Latest news with #WhiteHouse-imposed
Newsweek
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Donald Trump's Pledge of No New Wars Runs Into Reality of Middle East
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump entered office vowing to bring a swift end to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Five months in, foreign conflicts are now threatening to overshadow Trump's second term as a new war escalates between Israel and Iran and concerns grow that the United States could soon take an active role in fighting Tehran. Trump referred to himself as an anti-war president upon his return to the White House and even argued that his efforts to broker peace around the world deserved a Nobel Peace prize. But the Israel-Iran conflict has highlighted Trump's challenge in shaping foreign affairs while maintaining political support at home with the isolationist and ascendent MAGA wing of the Republican Party. "Trump has found that making peace is hard," said Richard Gowan, the UN director of the International Crisis Group. A Marine stands outside the West Wing of the White House on June 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. A Marine stands outside the West Wing of the White House on June 17, 2025 in Washington, reality has quickly set in as Trump considers what role the U.S. should play in the strikes Israel launched against Iran last week to end Tehran's nuclear program. Israel has targeted Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities, including the fortified site at Fordow, but most experts believe it can't destroy the underground compound without special U.S. bunker-busting bombs that can only be flown by American military aircraft. "In the case of Iran, if the U.S. goes in that would be a massive show of military force," Gowan said. "But it could also end up with Trump getting sucked into a Middle East quagmire, which is exactly what he accused his predecessors of doing." Trump signaled Tuesday that the U.S. may join Israel in a direct strike against Iran, though he has also said that Tehran still wants to strike a nuclear deal with the U.S. despite missing a recent White House-imposed deadline to reach an agreement. In social media posts throughout the day, Trump called for Iran's "unconditional surrender" and suggested that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, could be targeted for assassination. "We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least for now," Trump said Tuesday in one message on Truth Social, suggesting the U.S. knows his location. The threat is a contrast from Trump's rhetoric in his first weeks back in the White House, when he promised to make good on a campaign pledge to disentangle America from foreign conflicts even as he launched trade wars that roiled the global economy. Trump touted the start of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine as an early victory, but the talks have since failed to make any significant progress toward ending that war. Israel ramped up its military operations in Gaza in the months since Trump took office, coinciding with an increase in violent conflicts on Trump's watch, according to a report released Tuesday by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Smoke rises over Tehran, Iran after a reported Israeli strike on June 16, 2025. Smoke rises over Tehran, Iran after a reported Israeli strike on June 16, 2025. Stringer/Getty Images There are 59 active conflicts between nation states, an increase from last year and the most since World War II, according to the institute's 2025 Global Peace Index. Of course, Trump isn't the first U.S. president to see his domestic agenda updated by foreign affairs beyond his control. Trump's recent predecessors — from former Presidents George W. Bush to Joe Biden — also became directly or indirectly enmeshed in foreign wars. But Trump's situation is somewhat unique, given the growing foreign policy divide among lawmakers in his own party. Joining Israel's fight with Iran would anger MAGA hardliners and drive a wedge between them and establishment Republicans who want Tehran to end its push to develop nuclear weapons. "Trump's supporters are in different places. Some, like [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene, are saying you can't be part of Make America Great Again if you go to war in the Middle East," said Daniel Byman, the director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "But other voices in the Republican Party see Iran's nuclear program as a major threat to U.S. national security." Beyond the domestic politics, Trump's calculus is further complicated by Israel's increasingly aggressive posture towards Iran. Israel may not be willing to back down if the U.S. pushes for a quick end to hostilities to avoid a broader regional war, Middle East analysts who spoke to Newsweek said. And there is no guarantee Trump could swiftly end the conflict by having the U.S. join Israel in the war, said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. "When a country has spent years enriching uranium like Iran has, you need some sort of diplomatic agreement that leads to mechanics verifying that everything has been locked down or destroyed," Katulis said. "There's no fool-proof military solution."
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
DHS reverses course, allowing immigration raids to resume at farms, hotels, restaurants
The Department of Homeland Security reversed course on guidance limiting immigration raids at farms, hotels, and restaurants on Monday, according to a source familiar with the discussions — the latest example of whiplash for an agency tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda. During a morning field call on Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told leaders representing field offices across the country that they must continue to conduct raids at worksite locations, the source said — a reversal from guidance issued days earlier under pressure from certain industries who rely on migrant workers. The call and directive were first reported by the Washington Post. CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. ICE has been under tremendous pressure to meet White House-imposed quotas. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told ICE officials last month that they needed to arrest at least 3,000 people a day. ICE has been averaging around 2,000 people a day. President Donald Trump has directed his ire at Democratic-led cities, which remain the among the targets of immigration enforcement operations. Speaking to reporters as he returned from the G7 summit in Canada, Trump addressed reports that ICE had resumed enforcement actions in locations such as hotels and bars. 'We'll look everywhere, but I think the biggest problem is inner cities,' Trump said. Immigration-enforcement operations have created a chilling effect on some industries heavily reliant on immigrant workforces, such as farms and hotels, which the president appeared to acknowledge last week. 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' Trump said on Truth Social. 'We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!' CNN's Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.
CNN
12 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
DHS reverses course, allowing immigration raids to resume at farms, hotels, restaurants
The Department of Homeland Security reversed course on guidance limiting immigration raids at farms, hotels, and restaurants on Monday, according to a source familiar with the discussions — the latest example of whiplash for an agency tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda. During a morning field call on Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told leaders representing field offices across the country that they must continue to conduct raids at worksite locations, the source said — a reversal from guidance issued days earlier under pressure from certain industries who rely on migrant workers. The call and directive were first reported by the Washington Post. CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. ICE has been under tremendous pressure to meet White House-imposed quotas. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told ICE officials last month that they needed to arrest at least 3,000 people a day. ICE has been averaging around 2,000 people a day. President Donald Trump has directed his ire at Democratic-led cities, which remain the among the targets of immigration enforcement operations. Speaking to reporters as he returned from the G7 summit in Canada, Trump addressed reports that ICE had resumed enforcement actions in locations such as hotels and bars. 'We'll look everywhere, but I think the biggest problem is inner cities,' Trump said. Immigration-enforcement operations have created a chilling effect on some industries heavily reliant on immigrant workforces, such as farms and hotels, which the president appeared to acknowledge last week. 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' Trump said on Truth Social. 'We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!'
CNN
12 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
DHS reverses course, allowing immigration raids to resume at farms, hotels, restaurants
The Department of Homeland Security reversed course on guidance limiting immigration raids at farms, hotels, and restaurants on Monday, according to a source familiar with the discussions — the latest example of whiplash for an agency tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda. During a morning field call on Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told leaders representing field offices across the country that they must continue to conduct raids at worksite locations, the source said — a reversal from guidance issued days earlier under pressure from certain industries who rely on migrant workers. The call and directive were first reported by the Washington Post. CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. ICE has been under tremendous pressure to meet White House-imposed quotas. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told ICE officials last month that they needed to arrest at least 3,000 people a day. ICE has been averaging around 2,000 people a day. President Donald Trump has directed his ire at Democratic-led cities, which remain the among the targets of immigration enforcement operations. Speaking to reporters as he returned from the G7 summit in Canada, Trump addressed reports that ICE had resumed enforcement actions in locations such as hotels and bars. 'We'll look everywhere, but I think the biggest problem is inner cities,' Trump said. Immigration-enforcement operations have created a chilling effect on some industries heavily reliant on immigrant workforces, such as farms and hotels, which the president appeared to acknowledge last week. 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' Trump said on Truth Social. 'We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!'
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amid economic warning signs, White House moves the goalposts
Sen. Tommy Tuberville appeared on Fox Business this week and reflected on the degree to which Donald Trump's agenda is undermining the economy. The Alabama Republican didn't contest the premise that the president's policies were imposing challenges, but he suggested it'd all work out — eventually. 'No pain, no gain,' the coach-turned-politician said. 'That's what we used to tell our football players. There's gonna be some pain with tariffs.' That word has been coming up a lot lately. In fact, Trump himself has warned Americans that they should expect to feel some economic 'pain' — at least temporarily — as his agenda takes root. Does that mean a recession is on the way? The president hasn't ruled out the possibility, though a member of his Cabinet used a line this week that the White House has avoided. NBC News reported: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Trump's economic policies are the right way to go even if they lead to a recession in the United States. 'It's worth it,' he said when he was asked about the possibility of a recession. In other words, as Americans deal with economic tumult — what White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described this week as 'a period of economic transition' — the public is supposed to take comfort in the idea that the administration's regressive policies will eventually produce encouraging results. The list of problems with this is not short. For one thing, neither the president nor anyone on his team are prepared to offer any kind of timeline for the White House-imposed 'pain.' For another, they've been equally reluctant to go into any kind of detail about the scope and scale of the turmoil. It doesn't help matters that when Trump and his cohorts describe the economic record of his first term, they consistently rely on wild exaggerations and deceptive claims. But perhaps most important of all is the degree to which the White House has moved the goalposts: Before the election, Trump was only too pleased to tell the electorate that he'd deliver results on 'day one.' A vote for the Republican was a vote for immediate prosperity. There were no caveats. No references to 'eventual' prosperity. Nothing about periods of 'economic transition.' The idea that there might be a recession — that would be 'worth it' — wasn't part of the pitch. If anyone in the White House is wondering why a majority of the public disapproves of Trump's handling of the economy for the first time, they probably ought to start here. This article was originally published on
