Here is @JoeBiden on the very same day Trump is telling a reporter that, on the pandemic, "I always wanted to play it down." But that is hardly the only clear point of contrast between Biden and Trump on COVID-19. Here are just a few of many many others:
Trump, January 24: "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
Apr 24, 2020 • 16 tweets • 6 min read
THREAD
The news that Trump is in deep debt to a state-owned bank in China — a bill that comes due during the next president’s term — sheds some light on a seeming puzzle: why does Trump keep praising China's leader as the COVID-19 pandemic gets worse?
politico.com/news/2020/04/2…
Remember, U.S. intelligence warned about the outbreak — and the Chinese government downplaying its spread and lethality — in late 2019. The WH and NSC got briefings in December. Trump got a “detailed explanation” in early January and warnings thereafter.
THREAD
The safety and security of Americans sheltering in Embassy Baghdad should be priority one, and more should be done to protect them. But we must also take stock of where Trump and team — Pompeo, Esper, Hook, and many others before them — have brought us in the Middle East.
They promised that pulling out of the Iran deal and imposing “maximum pressure” would get us new negotiations, a “better deal,” further limits on Iran’s nuclear program, and curb Iran’s regional aggression. Nothing of the sort has happened.
Nov 5, 2019 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
THREAD
Setting the impeachment inquiry aside, it is striking how many new data points we have on Trump’s failed foreign policy, in just in the last few days:
Trump’s decision to kill the Iran nuclear deal and pursue “maximum pressure” not only has brought the region to the brink, Iran is now firing up 1000 centrifuges in an underground facility — the very spot Obama exposed and then dismantled under the deal.
[Thread] Trump’s blank check approach to the Saudis was sold as a hard-nosed approach to a tough region, or as Pompeo put it, allowing the Saudis to be a “powerful force for stability in the Middle East.” wsj.com/articles/the-u…
But in giving the Saudis an unconditional embrace, we’ve enabled and created the conditions to make the region more unstable, not less.
Let’s take a closer look at what America is really getting out of Trump’s approach to the Saudis and the Gulf:
Feb 28, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
One reason Trump misjudged North Korea is that he tends to take autocrats at face value. He did it again this morning on the brutal death of Otto Warmbier, saying of Kim:
“He tells me he didn't know about it, and I take him at his word,” Trump said.
washingtonpost.com/politics/he-te…
He refused to hold the Saudi leadership to account for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident and journalist:
“He’s the leader of Saudi Arabia. They’ve been a very good ally,” Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office.
[Thread] Let’s take a look at Trump’s “America First” foreign policy in action, over just the last few days. Trump spent 48 hours on the ground at the G-20, made no major public address, no press conference, and cancelled or downgraded meetings with America’s closest allies.
He went into his most important meeting, with China’s President Xi Jinping, without a clear plan and came out of it with a confused outcome — at best kicking the can down the road, at worst sending us further off a cliff.
video.foxnews.com/v/585000847600…
Pompeo’s all-smiles trip to Riyadh supports the argument that the Trump administration is seeking a way to return to business as usual with Saudi Arabia and its leaders.
THREAD: Something in Pompeo’s Iran speech today seemed oddly familiar. A country in the Middle East is accused of lying and cheating, harboring nuclear designs, and being active in regional aggression...
state.gov/secretary/rema…
... and we are told the U.S. should help the country’s long-oppressed people, and we lay out a long list of demands, promising to meet this adversary with “steely resolve” — and to go it alone if necessary.
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