Trump and Air Force One

 

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The Trump paradox

The Trump paradox: What’s good for him is weighing down his party

The president has created a party that is loyal to him, even when he takes executive actions that anger the broader public. That dynamic leaves him weaker with those outside his base.

May 20, 2026

President Donald Trump walks on the White House South Lawn on Friday after arriving on Marine One. (Eric Lee/Pool/For The Washington Post)

Analysis by Karen Tumulty

President Donald Trump doesn’t believe in a political law of gravity.

The more his standing sinks with the country at large — a host of polls show it near its lowest ever — the more he bends the Republican Party to his will and endangers the obeisant GOP’s prospects in the fall with unpopular and even brazen actions.

The result is a president historically strong at demanding political fealty within his party but prone to executive actions that alienate the broader public. That paradox has fostered a disinclination — and weakened ability — to act with Congress on issues that matter most to voters, a cycle that Trump is unwilling, or unable, to break.

On Tuesday, Trump bagged the trophy he had coveted more than any other, the ouster of libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky). The eight-term congressman is the president’s most prominent GOP critic in the House and led the charge, resisted by Trump until he realized he couldn’t stop it, to release the government’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie was trounced in his primary by a heretofore political unknown, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, handpicked by Trump and funded with tens of millions of dollars from his allied organizations.

Massie’s defeat followed by three days the loss by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), whom the president had deemed “very disloyal.” Cassidy had voted to convict in Trump’s second impeachment trial in the Senate five years ago over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Though the senator had endeavored, often awkwardly, to mend his relationship with the president, Cassidy didn’t even make the runoff.

Earlier this month, Trump’s retribution tour swept through Indiana, where Republican voters heeded his call and swept out five of the seven state senators he had targeted for having resisted his demand that they redraw congressional district lines in the state. (One race, in which the candidates are two votes apart in the latest count, has yet to be decided.)

The president flexed his muscle again Tuesday, by endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn in Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary runoff in the Lone Star State. The move dismayed many Republicans on Capitol Hill, because Cornyn had been seen as a far stronger general-election candidate; if Paxton wins, Republicans probably will have to invest hundreds of millions — money that might be needed to shore up candidates elsewhere — to get their candidate over the finish line in a deeply red state.

But as is often the case, Trump made clear this decision was personal, not tactical or policy-driven. Cornyn had occasionally been critical of Trump in the past, though he had recently been doing his best to ingratiate himself, including by recently introducing legislation to name one of the longest highways in the country after the president.

It was to no avail. “John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough,” Trump wrote in his statement on social media endorsing Paxton.

“I think MAGA’s never been more together, actually,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. But it will take no small amount of support from the rest of the electorate for Republicans to maintain their hold on Congress in the fall election, in which the president sees his own political survival at stake.

“You got to win the midterms because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just going to be — I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached,” he told House Republicans at a retreat in January.

But right now, the biggest drag on the party’s ability to retain its slim majorities in the House and the Senate is Trump. A New York Times/Siena poll out Monday was only the latest in which the public strongly disapproved of the war that Trump launched in Iran and his handling of the cost of living. Even on immigration, his strongest issue, the president was underwater by 15 points.

Trump’s approval among crucial independents cratered to 26 percent in the poll, with 47 percent saying his policies had hurt them, up from 41 percent in the fall. And the poll figure probably most alarming to Republicans is that Democrats were found to be more enthusiastic about voting this year and hold an 11-point edge on the hypothetical question of which party voters would cast a ballot for were the election held today.

Meanwhile, even Republicans have been unsettled by some of Trump’s recent eyebrow-raising actions, including the settlement reached with the IRS over the $10 billion lawsuit he filed early this year over the leak of his tax returns.

The agreement sets up a $1.8 billion, taxpayer-paid compensation fund for those who claim, as Trump does, that they have been victims of a politicized justice system. Beneficiaries presumably would include people who were charged with committing violent actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that he lost.

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Takeaways from primaries where Trump demonstrated power over GOP

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Senate advances resolution to block further strikes on Iran

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“Not a big fan,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) told reporters Tuesday when asked about the fund.

Democrats were blunter.

“This is corruption that has never been more blatant or more widespread,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) said during a hearing featuring acting attorney general Todd Blanche. “But what is happening is that you write the check, Trump and his cronies cash it. American taxpayers — who are already being whacked with high prices — are going to foot the bill.”

Under the settlement, Trump and his sons are prohibited from personally collecting money from the so-called “anti-weaponization” fund, but the IRS would also be “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing unpaid tax claims against Trump, members of his family or his businesses that arose before the settlement was reached.

As aggressive as Trump has been with his unilateral actions, his political weakness has lessened his leverage when it comes to getting things done through the legislative branch, where much of his agenda is stalled.

Neither Thune nor House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has embraced Trump’s call to suspend the gas tax, and the Senate has resisted his call to end the filibuster, in part so it can pass his high-priority Save America Act, which includes a provision that would require that people prove their citizenship to register to vote. Trump claims the bill is necessary for election security, but opponents say it would lead to voter suppression.

A more recent irritant to Trump is the Senate parliamentarian’s refusal to allow hundreds of millions to pay for the security aspects of his highly unpopular White House ballroom project to be tucked into a bill under consideration that would fund immigration enforcement.

For Trump, there may also be a dark cloud to go with the golden lining of defeats he has dealt to Republican incumbents. They are all going to be around until January and presumably less cowed by him.

On Tuesday, fresh off his primary loss, Cassidy committed an act of defiance in voting for the first time to advance a resolution to block Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran.

“In Louisiana, I’ve heard from people, including President Trump’s supporters, who are concerned about this war,” Cassidy said in a statement.

In an interview in February, Massie had told The Washington Post, “I have some colleagues that are just waiting to get past their primaries to develop a little more of an independent voice.”

Given how things are going, that might be what they have to do for the sake of their own survival.

Holy Trump

WP-article

Trump post appearing to depict him as Jesus removed amid backlash

Before the post was deleted, evangelical and Catholic allies called the image blasphemous in a rare public break from a base that has largely stood by Trump.

President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday what appeared to be an AI-generated image depicting him as Jesus. (RealDonaldTrump/Truth Social)

President Donald Trump’s posting of an image that appeared to depict him as Jesus drew rare criticism from the religious right, prompting allegations of blasphemy and calls for him to take down the post before it was deleted.

Shortly after posting a screed against Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night as he returned to Washington from Florida, Trump shared an image that appeared to be AI-generated in the style of a painting, depicting him in a long white robe with a red cloak draped around his shoulders. In one hand was an orb glowing with light; Trump’s other hand rested on the forehead of a man in what resembled a hospital bed — light beaming from the man’s head as Trump appeared to pray for his healing. Patriotic symbols including an eagle, fireworks and the Statue of Liberty filled the frame.

Unlike the post criticizing Leo, whom Trump later said he didn’t like and is too “liberal,” the image evoking Jesus drew swift criticism from some evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics who have otherwise expressed near constant support for Trump’s decisions.

Christians reacted to President Trump's since-deleted social media post that appeared to portray him as Jesus. (Video: Anna Liss-Roy/The Washington Post)

“I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,” wrote Megan Basham, a prominent conservative Protestant Christian writer and commentator. “But he needs to take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s intent in posting the image. Following the backlash and after appearing on the president’s Truth Social account for more than 12 hours, the image was deleted.

Asked about the post Monday afternoon, Trump said he posted it.

“I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker, which we support,” Trump said. In the photo, Trump’s clothing is reminiscent of clothing worn in Jesus’ time and does not appear to be an outfit a modern doctor would wear. There is no reference in the photo to the Red Cross.

“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better,” Trump continued. “And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”

Trump said “only the fake news” could suggest he was depicting himself as Jesus, ignoring the criticism he received from his own religious supporters.

The president last year posted an image of him as pope that appeared to be AI-generated.

One administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to criticize the president’s post, predicted that conservative Christian outrage would dissipate in a matter of days as it often has. But the official said it was going too far for Trump to post such an image of himself, even though some of his most loyal MAGA supporters have cast him in quasi-messianic terms.

“Other people at these Trump rallies do it for him, but when you do it yourself, … it’s sacrilegious at best,” the official said.

In the Christian faith, blasphemy — speech or actions showing lack of reverence or outright disrespect to God — is a sin. Trump, who identifies as a Christian but does not claim to regularly pray, read the Bible or attend church, has enormous support from conservative Christians.

Others like Basham publicly condemned the post. Isabel Brown, a Catholic podcaster with the Daily Wire outlet and a conservative influencer allied with the Trump White House, spoke out against it.

“This post is, frankly, disgusting and unacceptable, but also a profound misreading of the American people experiencing a true and beautiful revival of faith in Christ in the midst of our broken culture,” Brown wrote.

Michael Knowles, another conservative Catholic podcaster aligned with Trump, said online it “behooves the President both spiritually and politically to delete the picture, no matter the intent.”

Riley Gaines, a conservative podcaster, former collegiate swimmer and prominent critic of transgender participation in women’s sports who spoke at Trump rallies and was recently a guest at the White House, also criticized the post. “I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this? Either way, two things are true,” Gaines wrote on X, continuing to say that “a little humility would serve him well” and “God shall not be mocked” — a reference to scripture.

The image and the subsequent reaction echoed a Truth Social post Trump ultimately deleted earlier this year, a video that at the end briefly showed Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as apes. The post was deleted after roughly 12 hours, but not before the White House press secretary dismissed criticism and urged the news media to “stop the fake outrage.”

The latest post was taken down during a scheduled meeting of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, which was set to feature several high-profile, Trump-appointed Christian leaders. They include Paula White-Cain, Trump’s spiritual adviser, the Rev. Franklin Graham, Bishop Robert Barron and Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Trump formed the commission last year by executive order to advise the White House Faith Office.

TACO

TrumpAlwaysChickenOut

Att lösa konflikter med krig är vidrigt eftersom det mest dödar oskyldiga och mycket sällan konfliktskaparna.

Därför är det bra att Trump är en tom tunna.

Däremot är det obra att Trump med sitt primitiva språkbruk avslöjar en skrämmmande låg bildning.

Skrämmande för att stollen är världens mäktigaste person.

Skrämmande för att stollen har hotat med utrotning av den persiska civilisationens artefakter.

Skrämmande för att stollen håller på att öppna Pandoras ask!

Trumps galna drag är en present till Kina

Donald Trumps förmåga till självsabotage är episkt. Han är som en stjärnforward i världens bästa fotbollslag som plötsligt slår ner sin egen målvakt.

Är Donald Trump rysk agent? Det tror nog få på fullaste allvar. Men om man systematiskt satsade pengar på att Trump skulle agera som om han vore rysk agent, hamnade man troligen på plus.

Presidentens senaste vänskapsgest består i att han lättade på sanktionerna mot att köpa rysk olja, på grund av det stängda Hormuzsundet. Detta i ett läge då den hackande ryska ekonomin började bli ett hot mot krigsinsatsen i Ukraina.

Fredsmäkleriet mellan Ryssland och Ukraina har mest gått ut på att drämma Kremls talepunkter i förhandlingsbordet. Det indragna amerikanska vapenstödet till Ukraina skvallrar också om var USA:s lojalitet ligger.

Ytterligare en väntjänst, och en vämjelig sådan, är att vicepresident JD Vance just nu är i Ungern för att stödja Viktor Orbán – Rysslands man i EU – inför valet nästa helg.

Och skulle någon tvivla på russofilin inom Trumpadministrationen är det bara att titta i den nya nationella säkerhetsstrategin från i december. Där klassas inte Ryssland längre som motståndare; i stället framhålls vikten av att uppnå ”strategisk stabilitet” med landet.

Men Ryssland är inte den enda stormakt som har vunnit på Trumps presidentskap. Samma sak gäller Kina, om än mer indirekt. Peking har tjänat på Trumps inkompetens.

Paralleller dras till det brittiska imperiets sista akt.
Presidentens aggressiva tjat om America First och hans kaotiska tullpolitik fick omvärlden att dra öronen åt sig på ett tidigt stadium. I Europas huvudstäder insåg man faran av att vara beroende av en enda handelspartner. Visserligen en så kallad allierad partner, men en som numera dryper av förakt för Europa och avsky för Nato.

Allt detta tjänar Kina på. Man får mer handel, framstår som stabil och ser Nato rämna. Kanon, eftersom Peking ser organisationen som en amerikansk maktresurs. Av det enkla skälet att den är det.

Som om inte detta vore tillräckligt festligt har Kina fått presenten ”kriget i Iran”.

Tidskriften The Economist har talat med diplomater, rådgivare och experter i Kina. Den generella inställningen är att kriget är ett allvarligt misstag av USA – och ett tecken på landets nedgång som supermakt. Tolkningen är att amerikanerna utåtagerar i frustration över att de känner sina krafter ebba ut.

Paralleller dras till det brittiska imperiets sista akt, då dess formidabla krigsmakt stod i kontrast till en tilltagande brist på mål och mening.

Man ska vara försiktig med eleganta historiska paralleller, men det finns ännu mer som går Kinas väg. Om den krigsutlösta olje- och gaskrisen blir betydande lär många länder inse att ett farväl till fossil energi är mer än bra klimatpolitik, nämligen klok säkerhetspolitik. Och vem är giganten inom grön teknologi? Kina.

I bästa fall är Donald Trump en amerikansk anomali som snart blir en lame duck. I värsta fall kan hans ”America First”-attityd utvecklas till ett katastrofalt misstag som makes China and Russia great again.


Trump skulle inte släppas fram i Ring P1

Om man har suttit med hjärtat i halsgropen sedan Trump anföll Iran har man gott omdöme.

Man måste ju ta Donald Trump på blodigt allvar. Han är världens mäktigaste man med en oöverträffad krigsmakt och kärnvapenkoder på fickan.

Samtidigt är han så förryckt och svamlande att han inte skulle släppas fram i Ring P1.

Det gör världen mycket surrealistisk och ytterst skrämmande.

USA anföll Iran och den vedervärdige Ali Khamenei förpassades till historien, till miljontals iraniers obeskrivliga glädje. Men vad var steg två? Ingen visste. Och tolv dagar senare vet fortfarande ingen vad USA:s mål är. Allra minst Donald Trump, får man en känsla av.

Buden från presidenten har varit många och motstridiga. Första dagen uppmanade Trump, demokratikämpen, det iranska folket att resa sig. Kort därefter förklarade Trump, despoten, han att det är han som ska välja nästa ledare.

Till en början var målet att slå ut Irans kärnvapenkapacitet, sedan att slå ut all militär förmåga, sedan att få mullorna att kapitulera ovillkorligt. Fast vad Trump menade med det visste han inte riktigt.

Den sammanbitne Marco Rubio försökte bringa klarhet vid en pressträff: Målen är att slå ut hela missilsystemet samt den iranska flottan. Men när Trump höll presskonferens strax därpå, sade han att missilsystemet och flottan redan var tillintetgjorda.

Om man sätter upp konkreta mål kan man sedan sätta p när målen är uppnådda (eller när man med viss rätt kan påstå att de är uppnådda). Men Donald Trump tycker nog inte att han behöver någon exit-strategi.

Likt en mytoman med storhetsvansinne kan han ju alltid ljuga sig ur obehagligheter. A piece of cake, eftersom han är helt obesvärad av att hans lögner inte hänger ihop och är lätta att avslöja.

Ibland kan ledare som inte ”övertänker” alltför mycket lösa problem som mer analytiska och försiktiga aktörer undviker.

På den centrala frågan om hur länge kriget kan tänkas pågå har presidentens svar förstås också skiftat sorglöst, från ”det kan ta tre-fyra veckor” till ”det är i princip redan över” till ”man vet aldrig när det är över”.

Under ett rally i Kentucky i onsdags sade han: ”Vi vann. Kriget var över på en timme.”

Okidoki.

Trump tycker också om att säga att ”Kriget tar slut när jag säger att det tar slut!” Risken för att han har satt i gång krafter som han inte kan kontrollera har knappast föresvävat honom.

Och blir det så, är det ju någon annans fel.

Trump är en odisciplinerad narcissist som omger sig med amatörer och/eller underdåniga smickrare som inte vill regna på presidentens fantasiparad. Vilket kan förklara varför Vita huset inte tycks ha kalkylerat med komplikationer, som att Iran skulle proppa igen Hormuzsundet och utnyttja Trumps rädsla för ledsna börser.

Ibland kan ledare som inte ”övertänker” alltför mycket lösa problem som mer analytiska och försiktiga aktörer undviker. På gott och på ont.

I bästa fall lyckas USA slå sönder Irans kärnvapenförmåga och försvaga dess krigsmakt så pass att landet upphör att vara ett hot, i när och fjärran. Och förhoppningsvis leder attackerna mot den vidriga regimens ledarskikt till ett regimskifte som ger det iranska folket frihet och ett bättre liv.

Man måste hoppas. Men med Trumps galenskaper kan det här kriget sluta hursomhelst.

Trump och Nobels fredspris

 

Magalomanisk Trump

 

White House East Wing

 The Washington Post

S:Tupid

 

Donald Trump's speech to the United Nations was one of the clearest expositions of the way he sees the world, his ideology in its rawest form.

To his supporters, it will be seen as Trumpism unplugged - to his critics, Trumpism unhinged.


Over almost an hour, he took aim at his opponents and their ideas, picking them off one by one as he toured the world. He began at home, praising the United States and himself. He said the US was living through a golden age and repeated his much-disputed claim that he had personally ended seven wars, something he argued merited a Nobel Peace Prize.

But then the president laid into his hosts. The UN, he said, had not helped his peace-making. He questioned the organisation's purpose, saying it had tremendous potential but was not living up to that. All it did, he claimed, was write strongly worded letters that it did not follow up. Empty words, he said, did not end wars.

He also attacked the UN for the aid it gave to asylum seekers hoping to enter the US, saying: "The UN is supposed to stop invasions, not create them and not finance them." The president even attacked the UN for a broken escalator and teleprompter that disrupted his visit and speech.

On one level, he has a point. Many analysts question the effectiveness of the UN in resolving conflict these days, pointing in particular to gridlock in the Security Council and the body's unresponsive bureaucracy.

Kyiv can win all of Ukraine back from Russia, Trump says

Trump criticises countries' migration and climate policies in scathing UN speech

But on another level, Trump can himself be seen as both a cause and symptom of the UN's lack of effectiveness - for he believes global crises are best resolved by powerful men like him getting together and hammering out a deal, not using multilateral bodies like the UN to work out collective solutions. Under Trump, the US has withdrawn much of its UN funding, leaving the body forced to cut its humanitarian work around the world.

Trump saved perhaps his biggest criticism for his European allies, attacking the continent for investing in renewable energy, and opening its borders to migration.

"Europe is in serious trouble. They have been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody has ever seen before… Both the immigration and suicidal energy ideas will be the death of Western Europe," he said.

Climate change, he claimed to audible gasps, was "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world" and was lumbering European countries with expensive energy costs compared to fossil fuels. He criticised in particular the UK government for imposing new taxes on North Sea oil.

"If you don't get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail," he said.

"I love Europe. I love the people of Europe. And I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake… you want to be politically correct and you are destroying your heritage."

Note that last point. It echoes what the president said during his state visit to the UK last week when he spoke of the importance of defending the values of what he called "the English-speaking world".


Watch: How Trump lashed out at Europe in his UN speech

There is a cultural edge to Trump's criticism of Europe, a sense that he believes uncontrolled immigration is threatening what he sees as Europe's Judeo-Christian heritage. Not for nothing is Trump the leader of an administration that wears its religion firmly on its sleeve. "Let us protect religious liberty," he told the UN, "including for the most persecuted religion on the planet today – it's called Christianity."

On a specific point of policy, the most substantive warning Trump gave related to Russia's war on Ukraine. He said President Putin's refusal to end the conflict was "not making Russia look good". He said the US was prepared "to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs" to end the bloodshed. But he said European nations had to stop buying Russian energy, claiming he only found out two weeks ago that some were doing so.

In practice, Hungary and Slovakia are the only substantive European buyers of Russian oil. Diplomats say Trump is hiding behind this so he does not have to impose secondary sanctions on India and China which are both buying huge amounts of cheap Russian energy, both of whom were cited by Trump.

Perhaps more important than his speech was Trump's social media post a short while later, in which he asserted for the first time that Ukraine could be in a position to win back all of its territory.

His dismissal of Russia as a "paper tiger" and not a "real military power" will hurt President Putin, who is sensitive to any suggestion his country is not a global player. Diplomats said this was the latest example of Trump's journey towards a position that is more critical of Russia.

But one should always treat Trump's words with a pinch of salt. He was being optimistic only moments after meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky at the UN.

And he said Ukraine could win back territory with EU and Nato support - there was no mention of US involvement. All the evidence of the last few years is that this is a war of slow attrition, and Ukraine would not retake land from Russia without massive US military support.

So this was undiluted Trump - a defence of America and the nation state, an assault on multilateralism and globalism, a stream of consciousness with questionable assertions.

Six years ago, Trump's audience at the UN laughed at his at times non-factual assertions; this year they listened largely in silence.

"I am really good at this stuff," he told world leaders. "Your countries are going to hell."

Trump – A seamlessly unserious president

Trump’s seamless unseriousness has surely been noticed abroad. Since Putin took Trump’s measure in Alaska last month, Russia’s intensified assault on Ukraine has been matched by Russia’s undisguised contempt for him. The Post reports a senior Russian politician dripping with disdain: “Trump is in a normal state, either waiting to talk to Putin, talking to Putin or explaining how well he talked to Putin.”

Before Alaska, Trump threatened Russia with “very severe consequences” unless it took certain steps toward a Ukraine settlement. When Russia took none of them, and suffered no consequences, Trump emitted another gust of bluster: He would put a recalcitrant Russia in a “rough situation.” It is probable that Putin yawned when, on Friday, Trump said his patience was “running out fast” and “we’re going to have to come down very, very strong.”

Trump’s idea of strength can be gauged by his response on social media when a swarm of Russian drones violated Poland’s airspace. About what the Economist called the “most serious incursion into NATO territory since the alliance began in 1949,” Trump’s less-than-Churchillian response was: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”

In Poland 86 Septembers ago, World War II began in Europe, with Germany and the Soviet Union together dismembering that nation. Poland is where — with the Solidarity movement led by an electrician, Lech Walesa, at the Gdansk shipyard — the Warsaw Pact, and with it the Soviet Union, began to crumble.

Eighty-six Septembers ago, Gdansk was called Danzig, and the slogan “Why die for Danzig?” was coined by a French socialist (later, a collaborator with Germany’s occupation of France). The slogan encouraged appeasing Adolf Hitler by acceding to his demand that the city of Danzig be given to Germany. Putin, marinating in his ample contempt, might think the appeasement reflex is recurring: “Why die for Finland?”

While Trump brandishes social media like an overstimulated adolescent (“Here we go!”), Putin’s government is talking about Finland as it talked about Ukraine before the 2014 and 2022 invasions. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reports this language from Moscow: “The collapse of Finnish statehood forever” will result if Finland under its fascism-saturated government becomes a “springboard” for attacking Russia, which has a right to protect ethnic Russians from Finnish “genocide,” and to oppose attempts to “exterminate” Finland’s Slavic population through cultural erasure.

From Benton Harbor, Michigan (Whirlpool), to Moline, Illinois (John Deere), to the skies where NATO aircraft downed some but not all Russian drones, the world becomes more serious as the president becomes less so. There is an eerie disconnect between events and his flippant “Here we go!”

Trump vs Putin and TACO

Allt om Trump i bloggen

The highly anticipated summit between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday concluded earlier than expected, with an awkward press appearance and no formal deal. But it was a PR victory for Putin on the world stage — and, in a surprise announcement hours later, Trump dropped his demand for a ceasefire, saying Russia and Ukraine should start negotiating on a final peace deal instead.

On Saturday, Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that Putin wants Ukraine’s Donbas region as a condition for ending the war. He said the U.S. is open to providing security guarantees for Ukraine in the wake of an agreement.


Here are five key takeaways from the summit and its aftermath.

There was no formal deal

Friday’s summit ended without an agreement to secure peace in Ukraine — a long-standing goal for Trump.

Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Trump and Putin said they made progress, with Trump claiming the meeting was “extremely productive,” but “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.” The leaders offered few details on what was discussed or which issues remained unresolved. Reporters noted that Trump spoke for just a few minutes before stepping off stage and described him as appearing unhappy, tired or bored during the joint appearance.

‘No deal until there’s a deal’

Early on Saturday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that it had been “a great and very successful day in Alaska” and that he had spoken to Zelensky, European leaders and the NATO secretary general. It was “determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”

It was a dramatic reversal — during his flight to Alaska, he had told Fox News he would not be happy to “walk away without some form of a ceasefire.”

Zelensky and European leaders have long insisted a ceasefire agreement or reduction in hostilities should be a precondition for talks to end the war. Putin has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire and argued for negotiations for a final peace deal instead — a position Ukraine and its allies have described as a delay tactic to enable Russia to make more gains on the battlefield.

On Saturday, during a phone call, Trump told Zelensky and several European leaders that Putin is demanding Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region — an area including the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that Russian soldiers have not managed to seize during years of fighting — to Russia. This would be in addition to the Ukrainian territory Moscow has occupied, in return for a “promise” to stop the war, according to four people familiar with the discussion. All spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the red carpet as they meet for their summit in Anchorage on Friday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Friday marked Putin’s first visit to the U.S. for talks with a president since 2007 and his first in-person meeting with Trump since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Meeting on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, Putin walked a red carpet toward Trump, who clapped, shook Putin’s hand warmly and patted his arm. The two leaders watched a B-2 stealth bomber flyover and stood side-by-side while they posed for cameras without answering questions from reporters.

They rode together and spoke privately in Trump’s armored limousine, without an interpreter — in a breach of security and diplomatic protocol.

The highly choreographed meeting marked a sharp contrast to Trump’s Oval Office interaction with Zelensky in February, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berated Zelensky in an on-camera altercation that had no modern precedent.

While Putin appeared uncomfortable at journalists shouting questions at him during the summit — frowning and making faces at them — Russian media portrayed the overall meeting as a massive victory for Putin. “All the attempts to paint Russia as an international pariah were destroyed in one moment, in the moment when Trump shook Putin’s hand,” a Russian state TV commentator said at one point.

The joint press appearance, where they took no questions, also gave Putin the chance to repeat his long-standing talking points about the importance of addressing the “root causes” of the war — the term Russia uses when describing its desire to demilitarize Ukraine and block its entry to NATO.

Both Trump and Putin signaled that they were ready to meet again, with Trump wrapping up his press appearance by saying they would see each other soon, and Putin quipping “next time in Moscow.”

In July, Trump threatened tariffs on Russia if the war did not stop within 50 days — and on Wednesday, he warned there would be “very severe consequences” if Putin didn’t agree to stop his war against Ukraine after their meeting, without specifying what those would be.

However, Russian officials had been optimistic ahead of the Alaska summit — with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov telling reporters that he had expected that the U.S. would lift some sanctions after the meeting. Putin also brought several business leaders with him to the meeting — something Trump noted, while saying: “They’re not doing business until we get the war settled.”

Ultimately, while the U.S. did not lift any preexisting sanctions following the meeting, it also didn’t immediately announce any new ones, despite the lack of an agreement from Russia to stop fighting in Ukraine.

After the phone conversation with Trump and European leaders, Zelensky said he would be meeting Trump in Washington on Monday. He said he had told Trump “sanctions must be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting.” Trump has previously expressed support for a meeting involving Russian, U.S. and Ukrainian officials, although a Putin aide has said that this was not discussed in Alaska.

European leaders, who thought Trump agreed with them on the need for a ceasefire first, reiterated their support for Ukraine on Saturday, saying they were ready to support a trilateral summit. European leaders have been invited to join Zelensky and Trump in the White House on Monday, but so far they are hesitant about the meeting, two European diplomats said.

Trump also told European leaders Saturday that the U.S. would consider providing security guarantees for Ukraine in a deal, though the details were not mapped out, according to the diplomats.

“We are clear that Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We welcome President Trump’s statement that the U.S. is prepared to give security guarantees,” the statement from leaders of the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland and Finland said.

That statement did not mention their earlier position that a ceasefire should come before a peace deal.

Trump – en oberäknelig typ med skumt ordförråd

Tillbakablick

Regel nummer ett: Attack, attack, attack. Regel nummer två: Erkänn inget, förneka allt. Regel nummer tre: Oavsett vad som händer, erkänn dig aldrig besegrad.

Så lyder de regler som stjärnadvokaten Roy Cohn gav en ung Donald Trump och Trump har följt rådet med entusiasm.

Inside Roy Cohn’s Controversial Career and Influential Friendship with Donald Trump

The new movie The Apprentice examines the personal and professional relationship between Trump and his former lawyer.


Long before Donald Trump began his reality TV show The Apprentice in 2004, he was a budding business mogul who found his own mentor in unscrupulous New York lawyer Roy Cohn.

Their impactful relationship is the basis for a new biographical movie, also titled The Apprentice, which released in theaters Friday and has already stirred controversy. The movie examines young Trump’s rise as a real estate businessman in the 1970s and ’80s as well as Cohn’s documented guidance as his attorney and confidante.

Cohn, who died in August 1986 at age 59, greatly influenced Trump, now 78 years old, for decades to come—instilling a win-at-all-costs mentality that the business mogul has brought to politics and all the way to the White House as the 45th president of the United States. But his interactions with Trump were only one example of Cohn’s cunning and often controversial practices.


Cohn followed his father into the legal world

Born in the Bronx on February 20, 1927 to Albert and Doris Cohn, Roy grew up within the worlds of business and politics. His great-uncle Joshua Lionel Cowen founded the Lionel toy train company in 1900, while his father served as a Bronx county judge and later a State Supreme Court judge, according to Vanity Fair. In his memoir, Roy wrote that “virtually every heavy hitter in politics, law, [and] the judiciary made it to our apartment while I was growing up.”

But even by Cohn’s early childhood, his affluent family had already developed a flawed reputation. His maternal uncle Bernard Marcus served as the president of Bank of United States and was convicted of fraud after the bank failed during the Great Depression. He was imprisoned at the famous Sing Sing Correctional Facility 30 miles north of New York City, where Cohn regularly visited him during his incarceration.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, Cohn embarked on a law career himself. He graduated at age 20 from Columbia Law School and became an assistant U.S. attorney specializing in “subversive activities.” He soon become a noteworthy figure for his work during the Second Red Scare of the 1950s.

The lawyer led Senator McCarthy’s investigations subcommittee

joseph mccarthy flipping through papers as he speaks into a microphone while roy cohn sits in a chair next to him with his hands calsped

Cohn’s first high-profile trial in 1951 was that of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, an American couple accused of giving U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union. The young prosecutor built his case around key testimony given by Ethel’s brother David Greenglass. According to Vanity Fair, Cohn wrote in his autobiography that he encouraged the judge in the case to order the execution of both Julius and Ethel, a significant breach of ethics. The couple were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage—though Greenglass later admitted to lying under oath about the degree of his sister’s involvement—and executed by electric chair in 1953.

The case caught the attention of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who appointed Cohn as the chief counsel for his Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The team became notorious for interrogations of alleged Communist Party members and LGBTQ individuals in the U.S. government. So prominent was Cohn’s role that singer Billy Joel later referenced him in his history-based 1989 song “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

Cohn was known for his aggressive questioning; he “loved power, he loved pulling the levers of power, and he got a taste for that very early in his career,” according to his cousin Dave Marcus. The 2019 documentary Where’s My Roy Cohn? suggests part of Cohn’s ruthlessness on the committee may have stemmed from his own sexuality. Although he vehemently denied being gay, Cohn was known to have male partners throughout his life. According to another cousin, Anne Roiphe, “he would have done everything to hide it.”

Although the efforts of McCarthy and the committee were widely discredited, Cohn continued his career as a private practice lawyer in the mid-1950s to much success. His famous client base eventually included Donald Trump.

Let’s remember that it’s widely agreed Trump smells like a dying old man whose Big Mac sauce drowned organs are rotting from the inside out.

Wannabe dictators constantly obsess over their media image because their strongmen personas depend on never admitting to any personal flaw or mistake, so let’s help ol’ Uncle Sam and the Constitution out a bit by reminding America every chance we get that Trump smells like shit.

Donald Trump just claimed his body odor “is protected by presidential immunity.”

Leaked private texts from JD Vance reveal him complaining about sitting too close to Trump during meetings because of Trump’s “sauerkraut stench.”

Trump claims the rumors about him smelling bad are both “fake news” and classified, and the leakers should be shot.

A Secret Service agent just confirmed that Trump’s codename is “Roast Beef” because agents have to spend so much time in close proximity to his body’s “foul deli odor.”

Dozens of the attendees crammed in the Capitol Rotunda for Trump’s inauguration speech described Trump’s stench as “nearly unbearable” and “reminiscent of expired roast beef.”

Trump was reportedly asked tonight to sign his signature on used diapers by several trolling Gen Z teens at Mar-a-Lago tonight.

Mar-a-Lago employees say over 20,000 diapers have been mailed to Trump’s resort since #TrumpSmells started trending regularly on Twitter last year.

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway claims Trump just has “alternative scents.”

The DNC is now selling hats, shirts, cologne, deodorant, and perfume products with the label “Make Presidents Smell Nice Again.”

Trump is “poisoning the air of the country” with his stench.

Trump reportedly hates NATO and wants to pull the US out of the alliance because the prime minister of Belgium told him he needed some deodorant and a mint during a 2017 NATO summit in front of all the other world leaders.

Melania Trump laughed publicly for the first time ever on camera after being asked if her husband smelled bad, and she laughed for 19 seconds straight before she started gasping for air and swearing that she didn’t hear the question.

Trump was overheard at Mar-a-Lago today yelling into his phone, “I have presidential immunity to smell however I want!”

Trump’s vile body odor reportedly made it tough for him to hire some cabinet positions, and Trump was turned down by several Attorney General possibilities until Matt Gaetz and then Pam Bondi, who were used to Trump’s stench, agreed.

Trump has reportedly directed Elon Musk to fire any government employees who have ever posted online that Trump smells like expired roast beef.

Trump reportedly has no personal staffers left at the White House residence because they all quit citing his stench as being “much worse now than the first term.”

Trump & Putin

Det har blivit uppenbart för alla politiska omvärldsanalytiker att Putin har hållhakar på Trump men av någon, för mig oförklarlig anledning, gräver ingen i det.

Alla vet att Trumps fastighetsaffärer var i kris på 80-90-talen och att ryska oligarker räddade honom genom att köpa in sig. Det hände igen runt 2008 och åter räddades han av ryska oligarker!

Eventuellt är det så att Putin kan tvinga oligarkerna att lösa in sina lån och ruinera Trump.

Det är det enda vettiga förklaringen till Trumps krypande för putin.

Thus spoke Trump

 Läget kunde inte bli värre – då talade Trump
Av Linnea Järkstig
Publicerad 19 februari

Det såg ut som att läget inte kunde bli värre för Ukraina – då talade USA:s Donald Trump och anklagade Ukraina för att ha startat kriget, skriver CNN:s Stephen Collinson i en analys. Dessutom framhöll han ett av Vladimir Putins viktigaste budskap: Att det är dags för ett val i Ukraina.

Nu sköljer en våg av rädsla över Europa för att Trump kommer att få igenom ett avtal som gynnar hans vänner i Kreml, skriver Collinson.

”Trumps attack på Zelenskyj (...) var ett tydligt tecken på hur den nya amerikanska administrationen har vänt Washingtons hållning från att stödja invasionens offer till att nu belöna angriparen.”

Peter Baker skriver i en analys i New York Times att det låter som att det Trump och hans team gått med på är en önskelista från Kreml, men vad Ryssland fått ge upp är ingenting som tydliggjorts. Inte heller har Trump klargjort hur man säkerställer att Putin är att lita på, skriver han.

Trumps uttalanden kom inte från ett manus, utan som svar på reportrarnas frågor, det innebär att ”de återspeglar hur han ser på situationen och ger också en föraning om de kommande månaderna”.

Sky News Deborah Haynes konstaterar att det endast är en valuta som tycks vara värdefull i Ukraina – makt. ”Och både Kyiv och dess europeiska vänner ser alla för svaga ut”, skriver hon.

Trump påstod felaktigt att Ukraina startade kriget


Ukraina är bestörta över att inte få sitta vid bordet när en fred ska förhandlas fram. Detta reagerade USA:s president Donald Trump på i natt.

– Ni skulle ha avslutat det på tre år. Ni skulle aldrig ha startat det. Ni kunde ha slutit ett avtal, säger Trump.

Den 24 februari 2022 korsade ryska trupper och stridsvagnar gränsen till Ukraina på flera ställen. I dagarna som följde skedde intensiva strider utanför bland annat huvudstaden Kiev.

Ryssarna drog sig senare tillbaka från Kievregionen och har sedan dess fokuserat fullt ut på östfronten, där man ockuperat flera områden.

USAID vs Trump & D.O.G.E.

Kommer USA:s demokrati att överleva Trump? Vi får se, säger expert

Trump och effektiveringschefen Musk vill skrota biståndsmyndigheten USAID. Den är det senaste exemplet på myndigheter som nu skakas om. Frågan är hur det går med USA:s demokrati.

Techmiljardären Elon Musk deltog aktivt i Trumps valkampanj. Hans åtgärder som Trumps effektiveringschef kommer sannolikt att prövas i domstolar. Bild: EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER

Anneli Bülow 3.2

På måndag morgon uppmanades anställda på USA:s biståndsmyndighet USAID att stanna hemma tillsvidare. De ska inte visa sig på myndighetens högkvarter i Washington DC, enligt de e-postmeddelanden de fått.

Anställda vid biståndsmyndigheten uppger att över 600 av dem också blev utlåsta ur USAID:s datasystem natten till måndagen.

Under helgen togs två av USAID:s främsta säkerhetschefer ur tjänst. De hade då vägrat Doge-företrädare tillgång till hemligstämplat material.

Doge är den organisation eller byrå som leds av techmiljardären Elon Musk och som av president Donald Trump fått i uppdrag att effektivisera de federala myndigheterna.

USAID har letts av en bunt radikala dårar

Tidigt på måndagen sa Musk i en liveintervju på X att han och Trump är överens om att USAID ska stängas.

– Det har blivit uppenbart att USAID inte bara är ett äpple med en mask i sig. Det är ett maskbo. Man måste göra sig av med hela härvan. Det går inte att reparera. Vi stänger ner det, sa Musk.

I en intervju på söndag kväll sa Trump själv att USAID ”letts av en bunt radikala dårar” som Trumpadministrationen nu ska göra sig av med.

Världens största biståndsgivare

Redan tidigare har företrädare för Trumpadministrationen sagt att USAID kommer att krympas ner och slås samman med det amerikanska utrikesministeriet.

USAID har cirka 10 000 anställda och är världens största enskilda biståndsgivare. Över 40 procent av allt humanitärt bistånd som FN registrerade i fjol kom från USAID.

Trump och Musk är missnöjda både med summorna och med biståndsmålen. De anser att USAID har en liberal, ”woke”-agenda.

Trump kan klara av att skrota USAID

– När det gäller just USAID så är det en myndighet som är instiftad av kongressen och får pengar direkt från kongressen, så där inträder en litet speciell omständighet för Trump. Kongressen kan ha synpunkter på det, säger Dag Blanck, professor i nordamerikastudier vid Uppsala universitet.

– Men förmodligen kommer han att driva det hårt och han kan få med sig kongressen. Om USAID införs under utrikesministeriet så sorterar ju ministeriet sedan under presidenten.

Blanck påpekar att de flesta myndigheter i USA sorterar direkt under presidenten och där har presidenten mycket stor makt både vad gäller organisation och vilka pengar de får.

Dag Blanck talar och gestikulerar mot bakgrunden av en bokhylla och ett skrivbord. Han har glasögon och grå kavaj.

Enligt Blanck är det alltså fullt möjligt att Trump och Musk lyckas krympa det amerikanska biståndet rejält och skrota USAID i den form som myndigheten fungerar nu.

Det är ett guldläge för Trump just nu

– Vad som kan hända är att det kommer att bli väldigt starka protester. Det kan också utmanas juridiskt och det här kan bli en sak för domstolarna.

Blanck påpekar att alla de försök som Trump nu gör för att stärka sin makt över federala myndigheter kan komma att prövas av domstolar. I sista hand kommer USA:s högsta domstol sannolikt att få ta ställning till försöken. Domstolen har konservativ majoritet efter att Trump själv fått utnämna tre av domarna.

– Högsta domstolen har varit sympatiskt inställd till honom i flera utslag och han har ju en majoritet i kongressen. Det är ett guldläge just nu för Trump att försöka åstadkomma de här förändringarna.

Domstolarna kommer att få ta ställning till Musks roll

En fråga som antagligen också kommer att hamna hos domstolarna är Doge-organisationens roll, det vill säga Musks effektiviseringsbyrå och dess makt.

– Doge är alltså inte något ministerium. Det är en organisation som leds av Elon Musk för att effektivisera den federala regeringen och som presidenten har gett stöd till genom en så kallad exekutiv order, säger Blanck.

Organisationens juridiska ställning är oklar. Doge har kommit in på olika myndigheter och krävt information, trots att det är oklart vilken rätt organisationen har till det.

Enligt Blanck har Doge ändå lyckats få information och lyckats installera personer på olika myndigheter åtminstone nu till en början, men organisationen kommer med största sannolikhet att synas i sömmarna av domstolsväsendet.

Inom FBI förbereds massuppsägningar under veckan

På den federala polisen FBI befarar hundratals anställda att de kan få sparken den här veckan.

Det handlar speciellt om anställda som arbetat med olika utredningar som berört Trump. Det samma gäller anställda inom justitieministeriet.

Presidenten styr över FBI och justitieministeriet så Trump har den slutgiltiga makten över dem och kan alltså sparka och tillsätta anställda där.

– Samtidigt är det så att när man är anställd av FBI eller av justitiedepartementet så finns det ett antal tjänster där som ska vara opolitiska och där man ska ha ett visst mått av självständighet och stå fri från den politiska makten. Det finns det en väldigt stark uppfattning om, säger Blanck.

Men vad Trump har velat göra är att utöka antalet tjänster som är direkt politiskt tillsatta. Det är ett sätt att utöka presidentens makt.

– Han säger att de gör ett dåligt jobb, men det är också att de inte är lojala med presidenten. Det är lojaliteten som är absolut viktigast för Trump och när man är illojal, eller går emot honom, då kan det bli konsekvenser och det ser vi nu här. Han försöker rensa ut och avskeda vad han uppfattar som fiender, säger Blanck.

Trump har alltså också den makt som krävs för att avskeda många av dem.

Kan Trump nedmontera USA:s demokrati?

Det pågår en stor diskussion om risken för att Trump skulle kunna nedmontera den amerikanska demokratin under sin nu inledda presidentperiod. Det finns många som oroar sig för att den amerikanska demokratin är skakig just nu.

– Här i Sverige finns ett institut vid Göteborgs universitet som heter V-Dem och som studerar demokratiutveckling. Dess chef Staffan Lindberg sa i en intervju att han inte tror att den amerikanska demokratin kan överleva fyra år med Donald Trump. Det var ju ett exceptionellt uttalande faktiskt, säger Blanck.

Enligt Blanck finns många amerikanska statsvetare som säger att demokratins skyddsvallar har underminerats på ett allvarligt sätt. Det är alltså en sorts överenskommelser som vi har om hur saker och ting ska fungera, men som inte finns reglerade i konstitutionen.

– Man kan nu göra saker, uttala sig och handla på ett sätt som var otänkbart tidigare, påpekar Blanck.

För många var stormningen av Kapitolium den 6 januari 2021, och att Trump i riksrätt frikändes från ansvar, tecken på att demokratins skyddsvallar är på väg att rämna, menar Blanck.

– Sen finns det de som menar att det är allvarligt, men att de amerikanska institutionerna är så robusta att de kommer att hålla, säger Blanck.

– Det är svårt att göra en direkt förutsägelse, det får vi se hur det ser ut när Donald Trump lämnar Vita huset, tillägger han.

Potus 47 akt 3 Oligarker

 

Potus 47 akt 2

 

J6ers are Trumps army

Trumporder

Trumpevangeliet

Är alltså politiskt våld i Trumps namn okej nu?

Publicerad 21 jan 2025

Politiskt våld verkar vara okej så länge det sker å Donald Trumps vägnar.

Amerikanerna lär inte gilla det budskapet.

Men det är signalen från Trumps omfattande amnesti.

Proud Boys var tillbaka i Washington under måndagen.

Ingen borde ha blivit överraskad att ett av Donald Trumps första beslut var att benåda ”J6ers – det är så de kallas de som var inblandade i stormningen av kongressen den 6 januari 2021.

Han gick till val på det. Under sitt första valmöte i valkampanjen 2024 så spelade han ”J6 Fångarnas kör” som spelat in ”Justice for all”.

Trump hade lånat ut även sin egen röst till inspelningen. Så nej, ingen kan vara förvånad.

Men ändå. Det var trots allt skillnad på vad för slags brott de över 1 600 som åtalats anklagades för. 387 fall handlade om våld mot polis eller media.

Domar fortsatte att utfärdas även efter Trumps valvinst. Den 31-årige Joshua Lee fick sin dom, fyra års fängelse, den 20 december.

Han erkände själv att han tömt pepparsprejbehållare mot poliserna, slagit dem med en stång, kastat metallrör och andra föremål mot dem.

– Ni är skit! Ni förråder ert land! skrek han.

Detta mot poliser. 140 av dem skadades den där dagen. Några begick självmord efteråt.

Det verkar ha varit oklart in i det sista hur omfattande Trumps amnesti skulle bli. Även hans vicepresident JD Vance sa i en intervju för Fox News nyligen.

– Om du begick våldsbrott så ska du givetvis inte bli benådad.

President Donald Trump skriver under ett av sina många presidentbeslut i Ovala rummet i Vita huset.

Men så blev det. Trump gav villkorslös benådning till alla utom 14 personer, och även de fick sina straff förkortade. De 14 tillhörde alla de högerextrema grupperna Proud Boys och Path Keepers.

Proud Boys ledare, Henry ”Enrique” Tarrio hade dömts till 22 års fängelse men släpptes ur fängelset redan under måndagskvällen.

Proud Boys spelade en viktig roll vid stormningen. De hade också marscherat i Washington flera gånger efter Trumps valförlust 2020. De har inte setts till där sedan dess.

Nå, de var tillbaka under måndagen. På installationsdagen. De vädrar förstås morgonluft.

Så länge orden och uppmaningarna kommer från Trump så kan de rimligen under de kommande fyra åren räkna med att slippa rättsliga påföljder. Det släpper i värsta fall loss mörka krafter, även om Trump kanske inte avsett det..

Det verkar också amerikanerna vara medvetna om. För nej, hur populärt detta beslut än är hos de verkligt Trump-trogna så har det inte stöd bland amerikanerna i gemen.

En mätning i december för Monmouth University visade att bara 34 procent var för att benåda personer som dömts för stormningen, medan 61 procent var emot.