Trump spouts off about Russia and NATO: On Saturday, at a marketing campaign rally in South Carolina, former Republican President Donald Trump recalled a hypothetical that he stated he’d entertained with one other head of state.
If that nation had not paid up for its protection, and was attacked by Russia, Would NATO nonetheless defend it? the top of state purportedly requested Trump.
“‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?'” Trump recounted saying. ‘”No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.'”
Trump appears “gripped by the stubbornly ignorant belief, even after four years in office, that NATO is some sort of protection racket, in which our European allies come to Washington like quivering shopkeepers and make an offering to the local mob boss from their weekly receipts,” writes The Atlantic‘s Tom Nichols.
“NATO funding doesn’t work that way, of course, and while European leaders no doubt had their arguments in private with Trump while he was president, it is highly unlikely that the leader of a major power ‘stood up’—as if in some sort of audience with Trump—to ask him if he’d stop a Russian invasion of a country ‘delinquent’ in its accounts.”
Nichols’ take—that it is unlikely that this dialog occurred in any respect, or no less than that it went the best way Trump informed it—appears appropriate. However essentially the most notable takeaway right here is not whether or not his anecdote actually occurred; it is that Trump felt snug signaling his disloyalty to NATO, and that he did it this manner. A cautious, well-informed critique of NATO this was not.
Motion in Trump instances: It is going to be a giant week for Donald Trump. On Thursday, Decide Juan M. Merchan is more likely to schedule the felony trial for Trump’s alleged hush cash funds to porn star Stormy Daniels, that means the previous president’s workforce will now know precisely the way it could intrude with their marketing campaign schedule. (Merchan could dismiss the case altogether.)
Then, on Friday, a ruling is predicted in Trump’s civil fraud case, issued by Decide Arthur F. Engoron. The civil fraud case offers with whether or not Trump misrepresented his internet value to banks and insurers.
Additionally on Thursday, “the Georgia prosecutor who accused Mr. Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election will face a hearing about her romantic relationship with a lawyer she hired to work on that case,” experiences The New York Occasions. Trump could attend that listening to as properly.
Scenes from New York: This previous September, Native Legislation 18 went into impact, which in essence banned most short-term rental Airbnbs from having the ability to function legally inside the 5 boroughs. (I lined Native Legislation 18 right here.) This has resulted in huge demand development for listings in Jersey Metropolis and Newark—much less handy for vacationers, until they’re visiting to avail themselves of Portuguese meals. It has additionally been an enormous handout to NEw York Metropolis’s lodge foyer, which supported the 2022 passage of the legislation.
A November report issued by the group RHOAR, Restore Home-owner Autonomy & Rights, discovered that greater than 90 p.c of former Airbnb host respondents are actually battling paying mortgages and utility payments, which they attribute to the dried-up rental earnings and vacant rooms. Virtually a 3rd reported that they have been delaying vital repairs as a result of they can not afford them proper now.
The New York Occasions has discovered that the town’s Workplace of Particular Enforcement, the allowing authority that may enable individuals to proceed renting out rooms of their properties, is permitting only a few short-term leases: “Of the 5,661 applications received by early February, 1,387 have been granted and 955 have been denied.”
QUICK HITS
You do not exhibit your seriousness that Trump is an existential risk to democracy by going via the motions to renominate an 81-year-old with a 38% approval ranking who 75% of voters assume is simply too outdated with out giving anybody a alternative as a result of that is simply how issues are completed.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 11, 2024
- Naturally, the Biden marketing campaign has joined TikTok to attempt to curry favor with the younger.
- Some business ships that should undergo the Pink Sea are making their crews all-Muslim to attempt to defend towards Houthi assaults.
- Greater than you ever wanted to find out about demise masks, from the BBC.
- “In Alberta, kids under the age of 16 will no longer be eligible to receive puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones, while sex-change surgeries will be limited to those 18 and older,” experiences the Calgary Herald.
- Different Tremendous Bowl advert takes:
“So we are going to make a Super Bowl commercial about Volkswagen’s history” pic.twitter.com/jTNam817R9
— Kyle Martin (@kmartceo) February 12, 2024
- And President Joe Biden launched a wierd video about how snack parts have shrunk whereas costs have stayed the identical:
I didn’t predict leaning into the growing old situation with an Andy-Rooney-on-quaaludes rant about how chip baggage was fuller. https://t.co/XnHhLLFZoD
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 11, 2024