Latest news with #TeamTrump
New York Post
a day ago
- Business
- New York Post
Face facts, Team Trump: Iran doesn't want a nuke deal
Iran's rulers are proving they have no intention of denuclearizing the easy way, no matter how many carrots Team Trump dangles to get them on board. On Monday, after five rounds of talks, Iran was set to reject a US proposal that reportedly allowed the country to keep up low-level uranium enrichment for an unspecified amount of time. No such details of the deal are confirmed, and the White House refuses to comment while talks may continue — but it's plainly time to quit giving an inch. Advertisement It's bad enough that the administration seemingly backed off on its insistence that any uranium enrichment was a 'red line'; forcing Iran to get rid of its full existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium and end all enrichment going forward should be the bare minimum. Trusting Iran to stick to enrichment below 3%, for supposedly 'civilian purposes,' is madness. On Saturday, The International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN watchdog group, revealed that Iran seriously ramped up production of 60%-enriched uranium this year, boosting its stores from 274 kilograms to 408 kilograms since February. Advertisement That's enough to crank out a single nuke within two weeks — and up to 10 within months if Iran continues enrichment, which Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said will happen 'with or without a deal.' President Donald Trump has been firm on two things from the start: Iran will not have a nuke on his watch, but he prefers a deal to the alternative — blowing up centrifuges, an option he's kept on the table if Iran's leaders refuse to bend. It sure looks like they're not bending. Advertisement No one can say Trump hasn't given diplomacy a serious chance; he even told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to bomb Iran while discussions were ongoing, since striking a deal 'could save a lot of lives.' But Iran has just been buying time, while sprinting full-speed toward a nuke: Hardly the behavior of a regime that wants to get a deal done. With its proxies across the Middle East decimated, Iran's rulers plainly figure going nuclear is the best way to guarantee their own safety and start turning the tide back. Advertisement The prez was rightly also clear that a deal must come fast, or it'd be Plan B; Tehran is hoping it can still stall long enough by stringing Trump's negotiators along until it's too late. No more overtures. No more compromises. No more fruitless talks. Show Iran what's behind Door No. 2.
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
The fundamental battle which unites Donald Trump and Nigel Farage
There is a fundamental contest under way - with those who purport to be on the side of the people pitching themselves against those whom they decry as the failing Establishment. Look at the recent elections in the UK and the USA. Sir Keir Starmer did not enter Downing Street on a tide of love. Rather, he benefited from loathing directed at the departing Tories. A revulsion he helped foment. That does not mean that his election was illegitimate. Rather, that it is predicated upon disquiet and discontent, rather than optimism and hope. Read more by Brian Taylor In the USA, Donald Trump regained the White House by positing himself as the voice of a disgruntled people. A siren yelling at an Establishment which he chose to depict as anyone opposed to him. This political turmoil has common origins on both sides of the Atlantic; a sluggish, static economy. It can thus be traced back to the banking crash of 2008. Folk feel unsettled and discontented. Looking for scapegoats, they blame – or are exhorted to blame – those who have held power over a prolonged period. In EU countries like Germany and France, that has resulted in the rise of the populist Right, held off – just, so far – by more mainstream offers. In the USA, that has meant the election of a President – whose supporters previously stormed the Capitol building and who is now in direct conflict with counter-balancing elements of the Constitution he is pledged to uphold. Donald Trump won by decrying the entire political structure in the US. He won by pitching a populist appeal against elements he claimed had weakened America in search of self-interest. While corporate America sought calm constraint, he surrounded himself with individualistic, oligarchical figures whose chief talents lie in disruption, in challenging the status quo. Elon Musk has now left Team Trump, with a whimper of disquiet. He was never a team player, happier issuing orders rather than compromising. But, more, he fears that Trump's 'big beautiful bill' will counter his own cost-cutting efforts by devoting far too many dollars to defence spending. But, as we wish so long to Elon, there is now a far more significant controversy. A federal court has ruled that President Trump exceeded his powers on trade tariffs. Nigel Farage (Image: free) That is out to appeal. But President Trump's initial response is intriguing. He seeks to depict his rivals and the judiciary as part of an Establishment rump which he blames for undermining him – and, by extension, the America for which he purportedly stands. It is a quite deliberate and specific challenge to the entire structure of countervailing power upon which America is founded. President Trump summons up a crisis – then offers himself as the sole, incontestable solution. A tactic not unknown elsewhere down the decades and centuries. Generally associated with despots. Not that such a term should be applied to the elected 47th President of the United States of America. Across the US northern border, there is turmoil of a different kind – and the positing of an intriguing solution. While President Trump identifies and excoriates his enemies within, the Canadians are angry and unhappy over an external challenge. From Donald J. Trump who wants to annexe Canada as the 51st American state. Enter, briefly, King Charles. Opening the Canadian Parliament. Delivering the Speech from the Throne, as his mother did in 1977. The task usually falls to the Governor General, a term that speaks of times past. But the King sought to look to the future, from this troubled present. And his choice of language echoed our age of anxiety. A diplomatic nod to the annexation issue, vaunting Canada as 'strong and free'. His audience will not have missed the significance of the freedom reference. But he went further, adding: 'The Crown has for so long been a symbol of unity for Canada. It also represents stability and continuity from the past to the present.' In essence, the King was responding to a decidedly North American political conflict by offering a regal hand across the ocean. Equating monarchy with permanent reassurance. But what of the sovereign's regular home, this United Kingdom? Here too there is disquiet. But, more than that, there are signs of fragmentation in the political system, exemplified above all in the rise of Reform UK. Nigel Farage may attract adulation and loathing to varying degrees – but he is reading contemporary politics well. To be frank, that is scarcely difficult. Folk are thoroughly unhappy and, indeed, angry. They are upset over the cost of living, energy bills, taxation. They are discontented with the familiar political system, feeling it pays no heed to their concerns. Enter Nigel. He discloses a hitherto understated concern for those on benefits by offering to reverse Labour government constraint. Read more Mr Farage presents established parties with a conundrum. Do they ignore him and hope he fades away? Or do they, like the Prime Minister this week, assail his policies as unfunded, damaging drivel? Then there is Scotland. Firstly, that row with Anas Sarwar. Mr Farage plays innocent. He was only quoting the Scottish Labour leader who had hoped people of Asian heritage might enter politics. The Reform version had Mr Sarwar prioritising the Pakistani community. Mr Sarwar stresses he intended no such thing – and calls Mr Farage a spiv for good measure. This particular controversy will subside – although canine whistles can persist, faintly. But there is a broader issue, which has featured in the Hamilton by-election. Does Reform represent an enduring challenge to the already fractured Scottish political system? Scots are very far from immune in the age of anxiety. Plus, as The Herald disclosed, they now count immigration among their chief concerns. Each of the major political parties knows the response. They need to focus upon delivery, upon popular concerns. But they need to do so through measured, thoughtful discourse. The people will tolerate no less. Brian Taylor is a former political editor for BBC Scotland and a columnist for The Herald. He cherishes his family, the theatre - and Dundee United FC
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Hamas' cease-fire ‘counteroffer' is just a demand for Israel to give up the war
Hamas on Saturday announced it had 'responded to' the latest ceasefire proposal from US envoy Steve Witkoff, apparently seeking assurances that Israel won't simply go back to eliminating it when the 60-day pause is up. Reality check: The terrorists are only talking because they're losing, badly — losing whatever support they had from ordinary Gazans as well as militarily. Hamas' main hope is to somehow manipulate Team Trump's peace efforts into a license to survive — to somehow have the war end with it intact in Gaza, still in power and with its sponsors and enablers again resupplying it. Advertisement To that end, it aims to leverage President Donald Trump's hopes to end the bloodshed as well as: Israeli public opinion, include the deep desire to recover the 20 or so still living hostages as well as the remains of the dozens who've died in captivity, plus general war-weariness and partisan opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition Sympathy for its other hostages: Gaza's 2 million civilians. Hamas has never cared a whit for their lives or well-being, except as potential recruits, human shields and reason for an influx of aid that the terrorists can siphon off for their use. It will happily martyr any or all of them for the cause of destroying Israel — even as it pretends to make concessions in their name to serve its true agenda. Advertisement Its de facto fifth column all across the West, including the 'tentifada' fanatics and fools on Columbia and other campuses, and all the politicians and media figures who buy the terrorists' propaganda. The dogged self-deception of the international 'peace process' veterans, still imagining that a 'two-state solution' is the key to resolving all the region's conflicts — an 'answer' that's now a complete fantasy that disregards every development of the last three decades. Arab rulers' inability to simply abandon decades of anti-Israel propaganda even though they (mostly) recognize it no longer serves their most urgent needs. Israel's current offensive has already taken out hundreds more Hamas fighters and yet another round of leadership, including the last Sinwar. The IDF is poised to take full control of Gaza, clear the final bunkers and tunnels and crush the remaining terror brigades. Advertisement And Jerusalem has cut off Hamas' resupply, refusing to allow aid to enter Gaza without firm controls that ensure it goes straight to civilians. Not allowing the terrorists to capture it — and to charge civilians for access to any of it — has helped turn the tide of public opinion: Ordinary Gazans increasingly know the war continues only because Hamas won't surrender or even negotiate a departure of its remaining forces. Witkoff's latest offer would have Hamas turn over 10 living hostages and a dozen or two bodies, in exchange for 125 terrorists serving life sentences plus another 1,000-plus jailbirds and a 60-day ceasefire and ongoing talks toward a full peace settlement. But Hamas knows full well that Netanyahu won't end the war until the terrorists are all dead, surrendered or expelled from Gaza: He refuses to allow for any possibility of another Oct. 7, and Israeli public opinion so far supports him. Advertisement So the terror group's counteroffer is to demand some kind of guarantee that Washington won't let the IDF resume operations when the 60 days are up, as well as the resumption of aid entering under UN or similar auspices, without Israeli controls. As things stand, Hamas is toast within months. To get hostages returned, Israel will allow it a respite — and so risk some development (Netanyahu's ouster, a drastic shift in the region, Washington concluding it needs the war ended; who knows?) that would let the terror group hang on in Gaza. Unless Team Trump decides to overrule Israel's unchanged war goals, Hamas will have to settle for that hope of a lifeline, or no deal is happening.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
'Won't Call Putin…': Trump Govt Refuses To Label Russian President A War Criminal, War Erupts In US
'Won't Call Putin…': Trump Govt Refuses To Label Russian President A War Criminal, War Erupts In US Source: A political firestorm erupted during a heated U.S. House hearing as Team Trump refused to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a 'war criminal.' The refusal triggered a fierce clash among lawmakers, with tempers flaring across party lines. US Secretary Of State Marco Rubio, defending the administration's stance, pushed back with the line, 'It's not that simple,' further fuelling the uproar. Watch.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley are released from federal prison after receiving Trump pardons
The reality show couple Todd and Julie Chrisley were released from federal custody on Wednesday, a day after they were pardoned by President Donald Trump following their 2022 convictions for fraud and tax crimes. Todd Chrisley was serving a 12-year prison sentence in Pensacola and is headed home to Nashville, according to a statement released Wednesday evening by Litson PLLC, a law firm representing the Chrisleys. Julie Chrisley, meanwhile, was sentenced to seven years and has been held at a facility in Lexington, Kentucky. The 'Chrisley Knows Best' couple was sentenced for conspiracy to defraud banks out of more than $30 million and was also found guilty of several tax crimes, including attempting to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Both had maintained their innocence and were in the process of appealing their convictions when their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, received a call from the president on Tuesday, informing her that her parents would receive full pardons. 'It's a terrible thing,' Trump told her, according to a video shared on X by a White House advisor. 'But it's a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean, and hopefully we can do it by tomorrow (Wednesday).' Savannah Chrisley spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. Chrisley also helped campaign for Trump as part of 'Team Trump's Women Tour.' She recently appeared on Lara Trump's Fox News program to discuss her parents' plight. This is a developing story and will be updated.
