JD Vance has written another book? Couldn’t he just concentrate on his day job? | Arwa Mahdawi
Center Left
As the US tries to limit the damage from the Iran war, its vice-president has admitted he doesn’t understand diplomacy. Of course not: he’s been too busy churning out another memoirHas JD Vance been injecting Barron Trump’s new energy drink straight into his veins? It would explain a few things, including how the man manages to juggle so much. First there’s the parenting: Vance has three young kids and a baby due soon. Then there’s the vice-presidenting. But despite his long to-do list, Vance still makes time for endless holidays. And he’s even managed to get some writing done: the bestselling Hillbilly Elegy author recently published his second book. It’s a memoir about his spiritual journey called Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.So, should you find your way to a bookshop to buy a copy? Most book critics seem to say no. It’s hard to know exactly what regular readers think because two of the biggest review platforms have restricted feedback. Amazon says reviews are limited to verified purchasers because of “unusual review activity” (translation: a torrent of one-star reviews), while Amazon-owned Goodreads has suspended reviews altogether. It’s a shame that Usha Vance, a voracious reader whose Goodreads account notes she just finished Communion (shortly after reading Death Comes for the Archbishop), hasn’t had a chance to give hubby a five-star review. Continue reading...
A day after New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the killing of "an Al Jazeera journalist, Ahmed Washah," in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Saturday, a video surfaced showing Washah aggressively firing an automatic rifle in the air and posing with a sniper rifle with a huge sight while wearing a militant headband.
The post 'Take Note, Mayor Mamdani': Video Shows Slain Hamas Sniper Firing Rifle, Day After Mayor Called Him an 'Al Jazeera Journalist' and Condemned Israel for Targeting Him appeared first on .
New York Times reporters Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman gave a shocking revelation while speaking on MS NOW Monday evening. According to the two writers of a forthcoming book, there is an entirely different group of people in charge of major national policy than the experts. Speaking to Lawrence O'Donnell late Monday, Haberman and Swan were promoting their forthcoming book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, which comes out Tuesday, the Daily Beast reported. “The thing that was really notable about this White House, compared to the first one, is they keep talking about how they’re the most transparent White House in history,” Swan explained. “It’s a canard. They’re actually incredibly good at keeping secrets.”According to Swan, “You have a tiny group of people that are running this country, five or six people and Donald Trump.”“The war-planning group had been kept so tight that the two key officials who would need to manage the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright — were still not in the loop, one day before the launch of the war,” Haberman and Swan note. “Nor was the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.”It isn't unusual to keep war-planning meetings small, but those in attendance generally have military experience. That wasn't the case in the Iran planning, which likely speaks to why so many important consequences weren't gamed out ahead of time. The authors say that those in the room plotting the war were Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House Counsel David Warrington, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, State Secretary Marco Rubio and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine. Not on hand were Bessent and Wright, who likely would have lent some comments about what would ultimately happen to global oil markets if the Strait of Hormuz were closed. Reducing costs on food and fuel were key pieces of Trump's 2024 promises.Another detail O'Donnell read from the book is that in the middle of the disastrous Iran war, Trump welcomed the two authors into the Oval Office, where he was picking out trees for the White House grounds. "I know how to pick out good trees," he told them. He then bragged about his views on TikTok and began showing off his "grand ballroom" designs. Behind the scenes, aides told the authors they wish Trump was more concerned about his plunging poll numbers and "the dangers he was courting." According to the staff, Trump isn't "receptive" to polling or to bad news in general. So, they simply don't tell him."He [is] willing to take breathtaking risks, risks that could throw not only his presidency but the Republican Party and the entire world into chaos and carnage. More than ever before as President, he was operating on pure gut instinct. It would take a combination of mind reader and psychologist to explain fully why Trump was willing to gamble so much more recklessly now," the book continues. His confidence in himself and his instincts had ballooned, and more often than not, he feels "vindicated." "Then there was the fact that he was a walking moral hazard, rarely saddled for long with the costs or consequences of his risk-taking and rule-breaking. Now was his moment to try things, like military adventures and overthrowing the global trade system," the authors cautioned.
Vice President JD Vance had no qualms about releasing all mention of Donald Trump in the Jeffrey Epstein files when he convened a Situation Room “war room” with other members of the president’s inner circle.According to New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, during an appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles had to forcefully tell the veep that there was no way that everything was going to be released, including an “unsubstantiated” accusation that Vance insisted should be included.Appearing on MS NOW to promote their “Regime Change” Trump administration tell-all being released on Tuesday, the pair of White House reporters were asked about the use of the Situation Room and why the secretive meetings were convened there.“So this meeting comes to try to figure out how to deal with something they cannot get away with, and that Donald Trump keeps getting asked about it,” Haberman explained. “The problem for them is the President doesn't want to hear Epstein, he would say, he would snap at anybody who would bring it up, and so they have several meetings in the Situation Room.”“We capture just a few of them and the ones that we capture were almost exclusively about how to handle this in a way that deals with their boss, that protects him, that doesn't stoke further conspiracies, that doesn't hurt themselves, frankly, politically, so we describe,” she elaborated. “You know, this is a huge meeting. The first one that we describe it's the vice president, it is the White House chief of staff, it is the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, White House counsel, comms officials. I mean. The list is long and they are talking about what to do now.”“Deputy White House Chief of Staff James Blair, says something to the effect of, with all due respect, it's the comms strategy of this group that got us into this, and you know there needs to be an actual plan here on how to how to get out of this,” she added."JD Vance, the whole time, wanted to release everything, including unsubstantiated Information, including unsubstantiated information about Donald Trump,” she continued to explain as co-host Joe Scarborough interrupted and pointed out, “Which was abusing a woman.”“There was a second-hand allegation that was, I want to be clear, was already public,” Haberman replied. “And I want to be clear that I'm not saying he abused a woman,” Scarborough pointed out. “What I'm saying is, what shocked me was that JD Vance had this unsubstantiated charge of Donald Trump abusing a minor and told Susie Wiles in the group, in your book, told Susan Wiles, ‘Oh, we need to release it all, he'll be fine releasing it,’ and Susie was, ‘No, he won't.'”“Yeah, and that's just one of the moments of many where JD Vance seems to be strangely disconnected from Donald Trump inside this book,” Scarborough observed. - YouTube youtu.be
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) says he’s under investigation by the Justice Department. Is that a political gift or a political problem? Vice President Vance is leading the U.S. talks with Iran. Is that a political opportunity or roadblock? Plus, Democrats gather in Chicago to celebrate former President Obama’s legacy and the recent dedication of…
Vice President JD Vance says his marathon first round of negotiations with Iran have set the foundation for a lasting peace deal. It comes as President Donald Trump faces criticism for Iran’s 60-day waiver for U.S. sanctions, allowing them to sell oil freely on the open market. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez reports for TODAY.
