Backlash at home and abroad
By Ishaan Tharoor
February 19 at 12:59 AM
... On Friday, in the White House Rose Garden, he declared a national emergency to appropriate billions of dollars for the building of his long-sought wall on the Mexican border. The move — seen as a face-saving measure after months of political jockeying in Washington — prompted a heated reaction from both opponents and even some wary members of his own Republican Party. Legal challenges are already underway. Constitutional scholars warned of dangerous presidential overreach, while comedians on late-night shows mocked the rambling speech Trump delivered Friday to announce the emergency ...
... Pence relayed Trump’s greetings and ... was met only by a stony, awkward silence ...
In contrast, German Chancellor Angela Merkel received a standing ovation after concluding her remarks, which .. amounted to “a stinging, point-by-point takedown of the administration’s tendency to treat its allies as adversaries” ...
... “It’s no longer worth pretending that Trump is not in the authoritarian camp,” wrote New York Times columnist Roger Cohen. “The shock has passed. Europeans have internalized the shift. The best they can offer as liberty’s beacon in America’s stead is Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Merkel.” The former, Cohen noted, is weighed under by domestic unrest; the latter is in the twilight of her career ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/02/19/trumps-authoritarian-streak-stirs-backlash-home-abroad/?utm_term=.e068a11d34de
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