Trump hailed as peace broker abroad, divisive figure at home

President Trump continues to be praised as a global peacemaker for freeing Hamas hostages and brokering a ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist group.

The president has assembled a coalition of countries to stop the two-year war, combining threats and diplomacy to end — at least for now — the bloody conflict that began with the heinous Hamas massacre on October 7.

Despite warning signs that Hamas might be reluctant to surrender its weapons, the guns have fallen silent and moving videos continue to emerge of freed hostages embracing their loved ones.

Trump received praise from prominent Democrats (the Clintons), nearly the entire media (who he thanked), and the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, James Carville, and Bill Maher.

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Then he came home.

Under the two-week shutdown Trump envisions, government workers are not being paid; This means Trump is refusing to negotiate seriously with Democrats concerned about the possibility of Obamacare premiums rising.

The president, as he threatened, cut or froze almost $28 billion for projects in cities and states largely led by Democrats, according to one report. Analysis by the New York Times. This includes huge transportation projects in New York and Chicago.

Trump ordered another round of layoffs at the Department of Education, targeting the Office of Civil Rights and the Special Education unit; The unit will be reduced to around six staff following previous redundancies, a 95% reduction since he took over.

He refused to take questions from “ABC fake news,” but called one of his female reporters, turned to a giggling J.D. Vance, and said, “I just love watching him talk.” Then, ignoring what she wanted, he said, “Good job. Thank you, darling.”

What a stark contrast.

Why does a man who is capable of exuding such tough leadership abroad insist on being such a divisive figure at home?

He fervently believes that sticking to his MAGA base is the path he was chosen to follow and is crucial to his political health. Democrats attacking his actions excites many of his Republican supporters.

There were two terrible assassination attempts last year.

Trump often complains that he is a victim; brutal unjust coverage in the media, leftists calling him a Nazi and a dictator, and legal investigations that produced four indictments against him.

He counter-strikes as he sees it; It’s that simple. And he definitely has an important point.

Of course, no president has ever ordered the Justice Department to prosecute political opponents, as in the indictments of James Comey and Letitia James. This shatters any remaining notion of Justice Department independence.

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Trump even objected to Time’s glowing cover story on the ceasefire, “His Victory,” because he didn’t like the photo in which the light faded some of his hair.

And then there’s the handling of scandals.

There is a clear case of partisanship on both sides: Policy statement Group chats of young Republican groups filled with racist, anti-Semitic and violent content.

In the 2,900 pages of leaked documents, the participants, all ardent Trump supporters, described Black people as monkeys and “watermelon people.” They were talking about sending their opponents to gas chambers and killing them there, which would reflect the “Hitler aesthetics”. A female national committee member for New York said: “I’m ready to watch people burn now.”

These are mostly not college students, but party officials, government employees and a state senator who, by the rules, must be under 40. Three participants were dismissed from their political jobs.

The national federation, which has 15,000 members, said: “We are appalled by the abusive and inexcusable language… Such behavior is disgraceful and unbecoming of any Republican.”

I bring this up because of the backlash at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“It’s just an activist, left-wing reporter desperately trying to tie President Trump to a story about a random group chat he has no connection to,” a White House spokesperson told Politico. Of course, this cannot be blamed on the president in any way.

But this reflects how extreme views have infiltrated at least a small minority of younger party members.

What is striking is the way the vice president ignores the ugliness.

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Vice President J.D. Vance responded to the Politico report by bringing up the Jay Jones texting scandal. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Vance instead focused on Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general who was revealed to have texted a colleague in the legislature about fantasies of killing then-speaker Todd Gilbert. “Two bullets were fired into his head,” Jones wrote. I am cold.

“This is much worse than what was said in a college group chat, and the person who said it could have been Virginia’s AG,” Vance said.

Trump also weighed in, saying Jones wanted to “see a Republican legislator in Virginia get shot in the head and his kids get killed… it’s pretty shocking.”

Now let me say that it is beyond disgustingly pathetic that top Virginia Democrats have not withdrawn their support for Jones and that he has not dropped out of the race. This is untenable.

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President Donald Trump also responded to the Politico report by bringing up the Jay Jones texting scandal. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

But this is also a classic example of Whataboutism, where leaders of both sides (there are some exceptions) focus on the other side’s abuses.

Vance went further yesterday, saying: “The reality is that kids do stupid things. Especially young boys, they make angry, offensive jokes.” Again, these are not just boys.

Trump was trying to bring the fighters together in the Middle East. In America, he is the chief warrior who does whatever it takes to exercise and expand his power.

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Many politicians strive for unity, if only to gain more supporters for their side. This has never been Trump’s style; It dates back to his days as a real estate developer and later candidate. Its default setting is to fight.

Bibi Netanyahu loves Donald Trump right now. So are those who voted for him in a major election victory. But the president has shown little interest in winning the support of his critics.