Tag: Trump, Donald J

How Four Leaders Are Turning the World Upside Down

Ever since learning that in 1947, Walter Lippmann popularized the term “Cold War” to define the emerging conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, I thought it would be cool to be able to name a historical epoch. Now that the post-Cold War has expired, the post-post-Cold War that we’ve entered is just […]

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How Trump’s Idea to Use Military Force in Mexico Became Embraced by GOP

The first time Donald Trump talked privately about shooting missiles into Mexico to take out drug labs, as far as his former aides can recall, was in early 2020. And the first time those comments became public was when his second defense secretary, Mark T. Esper, wrote in his memoir that Mr. Trump had raised […]

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Key Takeaways From the First Day of Trump’s Civil Fraud Trial

Donald J. Trump went on trial Monday in a New York courtroom facing a threat to the business empire that informed his public persona and undergirded his run for the White House. The trial stems from a lawsuit brought last year by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James accusing Mr. Trump and other defendants, including […]

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What We Know About New York’s Fraud Case Against Donald Trump

When a New York judge ruled on Sept. 26 that Donald J. Trump had committed fraud by inflating his assets, he effectively said that the heart of the case against the former president would not be subject to debate during his trial. The civil case was brought by Letitia James, the New York attorney general, […]

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Trump’s Fraud Trial Starts With Attacks on Attorney General and Judge

The trials of Donald J. Trump began Monday in a New York courtroom, where the former president made an appearance to fight the first of several government actions against him — a civil case that imperils his company and threatens his image as a master of the business world. The case, brought by Letitia James, […]

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Kevin McCarthy Surprised Us All

Gail Collins: I didn’t think I’d be saying this, Bret, but we’ve dodged a shutdown. It’s a stupendous moment for Kevin McCarthy. Now if he gets tossed out as House speaker by the right wing, he’ll go down in history as the guy who sacrificed his career for the common good. As opposed to the […]

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New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on How Donald Trump Loses the Primary

I want to hand you the control, you the power, you the say, as an individual, what’s happening in your community. If you can articulate that, and get people there — it’s not easy. I think we do pretty well in New Hampshire. I think that’s one of the reasons that I stay popular. I’m […]

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Trump’s Trial Starts Monday. It Will Spotlight What He’s Really Worth.

From his earliest days as a real estate developer to his renegade run for the White House, Donald J. Trump honed a very particular skill: the art of the boast. “I look better if I’m worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion,” he once said, disputing his ranking on the Forbes billionaires list. […]

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As His Trial Begins, Trump Looks to Capitalize On It

Former President Donald J. Trump is expected to attend the opening of the civil trial in the New York attorney general’s fraud case against him on Monday, as his political team seeks to turn it into a rallying cry for supporters. The decision to show up voluntarily in court by Mr. Trump, who has already […]

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Trump Kicks Off Swing in Iowa, Trying to Lock In Caucus Support

By the time the doors opened Sunday morning, the line to enter former President Donald J. Trump’s caucus organizing event in Ottumwa, Iowa, snaked down the sidewalk and around the parking lot. The hundreds of people who stood outside an event center in this small city, sweating through their “Make America Great Again” hats and […]

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Christian Nationalism May Not Be Serious, but It’s Dangerous

The more I consider the challenge posed by Christian nationalism, the more I think most observers and critics are paying too much attention to the wrong group of Christian nationalists. We mainly think of Christian nationalism as a theology or at least as a philosophy. In reality, the Christian nationalist movement that actually matters is […]

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Why Non-Trump Republicans Must Join Or Die. (They’ll Probably Still Die.)

I’m not sure that an assembly of presidential candidates have ever given off stronger loser vibes, if I may use a word favored by the 45th president of the United States, than the Republicans who debated at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library this week. A snap 538/Washington Post/Ipsos poll and a CNN focus group both […]

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Republicans’ Promises to Combat Fentanyl Fall Flat With Some Voters

The official toxicology report states that Andrea Cahill’s son died at 19 years old from an accidental fentanyl overdose. But more than three years after Tyler Cahill’s death in his childhood bedroom, she doesn’t believe that. It was a poisoning, she says, and there is no question about whom to blame: “the cartels.” Ms. Cahill […]

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I.R.S. Contractor Charged With Leaking Tax Returns

A contractor for the Internal Revenue Service has been charged with leaking tax return information from a senior government official and wealthy taxpayers to two news organizations, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Washington on Friday. Charles Edward Littlejohn, who worked as a contractor for the tax agency from 2017 to 2021, […]

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Trump Co-Defendant in Georgia Election Case Pleads Guilty

One of the 19 defendants in a Georgia racketeering case against former President Donald J. Trump and his allies pleaded guilty on Friday to five misdemeanor charges, under a deal with prosecutors in which he would receive five years of probation. The guilty plea of Scott Hall, 59, a Georgia bail bondsman, was a significant […]

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Key GOP Megadonor Network Will Hear Pitches From DeSantis and Haley Camps

A network of megadonors whose biggest members have stayed on the sidelines in the Republican presidential primary will meet next month in Dallas as advisers to two of the candidates hoping to defeat Donald J. Trump will make one of their last pitches for support, according to two people briefed on the matter. The multiday […]

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How Trump Is Complicating McCarthy’s Attempts to Avoid a Shutdown

When a group of House Republicans thwarted Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s attempt at averting a government shutdown, he fumed that he was being stymied by lawmakers who wanted to “burn the whole place down.” But he spared any public ire for the most powerful member of his party who has been encouraging a shutdown: former President […]

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We Need to Talk About Joe Biden

Listen to and follow ‘Matter of Opinion’Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music In 2020, Joe Biden handily beat Donald Trump in a race that was never particularly close. But now that the twice-impeached and four-times-indicted former president may once again be the Republican nominee, polls suggest they might be even, at best. Why isn’t […]

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Republican Group Running Anti-Trump Ads Finds Little Is Working

A well-funded group of anti-Trump conservatives has sent its donors a remarkably candid memo that reveals how resilient former President Donald J. Trump has been against millions of dollars of negative ads the group deployed against him in two early-voting states. The political action committee, called Win It Back, has close ties to the influential […]

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Trump Will Not Seek to Move Georgia Election Case to Federal Court

Former President Donald J. Trump will not seek to move the criminal racketeering case against him in Atlanta to federal court, according to a legal filing from his lawyer on Thursday. Mr. Trump was indicted by a grand jury in August, along with 18 of his advisers and allies, after a two-and-a-half year investigation into […]

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Why the Donald Trump Fraud Case Matters

Ever since debt was invented in ancient Sumer, there have probably been people enriching themselves through bad investments. The trick is to make these investments using other people’s money. Suppose, for example, that a wheeler-dealer uses borrowed funds to make risky investments in New Jersey casinos. If the investments somehow end up making money, he […]

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DeSantis Says He Would Sign a 15-Week Abortion Ban as President

In the chaos of Wednesday night’s noisy Republican presidential debate, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina interrupted Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida to pose a question on abortion that Mr. DeSantis had dodged directly answering for months. Would the Florida governor sign a “15-week limit” on abortion as president, Mr. Scott asked, talking over both […]

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Fact Check: Trump on Electric Vehicles in Michigan

As seven Republican presidential contenders debated on Wednesday night in California, former President Donald J. Trump, the front-runner for the nomination, spoke at an auto parts plant in Michigan, where he assailed President Biden’s policies embracing electric vehicles. Mr. Biden on Tuesday visited the state to join the United Automobile Workers on the picket line. […]

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Donald Trump’s Campaign of Violence and Lawlessness

Though it was lost in the four-year cyclone that was the presidency of Donald Trump, one of his most immoral acts was to pardon soldiers who were accused of committing war crimes by killing unarmed civilians or prisoners. Military leaders, including his own defense secretary and the secretary of the Army objected, saying it would […]

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Properties Trump May Lose Control of in New York Fraud Case

A New York judge put a spotlight on former President Donald J. Trump’s business empire this week, determining in a ruling that he had inflated the value of his properties by considerable sums to gain favorable terms on loans and insurance. If the ruling stands, Mr. Trump could lose control over some of his most […]

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Trump’s Legal Defense Effort Comes Under Financial Strain

The call came out of the blue. A lawyer representing former President Donald J. Trump in the investigation into his handling of classified documents reached out, unsolicited, to a former employee of Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate who was about to face questioning. “It’s my understanding that you got a grand jury subpoena,” the lawyer, John […]

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Biden Said He Would Stop Drilling. Then Reality Hit.

Tens of thousands of climate protesters who filled Midtown Manhattan last week directed their anger at President Biden, who has done more to combat climate change than any of his predecessors. But in their view, he has failed in one important way: Mr. Biden has not stopped oil and gas drilling on public lands and […]

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