Za "Time" from New York
Numbers on the Fidelity mobile app, which are discreetly checked on phones while waiting at subway stations, to many residents New York are more important than the conflict with Iran, the counting of votes in California or plans of the president of the country that block court decisions. The daily values of the stocks, in which they often invest their entire savings, make it clear to them whether they will be able to stay in their city when they can no longer work, because the state pension does not even cover the cost of housing, or whether they will have to look for housing in those prefabricated houses on the desolate ice that stretches north towards Albany or Binghamton, far from the forest of skyscrapers to which they are accustomed.
The recent fall on Wall Street, which was one of the worst this year, shook their hopes for a moment, but New Yorkers have learned to move on. Stalling on the streets is unacceptable, as is hesitating in life. Losses in the stock markets are similar to setbacks in democracy, the S&P 500 is already recovering, as dormant state institutions are waking up. After fulfilling the request without question Donald Trump, the Republican majority in Congress stood up to their leader for the first time, calling into question what he cares most about.
photo: ap photo...
REBELLION IN CONGRESS
With the tight fist of a businessman who does not tolerate opposition in his own house, the Republicans carried out the President's "beautiful", "extraordinary" and "amazing" plans until the financing of the Anti-Weaponization Fund in the amount of 1,8 billion dollars was in front of them. That money, according to the old plans of the White House, was intended for those who were victims of political and judicial persecution of the administration of Joseph Biden, but a way to get to it was sought for a long time. The solution appeared in an unexpected place: in an unusual settlement of Donald Trump's personal lawsuit against the United States Internal Revenue Service over leaks about his finances during his first term.
As with most things that Donald Trump does, there is a mix of private interests and government affairs. The same lawyers represented him as a citizen and then as president, while all of them were subordinated to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who himself was Donald Trump's personal attorney. The "New York Times" in an editorial comment called it an outrageous "example of presidential corruption", claiming that the essence of Trump's political project is to tear down "the pillars of American democracy in order to further consolidate his own power."
Not only did political opponents from among the Democrats characterize this initiative as a "fraud" designed to distribute taxpayer money to "a private militia of rebels, rioters and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021", but also Republican Mitch McConnell called the settlement "stupid and morally wrong", and his party colleague Tom Tillis "a threat to the constitutional order" country".
Frustrated by the administration's additional requests to approve $1 billion in security for the White House and ballroom while watching the vast majority of Americans struggle to survive paycheck to paycheck, some Republican senators refused to vote on funding agencies that deal with the problem of illegal immigrants, one of the top priorities of the Trump administration. Their opposition lasted until Blanche publicly promised that an end was put to the budget for the victims of abuse of state institutions, in which many see an army of MAGA believers, ready to break the laws if their "messiah" asks them to. After a long struggle, the president won money for immigrants until the end of his term, but this could very well be the last Republican victory in Congress.
This party is looking forward to the upcoming elections in the middle of the term in a not so cheerful mood, because part of the Republican deputies believe that the president is doing things that are against their interest. Instead of the economy, they talk about the ballroom, and instead of the political program, the voters are led to declare themselves about the character and work of Donald Trump, where there is not much to be optimistic about.
The latest public opinion poll by the "New York Times" and Siena shows that only 37 percent of Americans approve of the way the president is doing his job, and as many as 64 percent of respondents believe that he made the wrong decision about the war with Iran. Most think the war was not worth the costs it produced, while at the same time expressing deeply pessimistic views about the state of the economy. In an attempt to save their seats, several Republicans joined Democrats in passing a House War Powers Resolution to end that military action. After that, Trump himself said that he does not know if he is losing control over the members of his party and that he can only say that he is "doing what I think is right".
photo: ap photoCAN REPUBLICANS KEEP THE MAJORITY: US CONGRESS
CORRUPTION OR STUPIDITY
It is possible that the president forgot his pre-election promises that he "will not start new wars" because now in an interview with NBC he says that he never "guaranteed that there will be no war", but the voters certainly did not forget his words that he would focus on domestic issues and improving standards. As rising fuel prices fuel inflation, the White House's first man says he's not at all interested in the midterms, though his words should be taken with a grain of salt. What is said today does not mean that it will not take a different form tomorrow, the essence is in the effect of the words, not in their meaning.
Perhaps due to those verbal games, the war with Iran has already ended without anyone noticing. The president has already declared victory many times and announced the signing of an agreement that begged Iran to accept all American conditions. Of course, those who are against that war because they believe that it is still going on, he calls unpatriotic, and he makes a distinction between them. Democrats are dumbocrats, while Republicans are "self-promoters" who "should be ashamed".
What is the price of opposing the president, the journalist of the NBC, Kristen Welker, just felt on her own skin. As she sought evidence during the interview for Trump's claims that "FBI agents were bringing people into the building during the January riot," that he "won the 2020 election that was rigged," and that "the same thing is happening again in California," the president said she was "corrupt or stupid," like the corrupt broadcaster she works for, took off her microphone, got up from her chair, and left, muttering that "a country can never be big if it has dishonest media”. Insulting and attacking those who disagree with him is nothing new, neither Pope Leo XIV nor his closest European allies were spared from it. Judges and courts are constantly on target, because only that branch of government consistently performed its constitutional duty in the system of mutual control of government. Those who stop his decisions are "crazy", "crazy", "radical leftists" or "political fanatics".
TRIUMPHAL ARCH
He called Christopher Cooper, a US District Court judge for the District of Columbia, a hater after the decision to remove the president's name from the Kennedy Center name, saying he was withdrawing from the building's reconstruction project. However, this is not only about the offense of erasing his name from the wall of a respected cultural institution, but about thwarting the president's efforts to leave his mark in the capital while he still has political power. Despite the fact that the law does not allow the use of living persons on US currency, the Treasury Department has already taken steps to put the image of the president on the $250 bill, although this requires the approval of Congress. His signature on the one hundred dollar banknote is already being printed, and soon a 24 karat gold coin with Donald Trump's image will be on sale, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America.
Following the example of old European cities like Paris, Berlin, Rome or London, the president decided to build a giant triumphal arch between the Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, the height of a building of twenty-five floors, which will be decorated with golden statues, lions, eagles and angels. A veterans group has already filed a lawsuit to stop the project, while safety experts warn that the structure would be directly in the flight path of Washington National Airport, endangering air traffic.
All other monuments in that part of the capital are dedicated to people who gave their lives for the homeland and the realization of the dream of the "promised land" which at its core carries the story of the exodus. Previous presidents got their monuments because they deserved it, Donald Trump is giving himself a place in history. He doesn't do it without reason, because the loud disapproval of the audience during the final series of the NBA League between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks, while he saluted the national anthem with his hand on his forehead, clearly shows that future generations will not make endowments for him.
That's why Mayor Zohran Mamdani settled on the other side of the hall, buying a $1.000 standing-room ticket. Ahead of the match, the outcome of which left groups of New Yorkers grieving along Eighth Avenue, the vast majority of performers, including Martina McBride, Young MC, the Commodores and Bret Michaels, decided to pull out of the National Mall concert series. They explained that they believed in the non-partisan nature of celebrating the great jubilee, only to realize that it was being held under the auspices of the current president. As befits them, Trump called them third-rate artists and people without talent, although it is more than obvious that another part of the president's plan to mark the two and a half centuries since the declaration of the country's independence is being destroyed.
GRAIN BY GRAIN...
Political analysts are not rare who see in this chaos of contradictory statements, attacks and insults an extremely rational strategy for achieving goals. It is difficult to say how much truth there is in that act, because the president unconsciously follows the logic of metalanguage well known in expressions like "I never tell the truth". If a person is telling the truth, then he is not always lying; if he is lying, then he may not be lying all the time, so the statement may be true. But this paradox was well known even to those who first began to make bows in honor of their famous people, as they understood that the addition of a new member to a few could turn them into a group. That's exactly the path Congress is on now—the number of Republican dissenting votes is on the way to becoming a bunch.
When all branches of government start doing their jobs, the stock markets will be more stable, and instead of the Fidelity mobile app, New Yorkers will once again be on their cell phones to see what's happening at the MoMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, or Lincoln Center. They will look for new restaurants scattered around Soho, free from the anxiety that at some point they will no longer be able to walk in their city. The fear of living on the desolate ice towards Albany or Binghamton, where the nearest store is an hour away by car, will be much less likely to hear not so gentle words on the streets if, blinded by the glare of the sun on the glass facades of skyscrapers, they stop in the way of those rushing towards the entrance of the New York subway station.
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