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Exclusive: Buttigieg responds to Gaza criticism
Presented by With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On today's Playbook Podcast, Adam Wren and Dasha Burns talk about the shifting politics surrounding Israel and Gaza, the latest news about tomorrow's Trump-Putin summit and the limits of Laura Loomer's influence in the administration. Good Thursday morning. I'm Adam Wren. Send me your tips: Get in touch. In today's Playbook … — Pete Buttigieg tells Playbook what he really thinks about Israel and Gaza. — Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to launch his redistricting effort today in California. But exclusive new polling suggests it's not so popular with voters. — Turns out there are limits to Laura Loomer's sway in the Trump administration — and Susie Wiles' influence is among them. DRIVING THE DAY FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Setting the record straight: Pete Buttigieg has heard the criticisms. After his appearance last week on 'Pod Save America,' the former Transportation secretary drew a negative reaction from fellow Democrats over his response to a question about Gaza — an answer that critics thought was mealy mouthed in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe. 'I get it,' Buttigieg says now of the negative reactions to that interview. 'It's important to be clear about something this enormous and this painful. It's just that it's so enormous and it's so painful that sometimes words can fail.' In an interview with Playbook, Buttigieg sought to set the record straight about what he believes about Israel and Gaza. Would he have voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) proposed arms embargo against Israel? Yes. Would he recognize a Palestinian state? Yes, as part of a two-state solution. Should the U.S. pass another 10-year agreement with Israel for foreign military aid? No. The father of 4-year-old twins, Buttigieg told Playbook that his children have affected the way he views the crisis in Gaza. 'For anybody, looking at images of children starving and suffering and dying is horrifying, but I do think it's different when you're a parent,' he said. 'I think as a parent, you see these awful images of starving children with their ribs showing and automatically, you imagine your own kids.' THE CHANGING TIDE: In 2019, as Buttigieg was running for president, he sat for an interview at the conference of the left-leaning, pro-Israel organization J Street, and fielded questions from 'Pod Save the World' co-hosts and former Obama aides Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes in front of a friendly audience. Back then, asked about conditioning U.S. aid to stop or slow future settlement construction, Buttigieg spoke of the U.S. and Israel 'friendship,' and compared it to a friend 'acting in a way that might hurt your relationship … might hurt them and might hurt you, and what you do in that situation is you put your arm around your friends and you try to guide them to a better place.' Vietor clapped on his thigh. Rhodes nodded approvingly. Just last week, some six years later, Buttigieg tried to use the same 'friendship' metaphor on 'Pod Save America.' It was not so well received. Host Jon Favreau asked Buttigieg if he would have voted to oppose sending weapons to Israel, how the next president should handle America's relationship with the Jewish state and whether the U.S. should recognize a Palestinian state. Buttigieg, typically one of his party's most skilled communicators, dodged the questions and spoke generally of images that 'shock the conscience.' Then came the old 'friendship' metaphor. This time, Rhodes wasn't nodding. 'I have absolutely no idea what he thinks based on these answers,' Rhodes vented on X alongside a clip of the exchange. 'Just tell us what you believe.' Others responded similarly. Democrats need 'moral clarity, not status quo,' said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), himself rumored to be considering a 2028 presidential bid. It was a glaring sign of how much the politics surrounding Israel and Gaza have changed — and how answers that just a few years ago won applause among mainline Democrats are now out of step with the party's zeitgeist. The old metaphor vs. the new perspective: Speaking to the 'friendship' metaphor, one Democratic strategist who was granted anonymity to speak candidly and was in the room with Buttigieg back in 2019 told Playbook this: 'When your 'friend' kills 60,000 people and starves an entire population for months at a time, shouldn't the question be: Why the f--k am I friends with this guy?' IT ISN'T JUST BUTTIGIEG: Democrats across the party are searching for solid ground on the Israel-Gaza topic. Across the party's still-inchoate 2028 presidential field, ambitious Dems are reevaluating their positions and staking out territory, your author writes with Elena Schneider and Holly Otterbein this morning. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said his own position is 'evolving.' … Governors like Wes Moore of Maryland and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, both staunch defenders of Israel, are keeping their powder dry and declining to engage on nuts-and-bolts policy questions. … Through a spokesperson, former VP Kamala Harris did not comment. … Khanna said in an interview with Playbook that Gaza/Israel is 'going to be a defining issue in the Democratic Party in the midterms and for 2028.' 'Israel is not acting like an ally now, defying our presidents, violating our values, and compromising our interests in the Middle East,' said Khanna, who is calling for the U.S. to recognize a Palestinian state and arguing America should stop sending weapons that kill civilians to Israel. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who ran for president in 2020, also joined Sanders' resolutions, a notable shift for the moderate senator. 'I've supported military assistance to Israel in the past,' she said in a statement. 'But I believe at this moment in time it's crucial that the Israeli government must do more to alleviate the urgent humanitarian crisis.' Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) did not vote on the resolution, though his office said the Arizona senator would have also opposed it if he were present at the time of the vote. Democratic governors, some of whom are running for reelection next year, are somewhat more insulated from issue-defining votes, but they're still getting asked about it by voters. THE BIG PICTURE: The response to Buttigieg was telling. Democrats have broadly recalibrated their views about Israel — and that's fast becoming a litmus test ahead of the 2028 Democratic primary. The DNC is weighing two different resolutions on the matter, with progressives pushing for elected Democrats to endorse an arms embargo on Israel and recognize a Palestinian state. 'Democrats — like all Americans, but certainly Democrats — are sickened by what's happening and trying to hold several things in mind at the same time, all of which can be true: that what has to happen next is the killing has to end,' Buttigieg told Playbook. 'The hostages have to come home. And the people of Gaza need aid unimpeded, and all of that should be happening immediately.' PREPPING FOR PUTIN COUNTDOWN: Trump is set to meet tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. And even as the White House has carefully worked to adjust expectations for the summit — emphasizing that this is likely to be the start of a long process or conversation rather than the culmination of one — European leaders have their own set of expectations. Yesterday, Trump and top European officials spoke about the summit, and the Europeans were left with a clear impression that he 'does not intend to discuss any possible divisions of territory' in his meeting with Putin — despite previously suggesting there would be 'some land swapping' between both countries, per NBC's Katherine Doyle and colleagues. Trump reportedly told the leaders that the goal of the meeting was 'securing a ceasefire.' The president also reportedly said 'the U.S. was willing to play some sort of role in providing Kyiv with the means to deter future Russian aggression,' though 'Trump said he would only make such a commitment if the effort is not part of NATO,' POLITICO's Felicia Schwartz and colleagues report. Possibly on the agenda: During a news conference yesterday, Trump said he may bring up Russia's recent hack of U.S. federal court databases during his meeting with Putin, POLITICO's Maggie Miller reports. 'I guess I could, are you surprised?' Trump responded when asked if the topic would come up. 'They hack in, that's what they do. They're good at it, we're good at it, we're actually better at it.' REDISTRICTING ROUNDUP KEEP QUIET AND CARRY ON: As Trump presses forward in his campaign to get red states to gerrymander their maps ahead of the 2026 election, a number of Republicans — both on the Hill and in state capitals around the country — are uneasy with those efforts. And for them, senior party leaders have a message: Keep quiet, at least in public, POLITICO's Lisa Kashinsky and Meredith Lee Hill report this morning. 'In Congress, House GOP leaders are trying to bridge the divide between the White House's 'maximum pressure' campaign to pad their majority, and the swath of GOP members who fear the gambit may backfire,' Lisa and Meredith write. Even so, 'senior GOP members of the impacted state delegations are quietly raising concerns about the fallout, though they ultimately fear crossing the president.' Other Republicans — namely those in blue states — are also voicing concern as Democratic governors threaten to carve their seats out in retaliatory drawings of their own. For Republicans, there's a political reality with which to contend. Support for mid-cycle gerrymandering has become something of a loyalty test for the GOP: you're either with Trump, or you're against him. More on Hill Republicans' views in Inside Congress GO WEST: At a news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET, Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to kick off Democrats' reciprocal effort to gerrymander California in response to Texas Republicans' remapping. The proposed new maps in California are expected to be unveiled by the end of this week before the state legislature can take action next week and place the issue before voters in November. First in Playbook — California Dreamin':. But Californians' deep support for the state's current independent redistricting commission could stand in Newsom's way, POLITICO's Melanie Mason reports this morning. A new POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab survey shows Golden State voters prefer keeping an independent line-drawing panel to determine the state's House seats 'by nearly a two-to-one margin,' while only '36 percent of respondents back returning congressional redistricting authority to state lawmakers.' Knowing this reality, California Dems have 'promised not to do away with the state's independent redistricting commission entirely,' and are instead planning to ask voters 'to approve a constitutional amendment that would put new maps approved by the Legislature in effect for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 election cycles.' The commission is popular across parties: 'Independent voters were the most enthusiastic backers of the panel, with 72 percent in favor of the commission keeping its line-drawing authority,' Melanie writes. 'Support among Republicans and Democrats was roughly equal — 66 percent and 61 percent, respectively — marking a rare spot of bipartisan agreement in this hyper-polarized political moment.' Full results DEEP IN THE HEART: An Illinois judge has ruled against Texas AG Ken Paxton's petition to have quorum-breaking Texas Democratic state legislators arrested, citing the state's circuit court 'does not have the inherent power' to execute Texas arrest warrants, per the Dallas Morning News' Aarón Torres. BEST OF THE REST POLITICO SCOOP — The limits of Loomer: Last month, far-right activist Laura Loomer successfully pressured the administration into ousting Vinay Prasad, a top vaccine regulator, over allegations that he was insufficiently politically loyal to Trump. Last week, in a stunning turnabout, Prasad was brought back into the fold. The driving force behind his reinstatement? White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, POLITICO's David Lim, Dasha Burns and Tim Röhn report this morning. Wiles' intervention came after pleas from both FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, Prasad's boss, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who insisted that Prasad was integral to their MAHA efforts — and MAHA remains, in turn, integral to Trump's support ahead of the midterms. The Loomer angle: The reversal marks both a 'fragile win for Kennedy,' and demonstrates 'the limits of Loomer's influence,' our team writes. Says one senior administration official of Loomer: 'I think she wants to split the MAHA and MAGA coalition.' SCENES FROM THE TAKEOVER: Last night, the federal police presence in the nation's capital ramped up considerably. On Truth Social, the president framed his efforts as part of a crusade to 'liberate this City, scrape away the filth, and make it safe, clean, habitable and beautiful once more!' On the ground: 'After law enforcement set up a vehicle checkpoint along the busy 14th Street Northwest corridor, hecklers shouted, 'Go home, fascists' and 'Get off our streets,'' AP's Lindsay Whitehurst and Ashraf Khalil report. 'Some protesters stood at the intersection before the checkpoint and urged drivers to turn away from it.' Video and photos from the checkpoint from HuffPost's Jennifer Bendery and NOTUS' Anna Kramer Throughout the day, Homeland Security agents 'patrolled the popular U Street corridor. Drug Enforcement Administration officers were seen on the National Mall, while National Guard members were parked nearby. DEA agents also joined Metropolitan Police Department officers on patrol in the Navy Yard neighborhood,' per the AP. Meanwhile, D.C.'s homeless population 'has already seen federal agents entering camp sites and asking residents if they have drugs or weapons,' per WaPo's Kyle Swenson and colleagues. The White House has claimed unhoused residents will be given the option to leave their encampment, taken to a shelter or offered 'addiction and mental health services,' though many have expressed confusion over the plan. 'Shelters get full every night,' Frederick Walker, 44, told the Post. 'They fill up by 7 or 8, and if you're not in, you're on the street. Does that mean you're fair game to get arrested?' Related reads: 'Man who hurled sandwich at law enforcement in D.C. charged with felony,' by WaPo's Joe Heim and Sophia Solano LABOR PAINS: E.J. Antoni, Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was among the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, NBC News' Riley Rogerson scooped. A video unearthed on Parler 'shows Antoni walking away from the crowd on the west side of the Capitol grounds. Tear gas was in the air, and conservative radio host Alex Jones can be heard speaking over a megaphone.' Though Antoni declined to comment on the photos, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers stated the nominee was 'a bystander to the events of January 6th, observing and then leaving the Capitol area … EJ was in town for meetings, and it is wrong and defamatory to suggest EJ engaged in anything inappropriate or illegal.' 2026 WATCH: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is 'quietly pressing former Rep. Mary Peltola (D) to plunge into the Alaska Senate race,' Axios' Stephen Neukam and Hans Nichols report. LOCK, STOCK: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is 'calling for a ban on single-stock trading by members of Congress, a push that could supercharge legislative efforts to ban the practice that have gained momentum in recent months,' POLITICO's Gregory Svirnovskiy and Meredith Lee Hill report. TALK OF THE TOWN JD Vance's U.K. vacation isn't going over well with residents of the Cotswolds, per WSJ's Roya Shahidi. One resident said Vance's presence has led to a 'curtailment of our freedoms here' and claimed that Secret Service agents were 'knocking on people's doors and asking about their Facebook profiles.' TRANSITION — Meghan Green is now general counsel for the Senate Budget Committee. She most recently was general counsel for the House Intelligence Committee. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) … Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) … Boris Epshteyn … NYT's Adam Goldman … Rob Flaherty … Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner and AEI … Alia Awadallah … POLITICO's Peter Canellos … Erik Sperling … Dan Sena of Sena Kozar Strategies … David Ellis … WaPo's Lori Montgomery … Paige Decker … White House's Paige Willey … Josh Freed … BGR Group's Bill Viney … Jere Sullivan … Matt Lauer of Qorvis … Eric Wohlschlegel … Sean Miles of the Mayfair Group … Lynne Cheney … former Reps. Tom Campbell (R-Calif.) and Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) (8-0) … Jessica Pavel … Denise Feriozzi of the Pipeline Fund … WSJ's Tim Hanrahan …Treasury's Elliott Hulse … Molly Chapman Norton of Catalist Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
Gulf Today
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
‘Original Sin' depicts Biden's mental, physical decline
John Bowden, The Independent Democrats are not doing themselves any favours with their reactions to the new book on Joe Biden coming out from Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper. The two reporters are due to release Original Sin, a collection of their reporting on the cover up around Biden's mental and physical decline, on May 20. The book's excerpts are already causing a ruckus, as they detail startling instances of Biden's gaps in mental acuity that were reportedly hidden from the public through 2024. Biden, whom aides reportedly considered putting in a wheelchair at points, reportedly did not recognise Hollywood megastar George Clooney at an event the president had flown in to Los Angeles specifically for Clooney to host on his behalf. Other excerpts claimed he forgot the names of longtime aides, including that of his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The top quote of the week: 'It's all Biden.' David Plouffe's declaration in Original Sin gives voice to the party's furious silent undercurrent of supporters, many of whom did vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 but still watched helplessly on election night as she underperformed nationally and lost ground to Republicans even in deep blue states. The architect of Barack Obama's 2008 campaign juggernaut, Plouffe's complaint followed an evisceration of the Biden administration policy on IsraelGaza by the Obamaworld hosts of Pod Save the World. The right, meanwhile, keeps hammering the two reporters and the Washington media at large for the so-called revelations. Arguing that reporters (including from Tapper's network, CNN) led the charge to hide Biden's deficiencies, Republicans argued this week that the two are attempting to cash in on their own failures. They are correct to do so. Democrats (led by Biden's inner circle and a defiant president himself) willingly undermined their own credibility by getting the party into this mess, and should show some capacity for self-reflection — not more breathless attacks on the press — to overcome it. 'I think some of the criticism is fair, to be honest,' said Tapper on Wednesday. Inside Washington claims at least partial innocence here; in February of 2024, we wrote that Biden's age provoked real questions for voters, and that his team 'risk(ed) being seen as trying to conceal something' by ignoring those concerns. But with the imminent release of Tapper and Thompson's book, questions are likely to be raised about just how far back the former president's decline really went. Many Bidenworld loyalists continue to circle the wagons, in true Trumpian fashion. Whether denying the book's revelations outright or chastising reporters falsely for 'focusing' on the issue, the former president and his loyalists continue to insist that they are beyond reproach. 'The only reason I got out of the race was because I didn't want to have a divided Democratic Party,' he told the hosts of The View this month. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, interviewed this week by CNN's Kasie Hunt, dodged questions on the issue entirely. MSNBC's Chuck Todd, who called the criticism of the media a 'right-wing manufactured' narrative, tore into Schumer on a CNN panel. 'He's as responsible as anybody else,' said Todd. 'He was a leader in the party. He could've said something sooner, and he didn't.' The defenses are beginning to become grating to hear even for Democrats, who believe that Biden is doing himself no favours. Steve Schale, who ran the 'Draft Biden' PAC ahead of the 2016 primary, said: 'There is a way for President Biden to build his post-presidency, but this isn't it. 'I really wish he'd embrace the thing that's been his calling card for 50 years: his humanity.' Most importantly: the president's defenders give voters the impression that Democrats are still engaged in deception — at a time when the party's supposed advantages include Donald Trumps' low marks for honesty and integrity. The ex-president was underwater on this issue through the entirety of 2024. The release of Original Sin is going to be the last nail in the coffin, not the first. No one is going to believe the denials now — especially when many of the people making them insisted that there were no problems and that the president wouldn't even consider withdrawing from the race. It's time for Joe to ride off into the sunset. His defenders need to stop lashing out at everyone around them and get back to rebuilding voter trust ahead of the next election cycle.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Is Doing a Good Job of Making Biden Look Bad
Imagine the news cycle that would have ensued if President Barack Obama had met with an ex-jihadist, whom the United States had labeled a terrorist, and praised him as a 'tough guy.' What if President Joe Biden's first planned tour abroad was to the Middle East, but he spurned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hobnob with autocrats (and shake hands with the aforementioned ex-jihadist)? What if he struck a hostage deal with Hamas and kept it secret from Israel? What if he lifted sanctions on Syria after it was taken over by rebels once aligned with Al Qaeda? 'Can you imagine if a Democratic president had done that?' has been one of the defining clichés of the Trump era, whose 10-year anniversary is a month away. It is certainly true that Trump gets away with quite a lot that no one else could. Over the last few days, he has done everything listed in the paragraph above. But now, at least in some quarters on the left, the question is shifting to: Why didn't a Democratic president do that? Watching Trump's flurry of moves, Democratic foreign policy experts sounded almost jealous—and it's hard to blame them. 'He does all this, and it's kind of silence, it's met with a shrug,' Ned Price, who worked in Biden's State Department, told Tommy Vietor on the former Obama staffer's Pod Save the World podcast. 'He has the ability to do things politically that previous presidents did not, because he has complete unquestioned authority over the Republican caucus.' On Syria, Ben Rhodes, a national security adviser under Obama, said lifting sanctions on Syria was 'so clearly the right decision. I don't know why Joe Biden didn't do this.' Indeed. The full consequences of Trump's trip to the Gulf are still not known, but the trip itself has thus far served as an indictment of much of his predecessor's foreign policy. Yes, many of Biden's most notable accomplishments came in that realm, such as strengthening global alliances and, foremost, aiding Ukraine. But in the Middle East, Biden and other Democrats were far too cautious. They were unwilling to risk controversy, at the expense of doing the right thing. And now Trump seems poised to accomplish things Biden should have done, like providing a badly needed lifeline to Syria and improving relations with Iran. OK, yes, it's true: The deal Trump reportedly is close to striking with Iran—lifting all economic sanctions in exchange for an end to its nuclear weapons program—is essentially a recreation of Obama's deal (though Trump certainly would never admit it). And yes, when Obama struck that deal it created a firestorm that, at least on the political right, still burns today. Meanwhile, Trump is also busy finding ways for oil-rich Gulf nations to enrich his family businesses, not to mention his determination to accept a $400 million jumbo jet from Qatar that he's angling to turn into his personal plane after he leaves office—controversies that almost certainly won't have the staying power that even Hunter Biden's relatively minor Burisma scandal has had. Vets of past Democratic administrations are right to be frustrated. But when it comes to Israel, Biden has only himself to blame. Of all the black marks on his presidency, his steadfast backing of an Israeli prime minister who treated him with contempt as tens of thousands were killed in Israeli bombardments is the worst. Biden and his foreign policy team owe some responsibility for the horrific situation in Gaza now—and Trump's current trip through the Middle East serves as a reminder that they could have done more. Not that Trump's Israel policy has been better—far from it. He's done nothing to push back as Israel pushes Gaza to the brink of starvation by cutting off all aid, done almost nothing to advance a ceasefire, and has repeatedly said he would like the U.S. to take over the territory and essentially turn it into a colony. (That Marco Rubio reportedly chastised Israel for the current humanitarian situation in Gaza on Thursday is a sign of how bad that humanitarian situation is, not a shift in administration policy.) But at least Trump has shown a willingness to sideline Netanyahu, who played Biden like a fiddle during his last two years as president. Imagine if Biden had given Netanyahu the cold shoulder, and more importantly withheld military aid, toward the goal of ending the slaughter of Gaza? It would have been the morally courageous thing to do, and for all we know, given how the November election turned out, it might have been the politically expedient thing to do too. What makes Democrats envious of Trump is that he simply doesn't give a shit, which is a powerful attribute that can be used for good or ill. Even when Trump does the right things—as in Syria and Iran—it's never entirely clear he's doing them to promote peace or prosperity. His primary motivation in most of his dealings in the Gulf still, as ever, is promoting himself and his businesses, particularly a shady (even by his standard) cryptocurrency venture being hawked by his sons. But much of Biden's foreign policy was too slow, too old-fashioned, too afraid of controversy. 'I don't like Trump's motivations for lots of things he does,' Rhodes told Vietor. 'But one thing you will say is he's not tied to this constant fear of some bad-faith right-wing attacks or stupid Blob-type, 'We don't do this, we must leverage the sanctions for blah blah blah.' No! Sometimes you just have to try something different.' Democrats have something to learn from Trump, after all—and these days they have nothing to lose, either.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrats keep trying to move past the cover up around Biden's decline. It's not helping their credibility
Democrats are not doing themselves any favors with their reactions to the new book on Joe Biden coming out from Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper. The two reporters are due to release Original Sin, a collection of their reporting on the cover up around Biden's mental and physical decline, on May 20. The book's excerpts are already causing a ruckus, as they detail startling instances of Biden's gaps in mental acuity that were reportedly hidden from the public through 2024. Biden, whom aides reportedly considered putting in a wheelchair at points, reportedly did not recognize Hollywood megastar George Clooney at an event the president had flown in to Los Angeles specifically for Clooney to host on his behalf. Other excerpts claimed he forgot the names of longtime aides, including that of his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The top quote of the week: 'It's all Biden. He totally f***ed us.' David Plouffe's declaration in Original Sin gives voice to the party's furious silent undercurrent of supporters, many of whom did vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 but still watched helplessly on election night as she underperformed nationally and lost ground to Republicans even in deep blue states. The architect of Barack Obama's 2008 campaign juggernaut, Plouffe's complaint followed an evisceration of the Biden administration policy on Israel/Gaza by the Obamaworld hosts of Pod Save the World. The right, meanwhile, keeps hammering the two reporters and the Washington media at large for the so-called revelations. Arguing that reporters (including from Tapper's network, CNN) led the charge to hide Biden's deficiencies, Republicans argued this week that the two are attempting to cash in on their own failures. They are correct to do so. Democrats (led by Biden's inner circle and a defiant president himself) willingly undermined their own credibility by getting the party into this mess, and should show some capacity for self-reflection — not more breathless attacks on the press — to overcome it. 'I think some of the criticism is fair, to be honest,' said Tapper on Wednesday. Inside Washington claims at least partial innocence here; in February of 2024, we wrote that Biden's age provoked real questions for voters, and that his team 'risk[ed] being seen as trying to conceal something' by ignoring those concerns. But with the imminent release of Tapper and Thompson's book, questions are likely to be raised about just how far back the former president's decline really went. Many Bidenworld loyalists continue to circle the wagons, in true Trumpian fashion. Whether denying the book's revelations outright or chastising reporters falsely for 'focusing' on the issue, the former president and his loyalists continue to insist that they are beyond reproach. "The only reason I got out of the race was because I didn't want to have a divided Democratic Party," he told the hosts of The View this month. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, interviewed this week by CNN's Kasie Hunt, dodged questions on the issue entirely. MSNBC's Chuck Todd, who called the criticism of the media a 'right-wing manufactured' narrative, tore into Schumer on a CNN panel. 'He's as responsible as anybody else,' said Todd. 'He was a leader in the party. He could've said something sooner, and he didn't.' The defenses are beginning to become grating to hear even for Democrats, who believe that Biden is doing himself no favors. Steve Schale, who ran the 'Draft Biden' PAC ahead of the 2016 primary, said: 'There is a way for President Biden to build his post-presidency, but this isn't it. 'I really wish he'd embrace the thing that's been his calling card for 50 years: his humanity.' Most importantly: the president's defenders give voters the impression that Democrats are still engaged in deception — at a time when the party's supposed advantages include Donald Trumps' low marks for honesty and integrity. The ex-president was underwater on this issue through the entirety of 2024. The release of Original Sin is going to be the last nail in the coffin, not the first. No one is going to believe the denials now — especially when many of the people making them insisted that there were no problems and that the president wouldn't even consider withdrawing from the race. It's time for Joe to ride off into the sunset. His defenders need to stop lashing out at everyone around them and get back to rebuilding voter trust ahead of the next election cycle.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former Biden officials offer rare praise for Trump's bold Middle East moves
Former top officials in the Biden administration admitted they were impressed by President Donald Trump's bold moves this week during his historic tour in the Middle East, according to a new report. In a dramatic policy shift, Trump announced on Tuesday he would be lifting U.S. sanctions on Syria, before meeting with Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. president to meet with a Syrian president in 25 years. He also secured a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S., and agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, Reuters reported. Axios spoke to several top Biden administration officials about Trump's "audacious" foreign policy moves, which have "astounded even some of his harshest critics," according to the outlet. Trump Asks Syria To Join Abraham Accords, Normalize Ties With Israel In Return For Sanctions Relief "Gosh, I wish I could work for an administration that could move that quickly," one official admitted. Read On The Fox News App "It's hard not to be simultaneously terrified at the thought of the damage he can cause with such power, and awed by his willingness to brazenly shatter so many harmful taboos," Rob Malley, former special envoy to Iran under Biden, also said. "He does all this, and it's kind of silence, it's met with a shrug," Ned Price, a former State Department spokesperson in the Biden administration, added. "He has the ability to do things politically that previous presidents did not, because he has complete unquestioned authority over the Republican caucus." Trump's visit to the Middle East is his first major overseas trip since retaking office. The White House says he hopes to strengthen strategic partnerships in the region for stability and economic prosperity. Trump's Middle East Tour Begins With Syria Looming As Strategic Opportunity Trump said Tuesday during a speech in Saudi Arabia that he was dropping U.S. sanctions on Syria, implemented under ousted President Bashar al-Assad, "in order to give them a chance at greatness." "In Syria, they've had their share of travesty, war, killing many years. That's why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade," Trump said. Former Obama administration officials Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes hailed the move on their "Pod Save the World" podcast on Wednesday. "It's a very big deal," Vietor said. "So I think Trump deserves a lot of credit for this decision. It was politically difficult… but it's unequivocally the right thing to do." "It's so clearly the right decision," Rhodes agreed. "I don't know why Joe Biden didn't do this." "I don't like Trump's motivations for lots of things he does," Rhodes added. "But one thing you will say is he's not tied to this constant fear of some bad-faith right-wing attacks or stupid Blob-type, 'we don't do this, we must leverage the sanctions for blah blah blah.' No! Sometimes you just have to try something different." Despite their praise, the former Democratic officials who spoke with Axios also questioned Trump's motives for the foreign policy shifts, as the president faces backlash for planning to accept a luxury jet, on behalf of the U.S. government, as a gift from the Qatari royal family. On Thursday, Trump arrived at his final stop of his tour, the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to the nation in nearly 20 article source: Former Biden officials offer rare praise for Trump's bold Middle East moves
