ''I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.' But I don't want to single out ordinary citizens. Even Republican members of Congress are doing the same dance—cheering on Trump cuts in general but scrambling to protect their own states from losing any federal money. They ran for office with the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party, but they never expected the leopards to eat their faces too. Other Trump promises were pretty dubious if you listened to the rest of his plans. 'Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again,' he said. But Trump's signature campaign ideas were large tariffs and mass deportation. Both of these are inflationary: Tariffs raise the price of goods, and mass deportation makes labor scarcer, raising salaries, which in turn drives prices higher. Today, the Federal Reserve released the first Consumer Price Index update of Trump's term, finding 3 percent inflation. That's a hair above economists' expectations but in line with last month's figures. Persistent inflation shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, and not only because of the sharp rise in egg prices, driven by bird flu, that my colleague Lora Kelley covered last week. You don't need an economics degree to predict this. You just had to heed the many warnings about it, which even Fox News covered. Or you could just listen to what Trump said, as when he suggested that tariffs would pay for child care or that Biden's encouragement of wind power was responsible for inflation. These aren't just the kinds of comforting nonsense all politicians sometimes peddle; they're incoherent. Since winning the election, he has downplayed his inflation promises and announced a set of tariffs that, although not fully felt yet, may already be edging prices higher. Now Trump wants the Fed to drop interest rates, which would stimulate the economy—and likely increase inflation. When Trump ran for president in 2016, uncertainty about his seriousness was understandable. He was a legendary merchant of hyperbole, and no one was sure where his persona ended and his real political intentions began. No such excuse applies anymore—as I pointed out in September, Trump was president once, and he tried to keep most of his big promises, albeit often ineffectively. This time around, Trump said he was going to do these things—and hey, he tells it like it is. Related: Trump was president once. Trump's plan to supercharge inflation (From June) Here are three new stories from The Atlantic: David Frum: Why the COVID deniers won The hidden costs of Musk's Washington misadventure So about that asteroid that could hit Earth ... Today's News Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed entering negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Former Representative Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed as the director of national intelligence. Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who had been wrongfully detained in Russia since 2021, was released from prison and landed in the U.S. last night. Evening Read The Tesla Revolt By Patrick George Donald Trump may be pleased enough with Elon Musk, but even as the Tesla CEO is exercising his newfound power to essentially undo whole functions of the federal government, he still has to reassure his investors. Lately, Musk has delivered for them in one way: The value of the company's shares has skyrocketed since Trump was reelected to the presidency of the United States. But Musk had much to answer for on his recent fourth-quarter earnings call—not least that in 2024, Tesla's car sales had sunk for the first time in a decade. Read the full article. More From The Atlantic Why Silicon Valley lost its patriotism Donald Trump and the politics of looking busy Presidents may not unilaterally dismantle government agencies. The government waste DOGE should be cutting Afrikaner 'refugees' only Culture Break Read. Pick up one of these seven books when you want to quit. Play. A radical tweak makes the video game Civilization more realistic—and more depressing, Spencer Kornhaber writes. Play our daily crossword. P.S. When I'm not writing about politics, I like to moonlight as The Atlantic's jazz writer. One of these days, I want to profile the tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who I think may be the most dynamic figure in jazz today. He released a new album, Apple Cores, on Friday, and it's typically excellent—which is to say, it's excellent and also not beholden to any particular type. Like Sonny Rollins, a clear inspiration, Lewis makes music that's adventurous and challenging but doesn't require a deep immersion in jazz to appreciate. I especially like 'Prince Eugene,' which is driven by the percussionist Chad Taylor's hypnotic mbira riff. — David Stephanie Bai contributed to this newsletter. Explore all of our newsletters here. When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
What Exactly Did Americans Expect?
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Ask Trump supporters why they like the president, and chances are good you'll hear something like: He tells it like it is and says what he means. The question, then, is why so many of them refused to take him at his word. Over the first three weeks of the second Trump presidency, a recurrent motif is that Trump does exactly what he said he would, and then people who backed him react with shock and dismay. If you're surprised, you weren't paying attention—and judging from recent examples, many people weren't. When Trump announced his plan (I'm using the word generously) to occupy the Gaza Strip and convert it into an international real-estate development, the chairman of Arab Americans for Trump, which formed to back him during the election, expressed shock and betrayal, and announced that the group would rename itself Arab Americans for Peace. Some Arab American voters may have felt compelled to lodge a protest vote against Joe Biden's handling of the war in Gaza, even if it meant contributing to Trump's win, but no one should have been surprised that a guy who used Palestinian as an insult during the campaign was not a sincere champion for the people of Gaza. Some Venezuelan Americans in Florida are feeling similar outrage. Trump continued to make gains with Hispanic voters in 2024, but this month he ended Temporary Protected Status, a designation that allows noncitizens to stay in the country, for about 300,000 Venezuelans, with more TPS designees likely to lose their status later. 'They used us,' the Venezuelan activist Adelys Ferro told NPR. 'During the campaign, the elected officials from the Republican Party, they actually told us that he was not going to touch the documented people. They said, 'No, it is with undocumented people.'' In fact, both Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance said they wanted to deport people legally allowed in the country, such as Haitians in Springfield, Ohio. Some voters just convinced themselves that their own groups wouldn't become targets. They're not alone. Some Kentucky educators who voted for Trump are aghast that his administration is trying to cut off federal funding that they need to keep their schools functioning, despite his campaign-trail promises to abolish the Department of Education. 'I did not vote for that,' one principal told CNN. 'I voted for President Trump to make America first again and to improve our lives.' The Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police union, endorsed Trump for president, then decried Trump's decision to pardon January 6 rioters who attacked police officers—never mind that he had promised pardons while campaigning. CEOs and bankers who decided they liked Trump better because he favors low taxes and less regulation are suddenly chagrined to learn that he was serious about tariffs. A Missouri farmer who voted for Trump is horrified that the administration is freezing federal funding for conservation programs, even though Trump promised to eliminate environmental programs and slash government spending. All of this was foreseeable. In a 2015 tweet that remains depressingly relevant a decade later, Adrian Bott joked: ''I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.' But I don't want to single out ordinary citizens. Even Republican members of Congress are doing the same dance —cheering on Trump cuts in general but scrambling to protect their own states from losing any federal money. They ran for office with the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party, but they never expected the leopards to eat their faces too. Other Trump promises were pretty dubious if you listened to the rest of his plans. 'Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again,' he said. But Trump's signature campaign ideas were large tariffs and mass deportation. Both of these are inflationary: Tariffs raise the price of goods, and mass deportation makes labor scarcer, raising salaries, which in turn drives prices higher. Today, the Federal Reserve released the first Consumer Price Index update of Trump's term, finding 3 percent inflation. That's a hair above economists' expectations but in line with last month's figures. Persistent inflation shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, and not only because of the sharp rise in egg prices, driven by bird flu, that my colleague Lora Kelley covered last week. You don't need an economics degree to predict this. You just had to heed the many warnings about it, which even Fox News covered. Or you could just listen to what Trump said, as when he suggested that tariffs would pay for child care or that Biden's encouragement of wind power was responsible for inflation. These aren't just the kinds of comforting nonsense all politicians sometimes peddle; they're incoherent. Since winning the election, he has downplayed his inflation promises and announced a set of tariffs that, although not fully felt yet, may already be edging prices higher. Now Trump wants the Fed to drop interest rates, which would stimulate the economy—and likely increase inflation. When Trump ran for president in 2016, uncertainty about his seriousness was understandable. He was a legendary merchant of hyperbole, and no one was sure where his persona ended and his real political intentions began. No such excuse applies anymore—as I pointed out in September, Trump was president once, and he tried to keep most of his big promises, albeit often ineffectively. This time around, Trump said he was going to do these things—and hey, he tells it like it is. Today's News Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed entering negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Former Representative Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed as the director of national intelligence. Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who had been wrongfully detained in Russia since 2021, was released from prison and landed in the U.S. last night. The Tesla Revolt By Patrick George Donald Trump may be pleased enough with Elon Musk, but even as the Tesla CEO is exercising his newfound power to essentially undo whole functions of the federal government, he still has to reassure his investors. Lately, Musk has delivered for them in one way: The value of the company's shares has skyrocketed since Trump was reelected to the presidency of the United States. But Musk had much to answer for on his recent fourth-quarter earnings call—not least that in 2024, Tesla's car sales had sunk for the first time in a decade. Read the full article. More From The Atlantic Read. Pick up one of these seven books when you want to quit. Play. A radical tweak makes the video game Civilization more realistic —and more depressing, Spencer Kornhaber writes. P.S. When I'm not writing about politics, I like to moonlight as The Atlantic 's jazz writer. One of these days, I want to profile the tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who I think may be the most dynamic figure in jazz today. He released a new album, Apple Cores, on Friday, and it's typically excellent—which is to say, it's excellent and also not beholden to any particular type. Like Sonny Rollins, a clear inspiration, Lewis makes music that's adventurous and challenging but doesn't require a deep immersion in jazz to appreciate. I especially like ' Prince Eugene,' which is driven by the percussionist Chad Taylor's hypnotic mbira riff. Stephanie Bai contributed to this newsletter.
CNN
08-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Arab American Trump Supporter Shares Message to President on Gaza; NLRB Leader Fired by Trump Speaks Out on Lawsuit - First Of All with Victor Blackwell - Podcast on CNN Audio
Arab American Trump Supporter Shares Message to President on Gaza; NLRB Leader Fired by Trump Speaks Out on Lawsuit First Of All with Victor Blackwell 43 mins The group 'Arab Americans for Trump' is now calling themselves 'Arab Americans for Peace' after President Trump announced plans to 'take over' Gaza and relocate Palestinians. Bishara Bahbah shares a candid message to the man he worked to help elect president. Plus, Victor speaks with the Chair of the National Labor Relations Board who was dismissed by President Trump. Gwynne Wilcox is now suing, and the case could go to the Supreme Court. She tells Victor about the moment she found out she was being ousted from her role at the independent federal agency and reveals whether she thinks Elon Musk played a role. A grieving mother is now working to raise money for a park memorial in tribute to her murdered daughter after 'racist emails" derailed plans for Milwaukee County to help fund the project. Sade Robinson's mother, Sheena Scarbrough, joins Victor to share her disappointment. Plus, sports columnist and Forbes Contributor Terence Moore joins Victor from New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl. Moore asked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell about the league's commitment to DEI and shares his blunt reaction to the answer.
