2024-04-03 11:59:30
The ex-president faces opposition from a Republican. At the same time, he is intensifying attacks on illegal immigrants. More information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
The USA will elect a new president in November. The Democrats are going with the incumbent Joe Biden (81) entered the race, while the Republicans chose the former President Donald Trump (77) as their presidential candidate. This will be a repeat of the 2020 election, in which Biden won against Trump. Here you will find an overview of the polls and the US electoral system; you can read all new developments here:
Also out of fear of Trump: Foreign Ministers are pushing for rearmament
5:44 a.m.: In view of Russian aggression in Ukraine, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland are urging even greater armament in Europe. “We must use the entire industrial potential of our continent to improve our military capabilities,” wrote Annalena Baerbock, Stéphane Séjourné and Radoslaw Sikorski in a guest article on the news site Politico.
This permanent rearmament requires binding long-term contracts with clear timetables, a “certain level of ambition” and firm financial commitments and purchase guarantees from European governments. Spending two percent of gross domestic product on defense could be “just a starting point.”
On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic military alliance NATO on Thursday, the three foreign ministers of the so-called Weimar Triangle wrote: “The USA has long shouldered a greater burden than the rest of our alliance. But collective defense is our joint effort.”
In this respect, European defense must be strengthened and thus contribute to transatlantic security. In the US election year, many NATO member states are worried that the military superpower could turn away from its alliance obligations under a possible election winner Donald Trump.
Trump once again calls illegal immigrants in the US “animals”
1:46 a.m.: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has once again referred to immigrants who are in the United States illegally as “animals.” In a campaign speech in the state of Michigan, Trump listed several criminal cases involving immigrants living in the country illegally and warned of violence and chaos in the United States if he does not win the November 5 presidential election. “The Democrats say, ‘Please don’t call them animals, they’re people.’ I say, ‘No, they’re not people, they’re not people, they’re animals,'” Trump said. South American countries deliberately sent their criminals to the USA.
In his campaign speeches, Trump often says, without evidence, that illegal immigrants have escaped from prisons and “insane asylums” in their home countries and are fueling violent crime in the United States.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released in late February, 38 percent of Republican voters and one in five independent voters surveyed say immigration is the most important issue in the United States.
According to experts, people who came to the United States illegally are no more likely to commit violent crimes than native-born U.S. citizens. “Donald Trump uses extreme rhetoric that promotes division, hatred and violence in our country,” said the communications director of US President Joe Biden’s election campaign, Michael Tyler, to journalists on Tuesday before Trump’s speech. “He emboldens white nationalists and cheers on the disgusting behavior of the far right,” Tyler said.
Trump is no longer allowed to publicly attack the families of judges
4.30 a.m.: In the case of former US President Donald Trump, the requirements were tightened by Judge Juan M. Merchan in another case. Trump is now no longer allowed to insult the families of Judge Merchan and prosecutor Alwin Bragg, as can be seen from the so-called “gag order” from Monday evening. This refers to the hush money proceedings that will be heard in New York from April 15th.
The ex-president has to answer charges of falsifying business documents in order to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election. There has never been a criminal trial against a former president in US history.