Skip to content
“It’s no longer the case that the United States will simply just protect us. Rather, Europe needs to take its fate into its own hands. That’s the task for the future.”
— German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying Europe can no longer count on the U.S. for military protection and must “take its destiny into its own hands,” Bloomberg reports.
5
“Russian President Vladimir Putin scored five goals in an exhibition hockey game with former NHL stars on Thursday,” ESPN reports.“Five goals was on the low side by Putin’s standards — he scored eight in the 2015 game and seven last year.”
61%
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds that 61% of Republicans think President Trump is being framed by the FBI and Justice Department, while just 17% said he is not and 21% said they are not sure. Overall, just 29% said Trump is being set up by the law enforcement agencies, compared to 45% who said he is not being framed and 26% who are not sure.
“We want to thank Kim Jong Un, who really was excellent to these three incredible people.”
— President Trump, quoted by Politico, on the return of three Americans who had been imprisoned by North Korea.
21%
A new ABC News poll finds the number of adults expressing no religious affiliation has risen from 12% in 2003 to 21% of all adults in 2017. That includes 3% who say they’re atheists, 3% agnostic and 15% who say they have no religion. The largest shifts during this 15-year period include 16-point increases among young adults (age 18 to 29) and political liberals.
“Donald Trump, with his feral cunning, knew. The oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for obsequiousness, could, Trump knew, become America’s most repulsive public figure. And Pence, who has reached this pinnacle by dethroning his benefactor, is augmenting the public stock of useful knowledge. Because his is the authentic voice of today’s lickspittle Republican Party, he clarifies this year’s elections: Vote Republican to ratify groveling as governing. … There will be negligible legislating by the next Congress, so ballots cast this November will be most important as validations or repudiations of the harmonizing voices of Trump, Pence, Arpaio and the like. Trump is what he is, a floundering, inarticulate jumble of gnawing insecurities and not-at-all compensating vanities, which is pathetic. Pence is what he has chosen to be, which is horrifying.”
“One tragicomic element of Trump’s presidency is that the more he tries to tear down Obama’s legacy, the bigger he makes Obama look.”
— Ben Rhodes, former Obama Administration foreign policy advisor, reacting to Trump’s announcement that the United States will no longer participate in monitoring Iran’s nuclear program.
