MESOP NEWS SPECIAL BY ISRAELI DEBKA FILES Foreign politicos punch Trump, copy his campaign / US
4 June 2017 DEBKA FILES While several European politicians seize on US President Donald Trump as a punching bag, at least three are pragmatic enough to copycat his tactics and slogans for boosting their chances to get elected.The heat Trump is taking at home meanwhile goes from one crescendo to another. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic rival he defeated in 2016, continues to buck all forecasts by apparently shaping up for another bid for the White House in 2020 at the age of 74. This week, she went on about the many culprits responsible for her defeat – all external – until even loyal fans wearily urged her to “move on.”
Nonetheless, she is sticking to her guns.
The president is somehow dodging a barrage of assaults on his “Russian connection” – and since Friday, his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord – sluggish progress on his health, tax and immigration reforms, White House infighting and a Republican party divided against him. Clinton appears to be encouraged enough to pin her hopes on midterm elections next year, which she is counting on enabling Democrats to snatch the House majority. Weakened by the blitz against him, the president will fall under the axe of impeachment, she hopes, and Trump and family will be finally driven out of the White House and Washington.
However, impeachment legislation could drag on for years, as in the case of her husband, Bill Cllinton, and not necessarily end in firing the president. Hillary is not fazed by this, nor by the fact that Trump’s accusers, including former intelligence chiefs and Obama appointees, have failed so far to turn up a scintilla of proof that he is guilty of criminal wrongdoing. But the months of relentless pressure are taking their toll – even on the president’s following in the House and the Senate. His administration faces major obstacles in pursuing its agenda and a shrinking number of foreign friends, especially in the West. www.mesop.de