President Trump Lashes Out at Oprah and Russia Investigation in Tweet Storm as Nation Mourns

"President Trump Lashes Out at Oprah and Russia Investigation in Tweet Storm as Nation Mourns"

A TIME article talks about Donald Trump's recent actions taken with all this controversy going on in the world. While the nation mourned over the latest school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Donald Trump kept silent on the matter and the escalating gun control debate and instead focused on raging at the FBI for what he thinks is a fixation on the Russian investigation. I think Donald Trump is more so afraid of just looking weak to other countries due to him tweeting out, "They are laughing their asses off in Moscow." But while even with the school shooting and the new outrage coming out about  needing tougher gun laws, Trump still remained focused on Russia after and indictment from Robert Mueller on Friday charged 13 Russians with a plot to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. Trump discussed this matter and said, "The indictment doesn't show that any American knowingly participated as proof of his innocence and is deeply frustrated that the media are still suggesting that this campaign may have colluded with Russian officials." Trump is ready for all this light on him and the election to go away so they can focus on more important things, but while he's trying to have everyone forget about it, it is drawing more attention to it all.  

After all the election and Russia controversy, Trump shifted his Twitter critique to Oprah Winfrey and her suggestion to run for president in 2020. Trump stated, "Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes. The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!" Clearly Trump is feeling intimidated by Oprah's actions and it will be interesting to see the steps she will or will not take in the future relating to the 2020 election.

Link to article: http://time.com/5165448/donald-trump-russia-oprah-tweets/

"Trump Offers Condolences to Putin For Deafly Airliner Crash"

In an article from The Washington Post, they discuss the recent airline crash that happened in Moscow that killed all 71 passengers on board. Trump stated that the U.S. is, "standing by to assist Russian authorities in their investigation into why a Russian airliner on a regional flight crashed Sunday." While it is a horrific accident with a suspicious cause, it is odd that Trump is taking such a part to this. I feel like there are enough issues in the U.S. that he has either caused himself or that need to be dealt with and would be more of a priority then this new situation. Russia is a powerful country and I feel like they could handle this issue themselves unless later on when further help is needed. Part of the reason Trump and Putin are so close is because over the past few months and year they have become close alliances to help one another out. Trump and Putin last spoke in December when Putin called Trump to thank him for a CIA trip. Putin apparently repeatedly hopes Trump can follow through on his campaign promises to improve relations with Russia. In conclusion, Trump and his relations with Putin and Russia have been questionable over the past few months and it will be interesting to see where it all goes.



Link to article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/kremlin-trump-offers-condolences-to-putin-for-plane-crash/2018/02/12/a8ba78ca-1023-11e8-a68c-e9374188170e_story.html?utm_term=.dee99076baf5

"George W. Bush: There's clear evidence Russia 'meddled' in 2016 election"

In an article on Politico by Louis Nelson, he takes a look back at the controversial 2016 presidential election. Former President George W. Bush has been lead to believe that there is evidence that Russia meddled in the election, whether or not they affected the results of the election is a different story though. This caused for George W. Bush to say, "It's problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system. Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results." Clearly Bush isn't happy with what has currently been going on in the presidential race or the results of it. Even though the former president never mentioned Trump by name, everyone is well aware of who he is talking about and the situation at hand. The article says, "Bush's unequivocal statements on the issue ran counter to the rhetoric that has emerged from the Trump administration." So basically everything that Bush was criticizing had to relate to the Trump administration, whether or not that was ever clearly stated, it was implied. 

With all these accusations over the matter that Trump has been receiving the ones from George W. Bush weren't the only ones coming at him. Even with many people judging the situation he still stuck to concealing that the Russian government was behind the cyberattack and had no involvement, yet his rhetoric about the subject increasingly has become weaker and weaker. Overall, Trump's stance and relations with Russia has perplexed many U.S. citizens, allies, and lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic Party. Along with all this confusion I know I am also on that side. It's hard to believe what President Trump is truly doing and if he really has the best intentions for our country in mind. I guess the only way to find out is to tell with time, but he already has a lot of that without much to show for it.



Link to article: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/08/george-w-bush-russia-election-meddling-398173

"Americans in ISIS: Some 300 Tried To Join, 12 Have Returned to U.S."

Greg Myre of "npr" wrote on February 5, 2018 and article about America's relations to ISIS. There is an estimated 300 Americans who have attempted to join the Islamic State and other radical Islamist groups in the areas of Iraq and Syria. While 300 Americans doesn't seem like it would make a huge impact because they only make up about 1% of the 30,000 foreign fighters who joined ISIS it is still something that shouldn't be happening. So far out of the 300 Americans 12 of them have returned home without carrying out any attacks on U.S. soil. While all this has been going on the U.S. has been working with local partners to battle ISIS and while it has managed to make a positive impact on the territory they once held there is still more work to be done. 

Around 50 Americans were arrested when trying to leave the country, but they never managed to make it out of the U.S. and were stopped in their tracks, but 64 individuals later on where able to reach either Syria or Iraq. It is important that they were able to stop some of the Americans because this let them get a look inside of their minds and investigate their reasoning for leaving. One of the people captured was Zulfi Hoxha, a New Jersey resident of Albanian decent. He was stated to be, "a bit of a loner. High school friends would describe him as kind of a geek." His capture was important because he actually took part in ISIS propaganda videos, including one where he beheads a prisoner, and he was described to be a senior ISIS commander. Overall, there have been many recent cases of Americans being associated with the Islamic terrorist group, ISIS. The U.S. is continuing their fight in stopping them along with the Iraqi government. 

I believe if we can all work together as a country we can help stop or at least prevent any more attacks from ISIS. The better we are at finding out who these Americans are who are trying to leave the better we will be at investigating their motives  and ending it. 

Link to article: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/02/05/583407221/americans-in-isis-some-300-tried-to-join-12-have-returned-to-u-s