International
Donald Trump, the master of provocation who never admits defeat
Always attack, never apologize and never admit defeat. They are the lessons that Donald Trump learned as a young man and a manual that has guided his life until today, when this businessman turned politician caresses his goal of returning to the White House despite his turbulent first term.
This Tuesday’s elections between former Republican president and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are the third to which Trump is presented, but in none of the previous polls had given him as many options to win as now.
This 78-year-old master of provocation has managed to re-elay a political career that seemed over when in 2021 he left the White House defeated with a country divided by a controversial presidency that had an explosive end with the assault on the Capitol.
For Trump, the duel with Harris is not only an opportunity to rewrite his legacy, but also a matter of almost personal survival since returning to power would allow him to avoid the pending accounts he has with Justice.
A tycoon turned president
Born on June 14, 1946 in Queens (New York) to a family of German descent, Donald John Trump graduated in Finance, at the age of 28 took over from his father’s real estate and built a millionaire empire not exempt from controversies over debts and tax evasion.
But his political career could not be explained without the fame he acquired thanks to the world of entertainment and television. He even presented his own program, “The Apprentice”, in which he dismissed contestants who intended to work in his company.
When in 2015 he went down the golden escalators of the Trump Tower to announce his first presidential race, the Republican Party took it as a joke, but his ‘outsider’ image catapulted him to the nomination.
He promised to build a border wall and, against all odds, won the 2016 election to Hillary Clinton. The tycoon had managed to connect with the white working class who felt like a victim of globalization and wanted to make the United States “big again.”
Thus was born Trumpism, one of the most important political movements in the history of the United States and that has influenced the populist right around the world.
Donald Trump and an incendiary mandate
Since he came to power, Trump embraced insult and confrontation as a political style and ruled on Twitter. Although he popularized the concept of ‘fake news’ to attack the media, he himself was a great diffuser of lies.
The questionable management of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial riots dynamited his re-election, which months earlier seemed assured by the good performance of the economy.
He lost in 2020 against Joe Biden although, true to his style, he never admitted defeat and spread the biggest of his lies: that of electoral fraud.
The courts rejected all their demands, but a mob of Trumpist fanatics assaulted the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a last frustrated attempt to stop the transition of powers.
“We will return somehow,” Trump said as he left Washington repudiated by his allies and when he seemed ostracized.
The resurgence
But the tycoon never disappeared from the front line; he capitalized on the discontent over the high inflation and used his various judicial messes to his advantage, including his accusation for the assault on the Capitol and the conviction for irregular payments to the porn actress Stormy Daniels, the first conviction of a former president and who is still pending sentence.
He campaigned with a photo of his police file as if he were a politically persecuted and swept this year without rumsing his hair in the Republican Party primaries, which has been molded to his image and likeness.
A cult of the leader that reached its maximum splendor on July 13 when Trump dodged a bullet by the hair in an assassination attempt at an electoral rally, a scene that was immortalized in his iconic photo with his fist raised and his ear bloody.
Donald Trump, doesn’t change his rhetoric
The Republican has not moderated his rhetoric: he has insinuated that he would be “dictator for a day,” he has accused migrants of eating their neighbors’ pets and has refused to apologize after a comedian at one of his rallies called Puerto Rico a “garbage island.”
Although they live apart, her return to the presidency would also be the return as first lady of Slovenian model Melania Trump, her third marriage after Ivana Trump and Marla Maples.
With an unmistakable blond hairstyle and orange tan, Trump does not drink, loves hamburgers and is very superstitious: campaigning at a McDonald’s he spilled the salt and threw himself a little over his shoulder as a spell against bad luck. There is a lot at stake.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
International
Caracas shuts embassy in Oslo without explanation following Machado’s Nobel win
Venezuela has announced the closure of its embassy in Norway, just days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Venezuelan diplomatic mission provided no explanation for its decision on Monday.
“It is regrettable,” a ministry spokesperson said. “Despite our differences on several issues, Norway wishes to keep the dialogue with Venezuela open and will continue to work in that direction.” The ministry also emphasized that the Nobel Committee operates entirely independently from the Norwegian government.
In its announcement, the Nobel Committee stated that Machado met the criteria established by Alfred Nobel, “embodying the hope for a different future, where the fundamental rights of Venezuelans are heard.”
International
Sheinbaum: Urgent to restore access to towns cut off by heavy rains
Thousands of military personnel and civilians in Mexico worked tirelessly on Tuesday to clear roads blocked by the torrential rains of recent days, which have left more than 300 communities cut off across central and eastern regions of the country. Authorities also launched mass fumigation efforts in several affected areas to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
The official death toll remains at 64, though dozens of people are still missing. President Claudia Sheinbaumacknowledged that the government does not yet know the full situation in many of the isolated villages, which range in population from 500 to 1,000 inhabitants.
“The reopening of roads is one of the greatest urgencies,” Sheinbaum said. “It’s essential to guarantee air bridges, food supplies, clean water, and a proper census of the isolated communities so we can determine the condition of every person living there.”
Private construction companies are also assisting the effort with heavy machinery and technical support to help reopen highways and reconnect rural areas.
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
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