Trump's promises to end wars!!
Afrasianet - Aaron Blake questioned President Donald Trump's bizarre behavior, especially over the past 12 days, which have been striking, especially as the midterm elections approach. He offered voters what even some Republicans consider a bribe. He threatened (apparently jokingly) to withhold relief aid from a state if it did not elect a Republican senator.
Prior to the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, he told a dubious story about his proximity to the World Trade Center site. He claimed, without any basis, that the Democrats had conspired to kill him, threatened to halt all foreign trade and held the future of the Kennedy Center hostage if judges did not allow him to put his name on it. He now bars some media outlets, including CNN, from entering the White House.
Polls in recent months have shown that 67 percent of Americans have accused the president of not considering important decisions, while 71 percent said he is not "balanced." More than 7 in 10 adults and registered voters say they don't even have a plan for war with Iran, according to Fox News and CNN polls. With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, Trump has made little effort to dispel those fears.
"One of the main reasons for Trump's decline in popularity is the loss of confidence in his leadership abilities, with polls in recent months showing that 67% of Americans have accused the president of not considering important decisions"
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Trump's offer of $5,000 per adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retain majorities in the House and Senate is certainly a trade-off. Sixty-six percent of registered voters say it's an "inappropriate" offer, compared to 18 percent.
His joking threat on Wednesday to withhold relief aid from North Carolina if it elected a Democratic senator is also surprising, and Trump has said he was joking, but his record clearly shows that his administration discriminated against Democratic states on such matters, which is not at all funny to even joke about.
His account before the 9/11 anniversary and the firefighters who carried him away amid fears of a building collapse was uncertain and misleading at best, wrote CNN's Daniel Deal, and if the story is exaggerated, it sounds like an attempt by the president to impersonate heroism.
"Trump also claimed this week that the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a "Democratic conspiracy to get him out of the election," a serious allegation, if it had any basis"
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But there is no evidence so far of any Democrats involved, and Trump has not provided any additional details. In fact, Thomas Crooks, who tried to assassinate him, was registered as a Republican. Even on the same day that Trump made his statements, FBI Director Cash Patel testified that there was "no evidence" that Crooks was "literally talking to anyone other than his parents."
Trump has also repeatedly threatened to halt large swaths of U.S. foreign trade, including with all countries with which the U.S. has trade deficits, if the Federal Reserve does not cut interest rates. "If we stopped trading with every country we have a trade deficit with, most of which, which is very easy, we would have made at least $1.5 trillion a year," Trump claimed Wednesday in North Carolina.
By Friday, Trump had abruptly announced that CNN, MS Now and Politico had been "immediately banned" from entering the White House, surprising even some of his staffers. A CNN reporter was barred from entering the White House on Saturday morning, and her press card was confiscated. A Politico reporter and an MS Now reporter and photographer were also barred from entering.
Other examples of Trump's behavior, though less obvious, are suspicious. On Tuesday, Trump hinted that the Supreme Court justices he nominated may have misrepresented their intentions, saying they were "not the people I met" and "just a shadow of who they were." He broke with established U.S. foreign policy protocol by raising the prospect of reunification of Ireland, calling concerns about the safety of artificial intelligence a "hoax" despite the concern of large segments of Americans about the subject.
Finally, Trump has spent much of this week trying to find a way to force the courts to allow him to name the Kennedy Center after him, even though that seems illegal. Trump is now openly hinting that he may let the institution wither and fade if he doesn't get what he wants. It seems like it happened a long time ago, and during Trump's first term, the conversation was mostly about his "mood" and tweets. To be sure, his behavior has made Americans somewhat desensitized.
These are actions that he must stop before the midterm elections, as his party's grip on power will be at stake and amid genuine doubts from voters about his suitability as leader. But Trump has taken the opposite direction, intensifying his bizarre actions and statements.
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