Author: potus
For decades, sub-Saharan Africa was a singular focus of American foreign aid. The continent received over $8 billion a year, money that was used to feed starving children, supply lifesaving drugs and provide wartime humanitarian assistance.In a few short weeks, President Trump and the South African-born billionaire Elon Musk have burned much of that work to the ground, vowing to completely gut the U.S. Agency for International Aid.“CLOSE IT DOWN!” Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Friday, accusing the agency of unspecified corruption and fraud.A federal judge on Friday halted, for now, some elements of Mr. Trump’s attempt to…
Booing during “The Star-Spangled Banner” at sports games in Canada.“Buy Canadian” signs multiplying at grocery stores amid a brewing boycott of U.S. goods.Cross-party calls to find new friends and customers on the global stage.President Trump may have paused his plans to impose crushing tariffs on Canada, pulling the two countries back from the brink of a trade war. But evidence abounds of the damage Mr. Trump has inflicted on the relations between the two nations.After threatening levies on Canada, and Canada threatening to retaliate, Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday came to an agreement for a 30-day…
President Trump’s executive order freezing most U.S. foreign aid for 90 days has thrown into turmoil programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases, run clinical trials and seek to provide shelter for millions of displaced people across the globe.The government’s lead agency for delivering humanitarian aid, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or U.S.A.I.D., has been hit the hardest. Mr. Trump has accused the agency of rampant corruption and fraud, without providing evidence.The Trump administration ordered thousands of the agency’s workers to return to the United States from overseas; put all of the agency’s direct hires, including its roster of…
Republicans managed to flip the Virginia governorship in 2021 largely on an education platform, focusing on parents’ concerns over peak-pandemic public school closings and race-based curricula.Four years later, the party is aiming to retool its “parents’ rights” campaign in its bid to hold on to the office in the blue-leaning state in a post-Covid era.Republicans in recent years have sought to expand their education and cultural playbook in Virginia and around the country. While Republicans once zeroed in on critical race theory, the target is now diversity, equity and inclusion policies. And they’ve broadened their focus to preventing transgender students…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Before President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress can enact much of their legislative agenda, they have to deal with some unfinished business — completing work on the current budget year’s spending bills. It’s a task that by all accounts is not going well.The current stopgap measure lasts through March 14. After that, without congressional action, there would be a partial government shutdown. Five weeks is an eternity when it comes to resolving spending bills in Washington. But Trump’s first weeks in office have escalated tensions between the two parties as the new administration reshapes agency priorities…
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives to the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Via ReutersA federal judge on Friday declined to block Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting department from accessing the U.S. Department of Labor’s systems, an initial setback for the government employee unions resisting his efforts to shrink the federal bureaucracy. The temporary ruling by U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington, D.C., is the first step in a lawsuit against the Labor Department by one of the largest U.S. labor unions,…
Cuando el presidente Donald Trump anunció el martes su propuesta de que Estados Unidos se hiciera con el control de Gaza, sorprendió incluso a funcionarios de alto cargo de su propia Casa Blanca y de su gobierno.Aunque su anuncio pareció formal y meditado —leyó el plan de una hoja de papel—, su gobierno no había hecho ni siquiera la planificación más básica para examinar la viabilidad de la idea, según cuatro personas con conocimiento de las discusiones que no estaban autorizadas a hablar públicamente.No fueron solo los estadounidenses quienes quedaron en estado de agitación; el anuncio sorprendió igualmente a los…
Los groenlandeses quieren trazar el rumbo del desarrollo de su país, y así lo han venido haciendo desde que se instauró el autogobierno hace 16 años, asumiendo la responsabilidad principal en muchos ámbitos de la política pública mientras siguen colaborando estrechamente con Dinamarca en otras.Los estadounidenses, incluido Trump, deben comprender que los groenlandeses no son daneses, sino predominantemente inuit, sí, lo mismo que algunos de los pueblos indígenas de Alaska. Aunque el danés e incluso el inglés se entienden y hablan ampliamente, el groenlandés es la lengua oficial y la cultura inuit groenlandesa sigue siendo fuerte. Con los groenlandeses trabajando…
Shortly after President Trump mused Friday over imposing tariffs on Japan while sitting alongside the country’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, the Japanese leader was asked by a reporter to reflect on his first meeting with Mr. Trump. It was a prime opportunity to respond to Mr. Trump’s economic threat.Instead, Mr. Ishiba took a different tack — becoming the latest foreign leader to fawn over, rather than flout, the American president.“I was so excited to see such a celebrity on television,” Mr. Ishiba said, prompting Mr. Trump to turn to him and smile from ear to ear. “On television he is…
Leaders pledge to stand against Chinese ‘aggression’, announce compromise on Nippon Steel-US Steel deal.Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and US President Donald Trump have struck a warm tone in their first meeting, with Tokyo avoiding tariffs that Trump has slapped on other allies – for now. Heaping praise on each other at the White House, the two leaders on Friday pledged to stand together against Chinese “aggression” and said they found a solution to a blocked deal for troubled US Steel. Trump however pressed Ishiba to cut the US trade deficit with Japan to zero and warned that Tokyo could…