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Mondays cable news cycle included two huge ratings events: a rare cross-country total eclipse of the sun, and an equally historic Donald Trump total walk-back on his position about American involvement in Afghanistan.

Given President Donald Trumps obsession with TV ratings and winning, were happy to report Trump obliterated the sun. No competition.

On the cable news networks, the sun scored its biggest crowd on Fox News Channel, whose wildly enthusiastic Shep Smith snagged a much deserved 2.1 million viewers from 1-3 PM. CNN followed with 1.7 million viewers, and MSNBC logged another 1.2 million. In total, the sun tallied 5.1 million U.S. viewers by TV. Happily for Trump, the millions more people who went out of doors to see the eclipse for themselves, hopefully all wearing protective glasses, do not count toward the suns tally.

On those same cable news networks later that day, 10.3 million viewers saw Trumps stunning 180 spin on Afghanistan.

Our troops will fight to win, Trump vowed. From now on, victory will have a clear definition: attacking our enemies, obliterating ISIS, crushing al-Qaeda, preventing the Taliban from taking over the country and stopping mass terror attacks against Americans before they emerge.

This seismic shift rocked longtime Trump supporters. Since Donald Trumps early years as a reality TV star, he steadfastly opposed American involvement in Afghanistan when the Celebrity Apprentice star got asked about the matter, for reasons we cannot explain. Trump clung to that popular position as a candidate for the White House. In his speech Monday night, Trump explained that position had been his instinct and he likes to go with his instinct, but on this he ignored his instinct because he had been told the view looks different from the Oval Office.

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Donald Trump's Afghanistan About-Face Eclipses Cable News' Solar Blackout Crowd Of 5.1 Million TV Viewers - Deadline

(PHOENIX) A day of noisy but largely peaceful protests of President Donald Trump's speech in Phoenix turned unruly as police fired pepper spray at crowds after someone apparently lobbed rocks and bottles at officers.

A cloudy haze enveloped the night sky Tuesday outside the convention center where Trump had just wrapped up his speech as protesters and police clashed. People fled the scene coughing as the disturbance unfolded.

"People in the crowd have begun throwing rocks and bottles at police. They also dispersed some gas in the area," Phoenix police spokesman Jonathan Howard said, adding that officers responded with pepper spray to "disperse the crowd."

Minor scuffles and shouting matches erupted earlier between protesters and Trump's supporters on Tuesday with authorities on high alert as thousands of people lined up in the triple-digit heat to attend his first political rally since the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Phoenix police kept most members of the two opposing groups behind barricades and apart on separate sides of the street. As a police helicopter hovered overhead, officers wearing riot gear and carrying rifles sauntered through the lane between the sides.

Local authorities were vigilant in the aftermath of the deadly protests in Virginia and the president's comments last week about both sides having blame for violence at the white supremacist rally. Mayor Greg Stanton had unsuccessfully called on the president to not hold the rally here so soon after the trouble in Charlottesville.

"Toxic Trump," read one protest sign held up to the president's supporters streaming into the Phoenix Convention Center downtown. "Lock Him Up!" read another, a reference to earlier campaign chants by Trump and his backers about his election rival Hillary Clinton.

Dillon Scott of Phoenix, who voted for Clinton, said he came out to express dissatisfaction with how long Trump took to denounce racism after the Charlottesville violence.

"No one should be allowed to get away with what he gets away with, especially in political office," Scott said.

Meanwhile, a group of protesters chanted, "Wrong side of history! Wrong side of history!"

Trump backer Randy Hutson, a retired Phoenix police officer, began standing in line more than seven hours before the speech was to start. "He is the first president I feel in my lifetime that speaks his mind and speaks from the heart," Hutson said. "He says what needs to be said."

A number of opposition signs showed drawings or photos of Trump with a small, Hitler-style mustache. Three Trump supporters taunted Latino protesters with offensive comments about immigrants and held anti-Muslim and Black Lives Matter signs.

As the line to get in the venue moved ahead, the two groups shouted at each other and some skirmishes broke out. At one point, a Trump supporter and protester shoved each other.

John Brown, of an anti-Trump group calling itself the Redneck Revolt, wore military fatigues and had an AK-47 rifle strapped to his chest as he and a half dozen others from the group stood about 30 feet behind the barricade for protesters. He said they were there to protect Trump opponents and stand up to fascism. "He's offensive to me in every way," Brown said.

The outdoor temperature remained over 100 degrees as the rally began.

Capt. Rob McDade, spokesman for Phoenix Fire Department, says that as of 6 p.m. they had treated 48 people for heat-related problems, most of them for dehydration. He said that of those, two were adult women were taken to a hospital for further evaluation.

State Democratic leaders urged people who wanted to show their opposition to the president's policies to gather at a city-designated free speech zone near the site of the rally.

The message to protesters echoed those coming from law enforcement and Stanton. Stanton said he expects protesters to be "civil, respectful and peaceful." Police Chief Jeri Williams says First Amendment rights will be supported but criminal conduct will be swiftly addressed.

But some of Trump's supporters were so keen to see the president that they began queuing up before dawn for the 7 p.m. rally.

"It's been on a bucket list of mine, since he became the president," said Kingman resident Diane Treon, who arrived at 4 a.m. "I wished I had attended one of his campaign rallies before he became president and I wanted to go to the inauguration. And truthfully it was the protests that kept me away."

Treon said she wishes protesters "would be a little more peaceful instead of violently rioting, which is happening in so many places" but isn't overly worried.

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Police Fire Pepper Spray as Protests at Trump's Rally in Phoenix Turn Unruly - TIME

Five days ago, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), calmly looked into the cameras of local Tennessee news stations and stated that he had doubts about President Donald Trumps stability.

It was a shocking assessment and not just because Corker is not a man known for hyperbole. These types of things arent said about presidents; certainly not in the open. But it was said by Corker, and for the fairly clear purpose of putting Trump on notice that Senate Republicans were running out of patience with his presidency.

On Tuesday night, Donald Trump did little to earn back more patience. Those, like Corker, who were hoping that the president would suddenly discover a more conciliatory side were likely left severely disappointed by a rally that was equal parts angry, combative, rambling and foreboding.

To say Trump was in campaign mode would probably be to overstate how he was on the previous campaign. Speaking in Phoenix, he viciously attacked the news media, left-wing protesters, and members of his own party whom he blames for the stalling of his legislative agenda.

At one point, he went on a 25-minute rant against the press, with multiple gestures towards the pen at the back of the Convention Center. He blamed them for misrepresenting his remarks on the terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend. And then, when reading from printed copies of those remarks, he misquoted himself, conveniently failing to mention that he had blamed both sides for the atrocities.

When not reading off the teleprompter, Trump appeared angry. He threatened to shut down the government if he didnt get funding for his famed border wall. He blamed the filibuster for stalling much of his agenda, even as he claimed to have passed more bills than any president since Harry Truman. And he went after congressional Republicans for being insufficiently obedient, even as his relationship with GOP leadership reaches new nadirs.

Mitch is not going to be happy, a senior Trump official conceded The Daily Beast late on Tuesday evening, referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He probably wasnt expecting an hour of tax reform. But couldnt have expected a shutdown threat either.

Republican operatives who watched Trumps speech expressed shock at the spectacle. Rick Wilson, a vocal, often acerbic critic, called it absolutely bat crap crazy on CNN. Others deemed the president a mad man

But Trumps base, fresh off a frustrating Monday evening that saw the president back a more hawkishor globalistAfghanistan policy, was thrilled at his willingness to embrace the red-meat elements of his platform at the expense of establishment Republicans.

Steve Bannon, the recently ousted White House chief strategist, was ecstatic with Trumps performance on Tuesday, according to two sources at Breitbart News, the pro-Trump website that Bannon chaired before joining the White House, and to which he returned after his departure last week.

Globalists can only make Trump pivot so much, one Breitbart editor told The Daily Beast.

As he heads into a thicket of major legislative battles this fall, however, Trump needs Republican elected officials more than Breitbart readers or Republican cable news pundits to rally to his side. Chief among them is McConnell, who controls the Senate floor and who has not spoken with the president in weeks, according to a Tuesday report from the New York Times that described in detail the increasing hostility between the two men.

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Trump could have used his Tuesday address to patch things up with the Majority Leader. Instead, he likely inflamed tensions by lending his weight to efforts to pick off a vulnerable member of McConnells caucus, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, an outspoken Trump critic. Nobody wants me to talk about your other senator, whos weak on borders, weak on crime, Trump said of Flake at one point, without naming him.

Leading up to the speech, administration officials had felt nervous anticipation over the possibility that Trump would veer from prepared remarks onto one of the many tangents that frequently color his campaign speeches. We are no more terrified going in than we are the other six days out of the week, a senior White House official told The Daily Beast on Tuesday afternoon.

Administration officials had hoped that Trump would stick to his teleprompter, as one senior aide put it, albeit while recognizing that its like roulette with him. By the evening, those fears proved valid. During the speech, Trump suggested that he will pardon Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio at some unknown later date.

The comments flatly contradicted those of White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who told reporters on Tuesday: there will be no discussion of [an Arpaio pardon] today at any point. They also ignored the advice of top administration officials, including White House chief of staff John Kelly, who, according to multiple senior aides, encouraged Trump not to make Arpaio a central focus of the rally for fear of attracting unnecessary controversy.

During his speech, Trump hinted that hed been told to avoid the topic. I won't do it tonight because I don't want to cause any controversy, he said of a potential Arpaio pardon. But, as is often the case, he couldnt help himself. Arpaio, he assured the crowd, is going to be just fine.

Read more from the original source:
Donald Trump Goes Scorched Earth in Wild, Angry Arizona Speech - Daily Beast

Evidence is piling up that Donald Trump does not really want to be president of the United States.

He certainly doesn't look happy in the job. In his previous life, Trump met whomever he wanted to meet and said whatever he wanted to say. But like all presidents, he finds himself ever more isolated, and his displeasure shows on his face. The loneliness of the job which so many of his predecessors have ruefully reported is wearing on him.

And it's more than that. Past presidents also tell us that no one can fully appreciate the dimensions of the job in advance. With no previous political experience, Trump's learning curve has been even steeper than usual, and the more he sees of the job, the less he wants to do it. He balks at the briefings, the talking points, the follow-through.

He was drawn to the fame of it, as he once told me aboard his private jet. "It's the ratings ... that gives you power," then-candidate Trump explained. "It's not the polls. It's the ratings." He loves being the most talked-about man on Earth.

But unlike reality TV stars, presidents aren't famous for being famous. They command the world's attention because they are the temporary embodiments of America's strength, aspirations and responsibilities.

It is a paradoxically self-effacing fame. The job demands that hugely competitive, driven, ambitious individuals for that's what it takes to win the job inhabit a role that requires them to be something other than nakedly themselves.

As some Trump associates tell it, he never intended to be elected. But having won the part, he doesn't want to play it, a fact irrefutable after Charlottesville. Rather than speak for the nation the president's job he spoke for Trump. Rather than apply shared values, he apportioned blame.

The presidency calls for care and cunning. All successful presidents have known when to say less rather than more. George Washington's second inaugural address was 135 words long.

President Abraham Lincoln often disappointed clamoring crowds, telling them that the risk of a wrong word made it too dangerous for him to deliver a speech.

President Ronald Reagan was famous for cupping his ear and shrugging as he pretended not to hear an untimely question.

Did these men ever itch to win an argument, as Trump did in his Tuesday news conference, with such disastrous results? Of course they did. But a president can't indulge such impulses.

Discipline in thought and speech is the machinery by which a president leads a free people. He hasn't the power to purge his enemies or censor the press. His strength rests on his ability to persuade. His power grows through a record of hard-won results. He seeks friends and respect, not enemies and outrage. Between fired aides (strategist Steve K. Bannon got the boot Friday) and fleeing allies, Trump is losing friends faster than a bully at a birthday party.

Reflecting more and reacting less: That's how a president gets through all seven days of a week supposedly focused on infrastructure without having his advisory council on infrastructure implode. With enough of that focus and discipline, a president might eventually foster an infrastructure bill an actual law with real money behind it, something more than bluster that creates jobs and feeds progress and raises spirits.

It's hard work. As shareholders in this enterprise, Americans are asking what disciplined, focused labor Trump performed to pass a health-care bill. What hard ground has he plowed, what water has he carried, to grow the seeds of tax reform?

The president's job is to understand that the world has plenty of troubles in store for this nation. His role is not to add to their number. There will be moments when the president must stir us up, so in the meantime, his task is to keep us calm.

If Trump were still in private business, he would have no trouble diagnosing this situation. A serial entrepreneur like Trump learns to recognize when a venture isn't panning out. Over the years, he splashed, then crashed, in businesses as diverse as casinos, an airline and for-profit seminars. His willingness to fish has always been matched by a willingness to cut bait.

Or, as a veteran boss, he might see his predicament as a personnel move that hasn't clicked. Trump has made many, many hires over his career, and some (as recently as Bannon's) don't work out. "Not a good fit," the saying goes.

The presidency is not a good fit for Trump. It's a scripted role; he's an improviser. It's an accountable position; he's a free spirit. Yes, the employment contract normally runs four years. But at his age and station, what's the point of staying in a job he doesn't want?

David Von Drehle writes a twice-weekly column for The Post. He was previously an editor-at-large for Time Magazine, and is the author of four books, including "Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and Americas Most Perilous Year" and "Triangle: The Fire That Changed America."

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Why doesn't Donald Trump just quit? - Chicago Tribune

Last night, Donald Trump did the responsible thing. He reneged on a campaign promise to avoid losing a war. Thats exactly what we want presidents to do when they win elections, learn new information, and begin to fully understand the strategic, cultural, and political ramifications of promises foolishly made. We want them to do what Trump candidly did last night admit that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.

In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, if there is any such thing as a bipartisan strategic commitment, its a commitment to never again preside over a debacle like the fall of Saigon. No president wants to be the man who watches from the Oval Office as the last helicopter lifts off the roof, leaving behind abandoned and desperate allies as sworn enemies sweep into a foreign capital. This is especially true when those sworn enemies have used that same land as base to plan, train, and inspire terrorists to strike targets inside America.

Three consecutive presidents have faced their moments of truth, and three consecutive presidents have made similar decisions (though in different ways). When Iraq teetered on the brink of collapse, George W. Bush rejected immense political pressure to withdraw and instead doubled down with a potent troop surge that for a time decisively tipped the balance of power against al-Qaeda.

His successor, Barack Obama, at first failed his test, pulling troops from Iraq in spite of multiple warnings that the consequences could be catastrophic. But then, he reversed course. When ISIS blitzed across northern and western Iraq, Obama could have stayed out. He could have left Iraq to fend for itself. But he didnt. He intervened with decisive enough force to halt ISISs offensive and then slowly (too slowly) provided indispensable military force to assist counter-offensives that killed ISIS fighters by the thousands and rolled back ISISs gains. By the end of his second term, the Nobel Peace Prize winner hadnt ended any wars. Instead, America had boots on the ground in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.

Trump ran as a non-interventionist. He ran as the guy who would decisively end Americas endless foreign wars. But when his moment of truth arrived, Trump kept American troops in Iraq and Syria. In fact, he ramped up American military efforts. And now he wants to reinforce Afghanistan, loosen rules of engagement that have hampered American troops and hurt morale, and place welcome pressure on Pakistan to act like an ally, not an enemy, in the fight against the Taliban.

Why? Why did three different presidents with three very different ideologies reach such similar conclusions? Cynics and conspiracy theorists blame a foreign-policy blob or the persistent and allegedly pernicious influence of warmongering generals. But theres a simpler, more obvious, and I believe more accurate reason: It is plainly and obviously not in Americas national interest for its terrorist enemies to win and maintain safe havens overseas.

Its a simple reality that when terrorists possess safe havens, they become far more dangerous. Look at what al-Qaeda was able to accomplish when it dominated Afghanistan. It launched terror attacks that destroyed American embassies, nearly sank an American warship, and ultimately did more damage in American cities than any foreign enemy since the British burned Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812.

Look at ISISs deadly reach once it dominated northern Iraq and northern Syria. Europe has suffered through a deadly spike in terrorist violence, with hundreds of civilians killed and injured. Here at home, terror plots and attacks increased as well. Of at least 96 known domestic plots and attacks since 9/11, more than one-third occurred in the last three years since the rise of ISIS, and the casualty count in deaths and injuries has increased dramatically.

As should be obvious by now, when fighting a militaristic theological movement conventional military victory simply isnt attainable. While there may be political settlements in given regions at given times, there wont be a USS Missouri moment with al-Qaeda, ISIS, or any successor jihadist group. Theyre not going to lay down their arms, and thus its not really even in our power to truly end the war. Wars end when both sides stop fighting, not when just one side wants to make it stop. We can certainly diminish the jihadist threat, and we can certainly cripple jihadist forces. We cannot, however, extinguish the jihadist impulse.

Advocates of an American withdrawal should think hard about the consequences. They should consider whether a Taliban-led government in Kabul is in Americas best interests or whether its worth expending a very small fraction of our military power to keep a jihadist enemy from winning a historic victory. Indeed, denying terrorists safe havens should be the cornerstone of American military strategy, and that requires constant vigilance and potentially a permanent military commitment.

Perhaps one day the Taliban will exhaust themselves and seek peace. Likely not. But we in turn cannot grow weary in our own commitments to our own defense. In his speech, Trump provided an interesting definition of victory attacking our enemies, obliterating ISIS, crushing al-Qaeda, preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan, and stopping mass terror attacks against America before they emerge. In other words, victory is a process, and while the aim is to inflict a lasting defeat on Americas enemies, there is no timetable for this war.

Good. Our enemy doesnt have a timetable. Jihadists have fought the perceived enemies of Islam for more than a thousand years. Our nations commitment to its people should be clear. Each and every year that jihadists are willing to fight is a year that we are ready and able to defend ourselves, to deny them safe havens, and to strike them before they can strike us.

Trumps change of heart is significant, and its a signal to our foes. American presidents, when confronted with reality, have risen to the occasion. One more American president has said no to another Saigon. Hes said no to another surrender. Americans can and should breathe easier President Trump wont be the president to lose this war.

David French is a senior writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, and a veteran of the Iraq War.

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Donald Trump Decided Not to Lose the War in Afghanistan - National Review