Trump launches an unlikely call for unity and promises to end foreign wars | USA News



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Washington DC – In his annual State of the Union address, President Donald Trump launched an appeal for bipartisan unity and cooperation at a deeply divided Congress in the United States on the issues at stake. the country is facing, from immigration to wars in the Middle East.

"We must reject the policies of revenge, resistance and retribution – and embrace the unlimited potential for cooperation, compromise and the common good," said Trump.

"We have to choose between greatness or impbade, results of resistance, vision or revenge, incredible progress or unnecessary destruction," Trump said, cruelly warning Democrats in the House not to pursue what he called "investigations." ridiculous partisans ".

It is a call that, in reality, will probably not be very successful in Congress, where partisan tensions are already strong. Democrats showed little enthusiasm for Trump's main political arguments during his speech, which was widely applauded by Republicans.

For the first time in his term, Trump faces a majority of opposition Democrats in the House of Representatives headed by President Nancy Pelosi, who plans to investigate more than cooperate with this president.

After losing a political fight with Democrats during the longest government shutdown in US history, Trump threatened to declare a national emergency if he did not receive more than $ 5 billion from the United States. Congress to build a wall on the southwestern border of the United States with Mexico.

Trump used the televised speech at the national level to defend the wall again, with exaggeration and demagoguery.

Trump sought to rally Congressmen around a shared patriotism with tributes to American soldiers who liberated Europe during World War II. But the president outlined what he called a realistic view of US foreign policy as many Americans and US allies fear that the country is moving the country away from alliances that have helped keep the peace.

"One of the most complex sets[s] "Our approach is based on principled realism, not on discredited theories that have failed for decades to produce progress," said President Trump.

The opposition to the president was visible. More than 70 female Democrats members of the House wore white in honor of the women's suffrage movement that led to the 19th Amendment, giving women the vote and sending a signal of unity in resistance to violence. Trump's program. Trump was applauded by finding that more women were working in the US economy than ever before.

Trump is committed to "pursuing a foreign policy that prioritizes America's interests." He withdrew the United States from the Treaty on Intermediate Nuclear Forces with Russia and tried to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran after it withdrew from a UN agreement preventing the implementation of developed by Iran 's nuclear weapons.

At the same time, Trump announced that he would meet North Korea's chief, Kim Jung Un, in Vietnam on February 27 and 28, in order to continue negotiations for a peace in the Korean peninsula and a reduction of nuclear weapons.

And he promised to end the American wars in Syria and Afghanistan, without setting a timetable. He did not mention Yemen.

"Now that we are working with our allies to destroy the remains of the Islamic State, it is time to warmly welcome home our brave warriors to Syria," said Trump, referring to the Islamic State group of 39, Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). "I have also accelerated our negotiations to reach, if possible, a political settlement in Afghanistan."

Democrats made it clear that they were not buying the President's rhetoric. "Every year, the president wakes up and discovers that the desire for bipartisanship and unity is ephemeral – he does not really feel it," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, the most democratic senator in the Senate, before the speech.

"On foreign policy, we seem to chastise, criticize and even humiliate our allies and embrace our enemies such as Russia, China and North Korea," Schumer said.

Withdrawal of Syrian and Afghan troops

"There is no logical, rational reason [why] that in 2020, Americans should fight and die in Afghanistan, "said Aaron David Miller, Middle East Policy Analyst at the Wilson Center in Washington, almost alone among Washington's foreign policy badysts who believe Trump make the right call outside.

"Yes, being on the ground probably gives us a better opportunity to disrupt these cells, but we can also do it using all kinds of" on the horizon "techniques. You do not need 14,000 soldiers, and you can not do any of our tasks, "Miller told Al Jazeera.

Trump had announced on December 19 that he was pulling 2,000 US forces out of Syria and claimed that ISIL had been "defeated". He later backtracked on the decision after an outcry in Congress. US intelligence chiefs said at a Senate hearing on Jan. 29 that ISIL and al Qaeda remained threats to US interests.

Regrowth of the establishment

Earlier in the day, the US Senate approved the law by 77 votes to 23, asking Trump to slow down and rebadess plans to withdraw American forces in Afghanistan and Syria. The Senate bill asks Trump to review its strategic policy and consult with US allies and partners in the region before cutting US troops in Afghanistan by half to 14,000.

"The Washington establishment is pushing its withdrawal instinct, which it has promised to its constituency, and it will be interesting to see how it will work out," Shibley Telhami, an Al Jazeera, told reporters. depth sounder and professor at the University of Maryland.

"He's surrounded by people who are a lot harder about it and who are able to manipulate him a bit.They bought themselves time because he wanted to withdraw immediately," said Telhami.

"What these guys did, his advisors and the lobbyists all pushed him to delay this a bit, and he agreed, and he said," I'm just giving them a little more time. but I'm going to withdraw again "And what it has done is to give senators in the Senate time to mobilize and roll back," Telhami said.

Mueller Inquiry

The future of political investigations led by special advocate Robert Mueller on allegations of cooperation between Trump's campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign loomed on the horizon.

A key question is whether Mueller will file a report with the Department of Justice or send a referral to Congress that could trigger proceedings for summons or removal to the House. Observers expect more prosecutions.

"We do not know from the outside what Mueller will do.There will be more indictments before it's over.There remains the hard question of knowing what will actually be in a report, if he found evidence of crime by the president, "Matt Miller, former spokesman for the Justice Department in the Obama administration, told Al Jazeera.

"If Mueller decides that the president has done something, he can put this information at the disposal of Congress in a referral.That would initiate impeachment proceedings in the House, at least one hearing.If Justice tries to sit on the report, Congress will be summoned to appear, which could hinder the president's re-election campaign until 2020, "said Miller.

Despite a growing economy and a low unemployment rate, Trump's ratings in national polls are mediocre. Fifty-five percent of Americans disapprove of the president's work, compared to 41 percent approved, according to a rolling average of RealClearPolitics.com polls.

Trump promised to "protect American jobs" through a new trade deal with China and the renegotiated free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. He called for affordable health care and pharmaceutical price cuts, issues important to the economic well-being of American voters.

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