Category Archives: Donald Trump

Oct. 4 was an interesting day.

It was a week and a half after the Democratic-led House opened a formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, following a whistle-blowers complaint alleging that he corruptly pressured Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son.

Between the opening of the inquiry and Oct. 4, the White House released a summary of a phone call between Trump and Ukraines president, which only seemed to confirm the whistle-blowers allegations. House Democrats continued to come out in favor of the investigation. And, on Oct. 3, Trump in broad daylight, in front of a gaggle of reporters, openly asked Ukraine and China to investigate Biden.

Impeachment at that point was looking almost inevitable. Trumps abuse of power in this instance was irrefutable. Indeed, it was being affirmed by the abuser himself.

So, it was an odd bit of scheduling that throngs of young black conservatives arrived at the White House on Oct. 4 for the so-called Young Black Leadership Summit, apparently a brainchild of the brainwashed racial quisling Candace Owens, who once called Black Lives Matter protesters a bunch of whiny toddlers, pretending to be oppressed for attention.

Trump took the mic before the crowd in the East Room and soon called on Owens to speak. She introduced the topic of the moment and expressed her stance: Let me say this: The media the audacity of them to think that theyre going to impeach our president. The audience booed. Owens continued: No. Its not happening. Its absolutely not happening. Not under our watch. We need to make sure we fight for this man the one man who is standing up for black America, we are going to fight for, guys. We have to keep it going. The audience clapped.

But it was the next speaker Trump called to the mic, the young black conservative comedian Terrence K. Williams, who offered the better framing of defending Trump among those who blindly follow and mindlessly adore him. As Williams put it:

First of all, I just want to say I love President Donald J. Trump.

The audience applauded.

The media is attacking him. But when they attack him, they are attacking us.

The audience applauded again.

Because he is out here fighting for us. And they are harassing you, Mr. President, so they are harassing me.

The audience applauded yet again, as a wide Cheshire cat grin spread across Trumps face and he patted Williams on the arm.

This idea that Trump is the embodiment of Republican voters and a personification of their ambitions and fears, and therefore, attempts to punish him are spiritually transferable and translatable as an attack on individual Republicans and the party as a whole seemed to seize Trumps imagination as a perfect way of positioning the impeachment inquiry.

At a rally in Dallas nearly two weeks later, Trump tried out the message before a live audience:

Now they continue the outrageous impeachment witch hunt with nothing. With nothing. They come after me, but what theyre really doing is theyre coming after the Republican Party. And what theyre really, really doing is theyre coming after and fighting you, and we never lose.

The crowd applauded as Trump pursed his lips and surveyed the success of how the line had landed. It was a winner. It was a keeper.

Trump was making himself into the voodoo doll of conservative politics: Whatever pain he felt, his supporters would feel, and they would object to it in unison.

There is no separation between the Republican Party and Donald Trump. In fact, Trump killed the old Republican Party and now he alone animates the zombie party that lurched forward after its death.

This is Trumps army. And he is warning his congressional generals, the lawmakers who protect and defend him, that there will be no defections, lest the army turn on them.

At least since August, Trump has been tweeting his stratospheric approval rating among Republicans every few days. That is less about informing than warning. This message is to Republican politicians, those who will hold his fate in their hands as the impeachment process unfolds, to stay in line and toe the line.

This week, Trump said of his impending impeachment: All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here a lynching. But we will WIN!

It was not I will win, but we will, because this isnt happening to me alone but to us. These Democrats the women, the minorities, the Jewish, the gay are torturing the white man. And he inverted the language of anti-black white supremacist terror to make the hollow point of white supremacist patriarchal victimhood.

White men have always made the rules, and the most powerful and most wealthy have lived above them. Holding this white man to account is a threat to white power, to his power, to his supporters power.

For Trumps supporters, he has made his malpractice appear in their mirrors.

Only in the strange, upside down days in which we now live could a young black comedian offer the ideal framing of Trumps message of white supremacist solidarity.

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Donald Trump, Life of a Zombie Party - The New York Times

This gives evangelicals pause because now theyre wondering, Hmm, that was not a good move. Whats next? Does this mean hes going to throw Israel under the bus if he threw the Kurds under the bus? a longtime friend of the president said. Another evangelical Trump ally told the president he was offended by a comment the president made about Kurdish fighters having plenty of sand to play with, according to a person briefed on the conversation.

Its a first for Trumps presidency: The same evangelical leaders whove been notoriously unmovable through prior controversies have spoken out forcefully to condemn his policy toward Syria. Televangelist Pat Robertson said Trump was in danger of losing the mandate of heaven. Family Research Council head Tony Perkins described the move as inconsistent with what the president has done previously.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee shake hands with then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

I was concerned about it, but feel more confident after talking with POTUS and seeing the results of the cease-fire and the economic sanctions, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who initially blasted Trumps decision to ditch the Kurds as a huge mistake, wrote in an email to POLITICO on Tuesday. (In remarks from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room less than 24 hours later, Trump announced he would be lifting those same economic sanctions against Turkey remarks that came a day after the U.S. special envoy for Syria engagement told a Senate panel the Turkish military offensive had killed hundreds of Kurdish fighters.)

The outrage over Trumps Syria decision, combined with the growing threat of impeachment, has left the president facing a new test in his relationship with white evangelicals as signs of tensions have begun to surface in recent polls. For some, his culturally conservative agenda may not be enough to keep them from walking away if the situation in Syria deteriorates further.

Its a dilemma that has left Trumps biggest religious boosters asking themselves whether his sky-high support with so-called values voters will last through next November.

If hes going to win in 2020, said the longtime Trump friend, he has to be north of the 81 percent [of white evangelicals] he won in 2016. Im not suggesting that the polling is all of a sudden going to show that his support is plummeting because of Syria. But if it stays stagnant, hes a one-term president.

White evangelicals have long grappled with a president they consider their greatest champion since the Reagan years, but who rarely approaches policy matters or discourse with their preferred tone or moral code. They have asked Trump not to curse at his campaign rallies, despite standing by him when he was caught on tape making vulgar comments about women in 2016. They have endorsed his hard-line immigration policies, but privately urged him to ditch the harsh language about immigrants and refugees. And they have consistently cited his appointment of anti-abortion judges as a hallmark of his presidency without mentioning the uncomfortable moment when, as a candidate, he suggested punishing women who choose to end their pregnancies.

Now, the presidents evangelical allies are pressing him to consider the consequences of pulling troops from Syria, which he has cast as a financially sensible decision. And they are warning him of trouble ahead if he doesnt both in the region, where U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters have been killed by Turkish airstrikes in recent days, and with his political standing back home.

This is a danger zone for this administration when it comes to evangelicals. They see religious persecution, Iran gaining a foothold, Israel facing threats and the possibility of ISIS reemerging, and what Trump keeps talking about is the land, and the money, and the deal-making, said the longtime Trump friend. The moral compass is missing, and hes off balance here with evangelicals.

Unlike other voting blocs that have slowly moved away from Trump, white evangelicals have displayed a certain level of elasticity in their support for him opting to adapt to the worst moments and elements of his presidency, even when they have shown initial signs of shock.

Hes a blue-chip stock for evangelicals and theyre cashed in fully. If theres fluctuation in the market, they always ride it out, said the Trump pal.

Its an enduring mystery of the Trump era and one that prompts questions about tribalism and the state of both major political parties. Do white evangelicals stand by Trump because there is no suitable Republican or Democratic alternative? Or do they embrace him because thats what theyve seen the most prominent among them do?

My gut says white evangelicals will jump when and if Fox News does, said Elesha Coffman, a scholar of American religion at Baylor University. Any movement, if we see it, isnt going to come from within their religious communities.

A lengthy study released this week by the Public Religion Research Institute offers other clues about the current state of Trumps relationship with white evangelical voters, as well as why it could change between now and Election Day. In striking terms, the survey captures just how substantial the presidents support is among white evangelicals: 99 percent of GOP-leaning white evangelical Protestants oppose impeaching and removing Trump from office and 63 percent say he has done nothing to damage the dignity of the presidency, separating them from majorities across all other major religious groups that said he has.

Other figures raise questions about the durability of white evangelicals support for Trump, particularly given the precarious position he finds himself in with Syria.

For example, 63 percent of white evangelical Protestants in the PRRI study said terrorism is a major concern for them more than immigration (55 percent), which has been Trumps single biggest issue, or health care (53 percent). Those figures come amid warnings that the U.S. pullout from Syria could rekindle terrorism in Europe and cause a resurgence of the Islamic State. Already, a separate NPR/Marist survey found that nearly 30% of white evangelicals believe U.S. security has been weakened by Trump.

The worse the situation becomes in Syria the more comfortable white evangelicals might feel about distancing themselves from Trump, Coffman said. That happened gradually during the Watergate era, when rank-and-file evangelicals slowly walked away from President Richard M. Nixon.

After the Syria cease-fire, will things get much worse? Will we get pictures of children who get victimized by chemical weapons? Will there be enough of a rebuke from Republicans or more voices inside white evangelicalism speaking out about this? Coffman asked, adding that its possible well see movement then, but I wouldnt bet on it.

There is also the shadow that impeachment has cast over Trumps presidency, and how white evangelicals are responding.

A much-discussed Fox News poll found that nearly three in 10 white evangelicals want the president impeached and removed from office a figure that startled some officials on Trumps 2020 campaign, according to an outside adviser. And in the NPR/Marist survey, which was taken after House Democrats began their impeachment inquiry, only 62 percent of white evangelicals said they definitely plan to vote for Trump next fall.

Thats the number Trumps top evangelical supporters are closely monitoring and cautioning the president not to ignore. Eighty-one percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016 was enough to carry him to the White House, they say, but with underwater approval ratings among other key constituencies he needs to do even better next fall.

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Evangelicals have stuck by Trump. But polls hint at trouble ahead. - POLITICO

As anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Donald Trumps business history knows, the real estate developer made the bulk of his money licensing his name to businesses he does not own, slapping it on everything from hotels to condos to cologne in the biggest, most garish letters possible. Truly no product was too small or ridiculous for Trump to emblazon, whether it was a fake university, a line of vodka, or steaks sold through the Sharper Image catalog. And while his name never connoted the luxury and class he thought it did, after he kicked off his bid for the presidency in 2015, it suddenly evoked racism, debatable mental stability, and questionable moral conduct, leading a number of hotels and condos around the world to try to remove it from their buildings, both out of disgust and a genuine belief that it was costing them money. Where licensing deals had lapsed, there was nothing the Trump Organization could do about such decisions. But where they remained in place, the presidents family business, run by his two adult sons, fought the tenants and investors tooth and nail. Which makes the news that the Trump Organization has chosen to hide the Trump name from one of its marquee properties all the more humiliating.

The Washington Post reports that at the Wollman Rink and Laser Rink in Central Park, which Trump has run since the 1980s, Trump Organization employees have been removing the five-letter name from sight, taking it off the boards around each rink where giant red TRUMP signs once surrounded customers and off of the desk where visitors rent skates, now covered in a large white tarp until it can be permanently taken away. Its a complete rebranding, Geoffrey Croft, of NYC Park Advocates, told the Post. Theyve taken [the name] off everything. Off the uniforms, everything. (The Trump Organization did not respond to the Posts request for comment.)

And while some might assume that the citywhere the president is deeply unpopularwas behind the move, a spokeswoman said it was the companys decision. The Trump Organization notified us in late August that they planned to change the on-rink branding, said Crystal Howard, a spokeswoman for the city parks department. While Howard said the Trump Organization did not explain its decision, an employee who spoke to the Post hazarded a guess: Even the presidents business knows hes bad for business. I do believe thats the answer. It was hurting business, the employee said. A lot of the schools, you know, liberal private schools up here, come to parties up here. That was a big income earner up here Monday and Tuesday night. (In early 2017, a skating party for students from the Dalton School was canceled after some parents refused to let their children go to a rink with Trumps name on it.)

And in other not-great news for noted narcissists:

Support for the impeachment inquiry into President Trump has reached a new high, a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found. Pollsters discovered that 55% of respondents approved of the inquiry, while 43% opposed it. Last week 51% supported it while 45% did not.... Almost half of all respondents48%backed impeachment and removal of Trump, up 2 percentage points from last week. Forty-six percent said they are now against impeaching and removing him.

Earlier this month the president bragged that only 25% of Americans wanted him impeached, so hell have to update his models.

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Even the Trump Organization Doesnt Want to Be Associated With Trump - Vanity Fair

Donald Trump Jr. appeared on "Hannity" Wednesday night and voiced his frustration with Democrats continuing to pursue impeachment against his father President Trump, calling it "disgraceful."

"It's a telephone game of nonsense proportions. But, you know, the media gets that first wave. They get it directly from [Rep. Adam] Schiff. They get to run with it as though it's fact," Trump said. "In a month when they open up the process and everyone else sees it,they will have done the damage. That's why it's disgraceful."

TRUMP ALLIES PUSH BACK ON 'QUID PRO QUO,' SAY ENVOY TESTIFIED UKRAINE INITIALLY UNAWARE OF AID HOLDUP

Trump continued to vent his frustration with the Ukraine controversy following former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report.

"This shouldn't be going on here. If this was going on in a banana republic, we'd say that's pretty bad,' Trump told host Sean Hannity. "It's going on in the United States of America. It's going on in Congress. And it's enough."

Trump wondered allowed why the media didn't have a problem with House Democrats and their lack of transparency.

"I'm surprised that the media, who has been so vocal about not wanting democracy to die in darkness, Sean, they don't want it to die in darkness," Trump said. "They're totally fine with this being and going on in total darkness. It's a disgrace."

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The president's oldest son praised Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for his protest Wednesday and asked Hannity when "enough is enough."

"It was great to see guys like Matt Gates and so many other Republicans, the House, finally say enough is enough. But when is it really going to be enough, Sean?" Trump asked. "When are they actually going to do something about it? Because this is nonsense."

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Donald Trump Jr. on impeachment: When is it 'going to be enough?' - Fox News

Christian church leader Rick Wiles threatened that "There's gonna be violence in America" if President Donald Trump is removed from office.

Wiles, the senior pastor at Flowing Streams Church in Florida, made the remarks on his right-wing TruNews program Tuesday evening. He claimed that cowboys, mountain men and "guys that know how to do violence" would start attacking and "hunting down" Democrats.

"If they take him [Trump] out, there's gonna be violence in America," the religious leader said. "That's all there is to it," he asserted.

"However he leaves, there's gonna be violence in America," Wiles went on. "I believe there are people in this country, veterans, there are cowboys, mountain men, I mean guys that know how to fight," he said, "and they're going to make a decision that people who did this to Donald Trump are not gonna get away with it."

"And they're gonna hunt them down," the pastor said.

"The Trump supporters are going to hunt them down," he added. "It's going to happen and this country is going to be plunged into darkness and they brought it upon themselves because they won't back off."

Wiles' threat came as it has appeared increasingly likely that Trump will be impeached by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. The fast-moving impeachment inquiry, which was launched at the end of September, has already revealed that the president pressured Ukrainian leaders to investigate his political rivals and allegedly withheld bipartisan approved military aid to the country as a "quid pro quo" to open the probes.

Although it appears likely that Trump will be impeached in the House, most analysts do not believe he will be removed from office by the Republican-controlled Senate. Although a few GOP senators have expressed serious concerns about Trump's actions towards Ukraine, a two-thirds majority of the legislative body is required to remove the president from office. That would mean all the 45 Democrats, the body's two independents and 19 Republicans would need to vote for Trump's ouster.

Despite it remaining unlikely that 19 or more Republican senators will turn on Trump, a survey by the conservative Daily Caller website suggested this week that it's not outside the realm of possibility. Of the 53 Republicans in the upper house of Congress, only seven confirmed definitively that they do not support Trump's impeachment and removal from office. Additionally, 22 of the lawmakers declined to comment altogether.

Wiles and his TruNews program have a history of promoting highly controversial, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ ideas and conspiracy theories. In 2017, the conservative religious figure argued that Hurricane Harvey's devastation in Texas resulted from Houston supporting the LGBTQ community. "Here's a city that has boasted of its LGBT devotion, its affinity for the sexual perversion movement in America. They're under water," he said at the time.

TruNews has also described former President Barack Obama as a "demon from hell."

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Pastor Warns If Trump Is Removed From Office, 'Guys That Know How to Fight' Will Hunt Down Democrats - Newsweek

The comics take a look at the latest in impeachment proceedings, including outrageous tweets, in Best of Late Night Eileen Rivers, USA TODAY Opinion

Impeachment proceedings appear to bereaching a critical point: Summariesof Tuesday's testimony from Bill Taylor, the country'ssenior diplomat in Ukraine, revealed cover ups, quid pro quoand bullying not just from the president, but throughout the administration. If ever testimony solidified the need for an impeachment vote, Taylor delivered it. Hard to imagine things getting much worse, right?

Enter President Donald Trump's Twitter account.

His go-to platform during times of stressincluded a new way of describing the impeachment proceedings. He called the thoroughly constitutional look intohis unseemly (and potentially illegal) activity, a "lynching."

Comedian and writer for "Late Night with Seth Meyers" Amber Ruffin shows why impeachmentproceedings are the furthest thing from a lynching and why calling Trump out on his racism is the furthest thing froma distraction. Take a look at today's Best of Late Night, above, for the deets.

James Corden warned Trump that he was on his way to losingwhat little black support he has.

James Corden(Photo: Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY)

And the comics fill you in on the other outrageous tweetattached to the president's account.

After you watch our favorite jokes from last night's late-night lineup, vote for yours in the poll below.

Follow Eileen Rivers on Twitter @msdc14.

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Corden: Trump may have just alienated his three black voters - USA TODAY

Graham is one of the presidents key allies, but Trump supporters got a #WheresLindsey hashtag trending Tuesday.

Posted on October 22, 2019, at 8:06 p.m. ET

Donald Trump Jr. and other prominent MAGA stars are driving a new social media campaign to pressure Sen. Lindsey Graham to more forcefully defend President Donald Trump from the impeachment inquiry.

Graham, the chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, is one of the presidents top allies in the Senate and is set to play a key role in the presidents impeachment defense. But the presidents die-hard supporters and oldest son are now taunting him to immediately do more, including issuing subpoenas on Trumps behalf.

The campaign has used the #WheresLindsey hashtag to call on Graham to start bringing people in to be interviewed by his Senate committee and to air grievances with what they see as Grahams inaction to protect the president so far. The hashtag, boosted by Trump Jr. and his allies, was trending in the United States on Tuesday, even after Graham went so far as to explicitly defend Trumps morning comments about the inquiry being a lynching. The inquiry, Graham told reporters, is a lynching in every sense.

That wasn't enough to save Graham from intense and personal attacks all day online.

Republican House members last week framed the impeachment process as not being transparent after members were blocked from reading the closed-door testimony from Kurt Volker, the former US special representative for Ukraine negotiations, because they arent members of the committees with jurisdiction over the testimony. The Trump-backing Twitter accounts have spread false conspiracy theories about the House Democrats leading the process, in particular Rep. Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Graham, responding to those concerns on Oct. 9, said if House Democrats didnt release a transcript of Volkers full testimony, it would be an abuse of power.

If this continues, I will call Volker before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify publicly to ensure the full story is told, he added.

But the MAGA accounts and Trumps son want Graham to stop talking and just fucking do something already.

Remove the first three words from this tweet and try again, one person tweeted at Graham eight days later in a reply that received over 1,000 likes. An hour later, Trump Jr. quote-tweeted Graham to let him know that the problem was continuing.

Dear @LindseyGrahamSC: The chair of the Intel Committee is orchestrating a coup against the President of the United States, complete w rogue CIA spies, secret testimony and his usual leaks to the corrupt press. WHY IS TRUMP FIGHTING ALONE? a popular pro-Trump Twitter account said later that afternoon. The tweet was retweeted over 5,000 times and liked over 11,000 times.

Lindsey Graham is more worried about the invasion of Syria than the coup taking place in Washington, the account added in a follow-up tweet. In tweets from a year ago, the account had praised Grahams appearance during Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court confirmation hearings and his defense of the president and begged Trump to bring him to rallies.

Trump Jr. escalated the pressure campaign against the senator by promoting his own appearance on Fox News Hannity in early October.

I think we need our guys in the Senate to start pushing back start subpoenaing this. Do you doubt for one second that this team has met with the whistleblower, Schiffs team, that they have dictated every aspect of this? Subpoena em! Ask them! Trump Jr. said in a clip, which was widely shared on Twitter and ultimately retweeted by Trump Jr. himself.

Popular conservative Twitter personalities associated with organizations like Turning Point USA latched onto the rhetoric Tuesday and have encouraged followers to tweet memes and makes posts under the hashtag #WheresLindsey.

Remember based Lindsey Graham? Benny Johnson, Turning Point USAs chief creative officer, posted on Tuesday morning alongside a video of Grahams statements during the Kavanaugh hearings. I do. This Lindsey Graham stopped a bloodthirsty, farcical attack from the Left on our nations most honored institutions. Lindsey crushed these attacks. Do it again Lindsey.

On Tuesday afternoon, Trump Jr. added to the call for Graham to start issuing subpoenas to witnesses like Volker. I repeat... its continuing. #WheresLindsey, he said, quote-tweeting Grahams threat from early October.

Grahams office did not immediately return a request for comment about the Twitter campaign or his relationship with Trump Jr.

Paul McLeod contributed reporting to this story.

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Donald Trump Jr. And MAGA Twitter Are Pressuring Sen. Lindsey Graham To Defend Trump From Impeachment - BuzzFeed News

BRUSSELS European leaders have long understood that President Trump is an unreliable ally, subject to loud tantrums, abrupt shifts and sudden whims. They have worried about his ambivalence toward NATO, resented his personal attacks and bristled at his use of trade policy and economic sanctions to restrict their companies and markets.

Until now, Europeans have done little except complain about him. But Mr. Trumps recent actions in Syria and Ukraine may change that.

The more optimistic now argue Mr. Trumps betrayals in those conflicts are of a different category of seriousness, and may accelerate what has been a slowly building process of European integration and peeling away from the United States. Others are not so sure.

But there is agreement that Mr. Trump has destabilized Europes near neighborhood in a major, even fundamental, way that requires a unified response, if only Europeans can come together.

Mr. Trump this month pulled American troops out of Syria, forsaking the Kurds who were guarding European jihadists, and allowing Turkey to invade. Mr. Trumps impeachment inquiry has laid bare how through the course of the year he prized politics over policy in Ukraine.

Both episodes benefited President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has been working to destabilize European democracies, chip away at Western cohesion, and on Tuesday hosted his new friend, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a NATO member.

As European leaders prepare for a meeting of NATO members in London in early December, Mr. Trumps capriciousness is testing Europes ability to cohere and adjust.

Europeans have put themselves in the position of being dependent on an undependable president, said Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

This just exposes again how Europeans remain overly reliant on the United States, he said, not only to deter Russia but to protect Western interests in the Middle East. But will Europeans do anything about it?

Mr. Trumps sudden withdrawal of American troops from northern Syria, and the quick response of Mr. Putin, have shaken Europeans. How deeply is the question.

This has been more grist to the mill for the need for European governments to take more responsibility for their near neighborhood," Mr. Niblett said. But that doesnt mean it will get done.

The European Parliament is preparing a resolution condemning Turkeys offensive and urging economic sanctions, but governments are split on the matter.

While to some degree Americas allies have priced in Mr. Trumps limitations and behavior, this is a whole different level," said Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, playing into all their fears about America as an unreliable ally.

So unreliable has Mr. Trump proved, in fact, that his allies would not dare call the December meeting a summit, NATO officials concede. It will incorporate only a reception at Buckingham Palace and a single morning session at a golf resort hotel an hours drive from central London.

The main reason for that, officials say, is because of Mr. Trumps tantrum about military spending that so distorted the last NATO summit meeting in Brussels in July 2018.

There, Mr. Trump was finally calmed down when the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, told him, We get it, Donald, we need to buy more American arms. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, told him: We understand, we need to spend more so you can spend less.

Such remarks are revealing of Europes deepening disdain for Mr. Trump, even before his meddling in Syria and Ukraine.

European governments have a very low regard for Trump anyway," said Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform. They know that they need to work with the United States, but it confirms to them that Trump is incapable of thinking strategically, handing victory to the Russians in Syria.

Mr. Trumps move in Syria was particularly neuralgic for the French. They have been vocally furious with American unreliability ever since 2013, when President Barack Obama decided to ignore his own red line and call off bombing strikes on Syria in response to the regimes use of chemical weapons a decision passed on to Paris just as French war planes were preparing to join the United States in the strikes.

France felt abandoned then, especially after becoming more aligned with Washington under Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Franois Hollande and rejoining NATOs command structure.

But this is a whole new level of frivolousness in the way that the U.S. treats allies, Mr. Leonard said.

Mr. Macron was particularly bitter last week about Mr. Trumps unilateral Syria move, in a news conference after a Brussels summit meeting.

I understood that we were together in NATO, that the U.S. and Turkey were in NATO, Mr. Macron said. And I found out via a tweet that the U.S. had decided to withdraw their troops."

Asked about the seeming impotence of the European Union, he added, I share your outrage.

But such decisions also help those in Europe, like Mr. Macron, who are trying to make the case for more European strategic autonomy, both in defense matters but also increasingly in financial ones, as Europeans try to protect their firms from both American tariffs and secondary sanctions against Iran.

Mr. Macron is pressing for more spending on European defense, especially on French armaments, as a way for Europe to counterbalance a long-term trend of American retreat from multilateral obligations.

But whereas the European Union has mostly joined together in a common regulatory system on matters of trade and finance, it often remains a bloc of 28 foreign policies.

Europe is split, Mr. Leonard said. There are those deeply worried about what is going on and wanting to build a Europe that can defend itself, not just in defense but to push back on the extraterritoriality of American sanctions and Trumps weaponization of the international financial system. And there are those who think they have to suck up to Trump bilaterally, like the Poles, who only trust the Americans to deter Russia.

And then there are those like Germany that will follow Macron to a degree rhetorically, but when it comes down to difficult decisions about how much to spend on defense, how assertive to be on sanctions, holds back," he said.

But the more Mr. Trump and Congress go after European national interest and leaders, threatening a trade war with Europe and insulting its leadership, the more countries are driven into the French camp.

There are more structural developments that have shaken the way that Europeans view the United States, said Manuel Muniz, dean of the School of Global and Public Affairs at IE University in Madrid.

He cited Mr. Trumps questioning of NATO and collective defense; his abandonment of the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal; his imposition of trade sanctions on European products like steel and aluminum; his harsh attacks on individual European leaders at various times, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and former Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain; and the behavior of some of his ambassadors toward their host countries and institutions.

Mr. Trumps criticism of European free-riding on defense is accurate, Mr. Muniz said, but it has also led to Europeans ceding responsibility for their own interests and fates.

But given his unreliability as an ally, Trump will accelerate the process of European integration on defense and security, he said.

In fact, in many corners of the world, Americas transformation from the indispensable ally to the unreliable one is now taken for granted.

Americas unreliability as both a global leader and ally or partner is no longer in doubt and countries are adjusting accordingly, and not just in Europe, according to Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister and now vice president of the Toledo International Center for Peace.

The Kurds and Turks quickly scrambled to make a deal with Russia, and India is also pursuing closer ties to both China and Russia. The South Koreans are seeking a form of rapprochement with the North and even Saudi Arabia is looking for better ties with Iran, he wrote in an op-ed article for Project Syndicate.

The main problem is not just what Trump does, but how he does it, Mr. Leonard said. It is not just Mr. Trumps America First nationalism, he said. Alliances need predictability, and Trump is so unpredictable.

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Trumps Syria and Ukraine Moves Further Alienate Americas Already Wary Allies - The New York Times

Does it even matter any more that, on Monday, El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago had another televised nutty in the White House? Does it matter more that, in the course of his televised nutty, the president* expressed virulent contempt for the Constitution he swore to preserve, protect, and defend. I mean, I was sitting there when he did it. I had to sit through that awful Roger Corman film of an inaugural address. Did I do that for naught?

Anyway, on Monday, the president* unburdened himself of the following thought-like objects.

On the war on terror:

On the whistleblower:

And then, the piece de resistance, in which Alexander Hamilton and James Madison become operatives of The Deep State...

I know he burbled on about George Washington and Barack Obama and Netflix and how unprecedented it is that he's not taking a salary. (Herbert Hoover didn't, nor did JFK.) But I think I briefly went to another place when he said that thing about the Emoluments Clause. How about the Bill of Rights? How about the powers of Congress? How about the impeachment provisions? What other parts of the Constitution does he consider "phony"?

All of them, Katie.

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Donald Trump's Televised Cabinet Meeting Was Another Nutty Episode - Esquire

Whistleblowers have been at time essential and detrimental to a country's democracy, but what makes them different than a leaker? We explain. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON Railing against impeachment at a meeting of his Cabinet, an angry President Donald Trump called Monday for the identification of the government whistleblower who made the first accusations against him.

Do we have to protect somebody that gave a totally false account of my conversation?" Trump said at one point. "I dont know. You tell me.

House Democrats conducting the impeachment inquiry say federal laws are designed to protect the identities of whistleblowers.

They also said the statements of this particular whistleblower are consistent with a partial transcript of July 25 phone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice PresidentJoe Biden, a 2020 presidential contender, and Biden's son Hunter, who once had business interests in Ukraine.

The president disagreed, telling reporters Democrats have "nothing."

"I think they want to impeach mebecause it's the only way they're going to win," he said. "They've got nothing. All they have is a phone call that is perfect. All they have is a whistleblower who's disappear. Where is he?"

President Donald Trump, center, points to members of his Cabinet while speaking during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Washington, as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, left, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, listen. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) ORG XMIT: DCPM107(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)

Trump also said officials who provided the whistleblower with information should also be exposed.

Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor in New York City, said it would be illegalfor Trump or anyone else to "out" the whistleblower.

"The whistleblower was a tipster and, just like when someone calls the police to say 'Hey, Iheard that five people robbed a bank today and here is where they did it and left the evidence,' you dont need anything more from the tipster you go and find the evidence," Rocah said. "Thats whats happened here and we also have multiple confessions."

She called Trump's comments "a transparent attempt to divert our attention" from the facts of the case.

The impeachment inquiry centers on whether Trump abused his office for his own political gain when he pushed Ukraine to investigate the Bidens during a time when the administration was holding up military aid for the country. Trump has said he did nothing improper and that there was no "quid pro quo" in which he used the aid as leverage to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival.

Impeachment inquiry:Week 5 questions about withholding military aid from Ukraine and diplomat who called policy 'crazy'

Show me evidence: Lindsay Graham doesn't rule out impeachmentif inquiry establishes 'quid pro quo'

Impeachment was one of several topics Trump covered in remarks to reporters during a Cabinet meeting.

During the session, Trump also:

Lambasted top Democrats Rep. Adam Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over the impeachment inquiry, saying they are focused on that and ignoring the nation's real problems.

"These people are trying to destroy the country," he said.

He added, "the president of the United States should be allowed to run the country and not have to focus on this kind of crap, while at the same time doing a great job on Syria and Turkey."

Defended one of his foremost critics Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard against attacks by a more long-term politicalfoe:Hillary Clinton.

Clinton is "accusing everyone of being a Russian agent," Trump said."These people are sick. Theres something wrong with them.

While not specifically namingGabbard, Clinton last week referred to the Hawaii congresswoman by saying during a political podcast that "she's the favorite of the Russians." Clinton added that "theyhave a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far."

Poll: Majority of Americans lacks confidence in Trump when it comes to making Supreme Court picks

In a series of tweets,Gabbard called Clinton the "personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long," and said she is part of a "concerted campaign" to destroy her reputation.

Chided Democrats for pushing back against his decision to host the G-7 summit of world leaders at his resort in Doral, Florida. The president on Twitter Saturday reversed his decision to host the summit there, suggesting Camp David could serve as an alternative site.

"I would have given it for nothing," Trump said of Doral to reporters in the Cabinet Room Monday. "The Democrats went crazy, even though I would have done it free."

Attacked Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, for criticizing his actionsand suggested that Republicans are not as united behind him as Democrats are in seeking to impeach him.

Democrats are ambitious and stick together, Trump said.

"They don't have Mitt Romney in their midst," he said. "They don't have people like that. They stick together. You never seethem break off."

Trump also attacked "Never Trump" Republicans who have always attacked him, claiming they areworse than Democrats.

"The good news is they're dying off fast," Trump said. "They're on artificial respiration."

Democrats denounced Trump's various commentsduring the 71-minute Cabinet meeting.Ronald Klain, chief of staff for vice presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden, tweeted that it was a "tirade of lies, deceptions, delusions, and distractions."

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Donald Trump calls for public identification of Ukraine whistleblower - USA TODAY