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From The Reporter’s Notebook
In the wake of the Brussels attacks, politicians rushed to announce their grief for the victims and families and offer prayers. This is typical, but what was unusual was networks allowing Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump to call into numerous morning shows, TPM’s Caitlin Cruz said. In his appearances, he tried to link Muslims and refugees to the attackers, suggested American should “close up our borders” and said waterboarding and other forms of torture would help get information out of any suspects. Trump is not yet president, but the networks were treating him as though he was. The appearances showed just how intrenched Trump has become in broadcast media in particular.
Agree or Disagree?
John Judis: “Another terrorist attack, this time in Brussels. I don’t see an end to these, and at the same time I don’t think Americans or Europeans will accept a strategy of letting them play out on the grounds that less people die in terrorist attacks than in highway accidents or bathtub electrocutions. They will strengthen the hand of interventionists, but not sufficiently so that the threat can finally be eliminated rather than exacerbated. They will draw the United States and Europe into a conflict that it is not prepared to fight to the end, which would involve not just the military, but unprecedented diplomatic moves that would undo 150 years of Western intervention in the Middle East and North Africa.”
BUZZING: Today in the Hive
From a TPM Prime member: “This helps Hillary, not because she’s more hawkish than Sanders, but because she is so clearly competent. When Sanders has been asked about foreign affairs in debates, or interviews, he gives a few different kinds of answers, that are all not great. He mentions the 2002 vote for AMF in Iraq, he repeats what Clinton and Obama had already said without recognizing it, or he suggests magical unicorns will handle it, suggesting we just leave Syria to Saudia Arabia and Iran. Clinton is a steady hand, has the best foreign affairs experience that any non-President/VP could ever have, and has demonstrated her ability to stay cool in difficult situations. One of the reasons I’ve always sided with Clinton over Sanders, even before he started campaigning and the idea of his campaign was more appealing to me than his actual campaign has turned out to be, I was with her, because I never trusted him to handle our national foreign policy compared to her.”
Related: Clinton on Brussels attack: waterboarding is not the answer.
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What We’re Reading
Meet the women working to take down Donald Trump. (New York Magazine)
Bernie Sanders won the Democrats Abroad election…who are these Dems? (NPR)
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