Tag Archives: Britain

Alternet: ‘Turning people against him’: Trump’s approval is ‘cratering’ on every major issue

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Barely more than one-third of Americans approve of how President Donald Trump is doing his job, and on key issues, his support is underwater.

Just thirty-seven percent of Americans give President Trump good marks overall, while more than half the country, fifty-five percent, disapprove, according to the latest Quinnipiac University national poll.

The partisan divide is large, with 84% of Republicans saying he is doing a good job, and 98% of Democrats saying he is not. The majority of independents, 58%, agree with Democrats and disapprove.

Just less than three in ten women (29%) approve of President Trump’s performance, while 46% of men do.

On crime, the majority (54%) disapprove of Trump’s performance, just 42% approve.

On the economy, fewer than four in ten (39%) approve, and 57% disapprove.

Similarly, on trade, just 38% approve, while 56% disapprove.

On his efforts to end the Ukraine war, a majority (52%) disapprove, while just 40% approve.

“Voters have little confidence in President Trump’s effort to broker peace in Ukraine, and most voters don’t trust Vladimir Putin to keep a peace deal if one were reached,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy wrote. “And though the president has ruled out putting U.S. troops in the war theater to keep the peace, four out of 10 voters would support it,”

And two-thirds of Americans (67%) disapprove of his handling of the Epstein files.

According to the non-partisan group Political Polls, this is Trump’s lowest approval rating in this term.

Critics and strategists weighed in.

Mike Madrid, the top Republican Latino political consultant, remarked, “Brutal poll results for Trump. Just brutal.”

“Striking” is how The New Republic’s Greg Sargent described the poll’s finding on Trump deploying the National Guard, and he noted that Trump’s “overall approval on crime is cratering.”

“Predictably, Trump’s terrible overreach is again turning people against him in an area where he was previously perceived as strong, just as on immigration and the economy,” wrote Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “Per Quinnipiac, independents oppose his DC occupation 61-34. Overall: 56-41 against.”

‘Turning people against him’: Trump’s approval is ‘cratering’ on every major issue

https://www.alternet.org/trump-approval-2673933698

Daily Beast: Shallow Trump Pressures Zelensky to Wear a Suit to the White House

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The Ukrainian president is reportedly planning to ditch his military-style sweatshirt for a black jacket to avoid another White House showdown.

All eyes will be on Volodymyr Zelensky when he arrives at the White House on Monday afternoon—if only to see what he’s wearing when he meets President Donald Trump.

Ukraine’s wartime president found himself the target of a pile-on in his last Oval Office visit in February, when Vice President JD Vance accused him of being “disrespectful” to the U.S. by not wearing a suit and tie.

Keen to avoid a repeat, White House officials have reportedly been pressing Zelensky to dress up for Monday’s crucial talks at the White House, where Zelensky and Trump will be joined a slew of major European leaders.

Citing two sources inside the Trump administration, Axios reported Monday that the White House had explicitly asked Ukrainian officials whether Zelensky would be wearing a suit to the Oval Office.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One source told the outlet that Zelensky would be wearing the same sort of black jacket he wore to meet Trump at the NATO summit in June, rather his usual army-style sweatshirt. “Trump was happy about that,” Axios reported in its newsletter.

Monday’s talks, which come on the heels of Trump’s summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, could help bring an end to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.

But all anyone in MAGAworld seems to have cared about over the past few days is what Zelensky will be wearing when he shakes Trump’s hand.

In a scathing preview of the Oval Office talks, Real America’s Voice host Brian Glenn told viewers on Sunday: “Two questions right now. One: Will we have peace? But two: Will Zelensky wear a suit?”

The channel, which calls itself the “authentic voice and passion of real people all across America,” then played a clip from Zelensky’s infamous visit to the White House earlier this year when Glenn himself sparked a brutal pile-on from the room by criticizing Zelensky for what he was wearing.

Zelensky’s casual battle dress was reminiscent of that worn by previous wartime leaders during visits to the White House, including Britain’s prime minister during WWII, Winston Churchill. But the February meeting descended into acrimony, with Vance leading what many observers considered an ambush of Zelensky.

Zelensky will be joined at the White House by European leaders including Britain’s Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron of France who will try to persuade Trump that the pressure should be on Putin to end the conflict he started in 2022. Casualties are widely reported to be past the million mark after more than three years of attritional fighting.

The Oval Office talks come just days the Alaska summit, at which no real progress appears to have been made—and which some White House officials reportedly left looking ashen-faced.

Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin, who has largely been ostracized by the international community since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After greeting him like an old friend, Trump let Putin talk first at a post-summit press conference—with no actual questions allowed—and even game him a lift in his armored “Beast” limousine.

It remains clear, however, that Putin is still clinging to his maximalist demands for sovereignty over large parts of Ukraine and subsequent demilitarization.

Trump is expected to greet Zelensky today at 1 p.m. ET, with a series of meetings with other European leaders scheduled throughout the afternoon.

Shallow Trump Pressures Zelensky to Wear a Suit to the White House
The Ukrainian president is reportedly planning to ditch his military-style sweatshirt for a black jacket to avoid another White House showdown.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/shallow-trump-pressures-zelensky-to-wear-a-suit-to-the-white-house

Raw Story: ‘Bad situation’: Expert warns Trump in legal jeopardy with ‘significant’ Epstein admission

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A legal expert warned President Donald Trump on Tuesday that he may have put himself in legal jeopardy by admitting he knew one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.

Trump told reporters earlier on Tuesday that Epstein “stole” Virginia Giuffre from him when she was employed at Mar-a-Lago. That claim could backfire on Trump because it shows that he knew one of the central victims in the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, according to Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University.

Goodman pointed to Maxwell’s 2022 sentencing, where the judge enhanced her sentence to 20 years because of Giuffre’s testimony.

“It’s that much of a significant statement,” Goodman told Erin Burnett on CNN’s “OutFront.” “If he had said he was aware of it from the court documents, then he’s ok in that regard. But I think that’s a very potentially bad situation for him to be in.”

Trump has fiercely tried to distance himself from the Epstein files saga, which has consumed his presidency for the last three weeks. However, his attempts appear to be falling short.

For example, multiple outlets have published previously unreported ties between the two men. The Wall Street Journal published a letter that Trump allegedly sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday. The New York Times has published details from one of Epstein’s accusers, and CNN has published previously unseen photos of the two men together at different events in the 1990s.

Trump’s comments come at a time when Maxwell has agreed to testify before Congress. Trump’s Justice Department has met with Maxwell and her lawyer multiple times, and some experts have suggested that Trump may pardon Maxwell in exchange for damaging testimony against Trump’s political rivals.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2673782213

Washington Post: Trump to ramp up transfers to Guantánamo, including citizens of allies

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Plans show the administration is preparing to send thousands of foreigners to the infamous detention facility, including people from Britain, France and Italy, with no intent to notify their home governments.

The Trump administration is preparing to begin the transfer of potentially thousands of foreigners who are in the United States illegally to the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, starting as early as this week, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The foreign nationals under consideration hail from a range of countries. They include hundreds from friendly European nations, including Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine, but also other parts of the world, including many from Haiti. Officials shared the plans with The Washington Post, including some documents, on the condition of anonymity because the matter is considered highly sensitive.

The administration is unlikely to inform the foreigners’ home governments about the impending transfers to the infamous military facility, including close U.S. allies such as Britain, Germany and France, the officials said.

Trump to ramp up transfers to Guantánamo, including citizens of allies

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/06/10/trump-guantanamo-deportations

Telegraph: Trump’s attempt to upend the global order has already been defeated

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America has emerged from the trade war as an international laughing stock

Characterised by screeching handbrake turns, made-up policy on the hoof and mixed-messaging on steroids, it’s been another week of chaos in Washington.

If anyone knows what on Earth it is that the US is trying to achieve on trade, and much else besides, then I’d like to hear from them, because having come to the US capital in the hope of garnering some insights, I’m none the wiser.

What’s now increasingly obvious, however, is that Trump is in ragged retreat; he’s compromising all over the shop, such that if the plan was to upend the established global order, one can almost definitely say that, beyond the rhetoric, it is already over.

Rank lack of professionalism and organisation has defined the endeavour all along, and now it’s coming apart at the seams. Sensing an administration on the run, no one is any longer hurrying to do a trade deal with the US. From Britain to Canada and beyond, getting the right deal rather than a quick one has become the new mantra.

Trump has in the meantime made himself – and the US – into an international laughing stock, never mind the damage that policy uncertainty is inflicting on the global economy. You’d be forgiven for thinking that chaos is itself the policy goal.

Repeatedly forced to row back on its demands and aspirations, the White House has been left looking back-footed and ridiculous.

Trump’s attempt to upend the global order has already been defeated
America has emerged from the trade war as an international laughing stock

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/26/trumps-attempt-to-upend-the-global-order-defeated