President says he fears Bernie Sanders, as Indians label him ‘warmonger, imperialist, gangster’ during lavish Taj Mahal visit
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Donald Trump has told reporters Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is the 2020 rival he fears the most during his tour of India, which began with the president receiving a bear hug from Narendra Modi and a lavish welcome from the locals.
Prior to visiting the Taj Mahal, the president addressed a “Namaste Trump” rally before a 100,000-strong crowd at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad and praised the country’s economic progress, thriving Bollywood film industry and “very tough” prime minister - only to mangle the pronounciation of several key names, including that of legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
Back in DC, the president has reportedly assembled a network of allies to help him remove anti-Trump “deep state” operatives he believes are working against him in the US government as his post-acquittal vengeance push continues.
US and other stock markets tumbled sharply on Monday amid worries about the Coronavirus, with the president firing off a 3 a.m. tweet from India claiming this: "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!" At the White House, his aides are bracing from a new book by his second national security adviser, HR McMaster. (He fired the retired Army three-star general.)
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Trump arrives in India to lavish welcome as gaffes start early
Donald Trump has arrived in India where he received a bear hug from Narendra Modi and a lavish welcome from the locals – only to then mangle the pronounciation of several key names in his address to a 100,000-strong crowd at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, including that of legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
Modi in turn mispoke and called him “Doland Trump”.
Here's Harry Cockburn's report.
President hails 'very tough' Narendra Modi
The president and first lady had already been treated to a warm welcome as India poured on the pageantry at the start of a whirlwind 36-hour visit meant to reaffirm US-India ties while providing enviable overseas imagery for a president in a re-election year.
After Air Force One touched down in Ahmedabad, Trump's motorcade slowly drove down streets lined with hundreds of thousands of onlookers. Dancers in traditional attire and drummers lined the red carpet rolled out at the stairs of the presidential aircraft as Trump basked in the raucous reception that has eluded him on many foreign trips, some of which have featured massive protests and icy handshakes from world leaders.
The sun-baked city bustled as Trump arrived, as the streets teemed with people eager to catch a glimpse of the American president. Newly cleaned roads and planted flowers dotted the roads amid hundreds of billboards featuring the president and his wife Melania.
His first stop was Gandhi's home, where Trump donned a prayer shawl and took off his shoes to create the incongruous image of a grandiose president quietly walking through the humble ashram. He inspected the loom used by the famed pacifist and looked at statues of monkeys representing Gandhi's mantra of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" before departing for a far more boisterous setting: the mega-rally at the world's largest cricket stadium.
The "Namaste Trump" event was packed with revelers, many of whom sported Trump and Modi masks, as they sat in 80-degree temperatures and listened to both traditional Indian music and pop songs including "Macho Man" by the Village People ahead of the leaders' arrival .The gathering was in part a repayment for the "Howdy Modi" rally held in Houston last year that drew 50,000 people.
Taking to the podium, Trump dished out lavish praise for the country, hailing its economic progress and thriving Bollywood film industry and celebrating the authoritarian prime minister as “very tough”, winning a huge cheer from the crowd in pledging to snuff out the threat of “radical Islamic terrorism”.
Here's John T Bennett on the context for the trip.
How the Trumps are being shown a deeply sanitised version of India on their first visit
Trump has certainly embraced his flattering reception, tweeting a greeting in Hindi...
...and relishing the Bollywood memes being assembled in tribute:
While his claim to love the country's cinematic output is questionable - has he really seen Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge but not Parasite? - his remarks on the subject were lapped up by his audience.
There's been no shortage of gushing fan art on display in the streets...
...but the celebration being put on is masking the country's true problems, says our man in Ahmedabad, Adam Withnall.
Trump fails to condemn Modi’s ‘anti-Muslim’ citizenship law
The president just praised India as “a democratic, peaceful country” in his address to the rally this morning, failing to condemn what critics say is New Delhi's attempt to undermine the country’s secular constitution and marginalise its Muslim minority.
Adam Withnall has this assessment of a pandering speech.
'Hit squad' working to purge US government of anti-Trump operatives
Meanwhile, back in DC, the president has reportedly assembled a network of allies to help him remove anti-Trump “deep state” operatives he believes are working against him in the US government, with Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Republican Senate staffer Barbara Ledeen understood to be involved in the effort.
Rory Sullivan has this report on the latest lurch towards Nixonian paranoia as the post-acquittal revenge spree cranks up a gear.
National security adviser denies Russian election interference evidence
On the Sunday shows yesterday, Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien told George Stephanopoulos: I haven't seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump re-elected."
Dave Maclean has this on the administration's ongoing refusal to take seriously an issue that threatens to again warp the US election result and benefit the incumbent against his Democratic challenger.
President and first lady tour Taj Mahal
The Trumps are visiting the celebrated 17th century mausoleum at present and have brought their awful entourage along to bask in its marbled splendour.
You might recall that Trump's own Taj Mahal - his Atlantic City casino - went belly up.
Apparently the real monument's "monkey police" are keeping an eye out for marauding macaques...
Nearly two-thirds of voters expect Trump to win re-election, poll finds
A new CBS News survey has found that two-thirds of voters expect the president to beat his Democratic challenger in November.
Some 31 per cent of voters expected Trump to definitely win a second term, while 34 per cent said he "probably" would, the two answers together beating the 35 per cent who were confident of his defeat.
Among Republicans, 90 per cent felt he would win while 35 per cent of Democrats had to concede it's looking likely at present.
But the left's broad pessimism was contradicted on a candidate-by-candiate basis, with the same poll forecasting the president losing to Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
Trump accuses Adam Schiff of leaking claim that Russia is helping Bernie Sanders
Donald Trump has accused House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff of leaking claims that Russia is trying to help Bernie Sanders win the Democratic nomination.
He used it to push his theory that the party will attempt to cheat the self-described democratic socialist out of victory: "What it could be is, you know, the Democrats are treating Bernie Sanders very unfairly and it sounds to me like a leak from Adam Schiff because they don't want Bernie Sanders to represent them.
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