Obama's Farewell and Trump revelations - today in US politics
Dr Ben Margulies, researcher in politics from the University of Warwick’s Department of Politics and International Studies comments on the day’s developments in US politics.
On US intelligence finding the Russians in possession of compromising information on Trump:
“If the latest Russia revelations are going to have a substantive impact, we’ll likely see it in the form of Senate 
resistance to some of Trump’s nominees – specifically, Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State. Some Senate Republicans will become more sceptical of Trump’s alleged Russia ties, and by extension Tillerson’s real, if perfectly legal, ones. Notably, Senator John McCain, a Republican, sent these documents to the FBI. It only takes three Republicans to say No and no Democratic Yeses to block Tillerson.”
On Obama’s Farewell Address:
“Obama’s Farewell Address reiterated his vision of inclusive liberal progress – that we are one people, that the definition of “the people” has been continually expanding and will expand and active citizenship makes progress happen.
“He refuted Trump’s vision of an America in decay, and discussed a lot of the structural problems including racism, inequality, fragmentation of the media and fear of terrorism, that allowed Trump to happen, but he did not attack Trump himself.
“One could argue that Obama is signalling the need to offer a positive message instead of simply attacking Trump and his supporters, and you could interpret the speech an implicit criticism of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which was often accused of failing to offer a message beyond their argument for Trump’s awfulness.”
Contact:
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