Donald Trump has pledged to pay every adult citizen in the US $5,000 if Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections. The outlandish proposal, which would cost over $1tn, immediately raised ethical concerns. Trump made the promise during a marathon speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas in which he assailed Democrats as “radical”, defended his unpopular war in Iran, and urged voters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot”.
Trump claimed, without evidence, that his second term had been “the most successful two years, financially and every other way, in the history of the presidency”. In a statement, Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, accused Republicans of holding a “bizarre dog-and-pony show” to placate the president’s “fragile ego”. Why did the Republicans hold a midterm convention?
Republicans are gambling that the GOP’s first midterm convention can salvage their threatened House majority. However, Donald Trump’s dismal approval rating drove many competitive candidates to skip the two-day event entirely. What has Trump said about the former attorney Michael Cohen?
The US president has said he would consider pardoning Michael Cohen, the former fixer whom he once branded a “rat” for testifying against him. Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer, but flipped in 2018, and pleaded guilty to federal crimes including facilitating a hush payment to the pornography star Stormy Daniels and lying under oath to Congress. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the Trump administration was focused on working with allied countries and aligning with their laws but insisted the military will “still blow up ships if need be”.
The statement comes a year after Washington began a campaign of unilateral deadly strikes against those it calls “narco-terrorists” operating boats in international waters. These routes are being ended”. How many people has the US killed in its campaign?
Late Wednesday, US Southern Command announced the latest strike in the Caribbean Sea, saying it killed three people. That brought the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 230 in 69 strikes. What has the US announced about Ecuador’s gangs?
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