INTERNACIONAL
How Donald Trump tried to court the Atlantic – and why the liberal magazine landed an interview
Hell hath frozen over: At the White House the other day, Donald Trump «was launching a charm offensive, directed mainly at Goldberg,» as in Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief. «There was none of the name-calling or hostility he regularly levels at our magazine.»
That’s according to Atlantic reporters Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, who wrote the magazine’s cover story, which was posted yesterday.
For all the insights gleaned from the interview, nothing is more fascinating than how it came about.
They called the president on his cell phone. (Wha? Who do I have to court to get that? The reporters ain’t saying.)
Trump says he did the initial phone interview to see if the liberal magazine could be fair.
PRESIDENT TRUMP TELLS THE ATLANTIC HE RUNS THE COUNTRY ‘AND THE WORLD’
So I’m here to pronounce that the entire, seemingly endless piece is fair. The president hasn’t taken a shot at it on Truth Social, at least so far.
He has, however, ripped new polls from the «Failing New York Times» and «ABC/Washington Post» as «FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS,» saying they should be «investigated for ELECTION FRAUD, and add in the Fox News Pollster while you’re at it.» His lowest approval rating, in the Post-ABC survey, was 39 percent.
Meanwhile, we may now look back on Trump’s 2024 victory as inevitable, but after Jan. 6 it was anything but. On the cell call, «The president seemed exhilarated by everything he had managed to do in the first two months of his second term.»
President Trump recently gave an interview to The Atlantic. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
And then came the transaction: «As ever, Trump was on the hunt for a deal. If he liked the story we wrote, he said, he might even speak with us again.»
Goldberg describes the session: «What I found in this particular meeting was a Trump who was low-key, attentive, and eager to convince us that he is good at his job and good for the country. It isn’t easy to escape the tractor beam of his charisma, but somehow we managed, and we asked him what needed to be asked.
«But squaring Trump the Charmer with the Orcish Trump we more frequently see is difficult…Trump posted on the social-media platform he owns that Ashley is a ‘Radical Left Lunatic’ (she is not) and that Michael ‘has never written a fair story about me, only negative, and virtually always LIES’ (also false). It is our task at the Atlantic not to be bullied by these sorts of attacks.»
STATE OF WAR: HOW TRUMP IS FIGHTING A 9-FRONT BATTLE
The most interesting Trump sound bite is his comparison of the two terms:
«The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys. And the second time, I run the country and the world.»
Parker and Scherer did many other interviews, such as with Steve Bannon. «Our reality is that we won,» and he cited the conspiracy theory that the FBI had incited the crowd on Jan. 6. The reporters said that was simply untrue.
«Now, here’s the interesting thing,» Bannon said. «Who’s won that argument? I think we have…
«This time it’s ‘Hey, f**k you, Greenland’s ours…When you’ve come back from such long odds, you clearly feel, ‘I can do anything.’ »
What about the four criminal investigations, including the conviction on the weakest one – Alvin Bragg’s hush money case? Trump says his numbers kept going up.
INTERVIEWING DONALD TRUMP: A LAST-MINUTE BLITZ AND NEW CLOSING MESSAGE
«Shockingly, yes,» Trump said. «Normally, it would knock you out. You wouldn’t even live for the next day. You know, you’d announce your resignation, and you’d go back and ‘fight for your name,’ like everybody says—you know, ‘fight for your name, go back to your family.’ …Yeah, it made me stronger, made me a lot stronger.»
He also said in the phone interview: «I got indicted five different times by five different scumbags, and they’re all looking for jobs now, so it’s one of those things. Who would have thought, right? It’s been pretty amazing.»
After the 2016 election, Trump told oil executives at Mar-a-Lago:
If I’m not president, you’re f***ed. Look at your profit-and-loss statements. You realize what would have happened to you if she was president? What’s wrong with you?») She was Kamala Harris, of course.
Referring to the criminal cases against him – including the charges brought forth by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump said «it made [him] stronger.» (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP / Trump-Vance Transition Team)
One turning point: When he went to East Palestine, Ohio after the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals, while Joe Biden didn’t do squat.
On the Kennedy Center: «I didn’t really get to go the first time, because I was always getting impeached or some bulls**t, and I could never enjoy a show.» So he fired the Democrats and made himself chairman.
All right, enough quotes. Wait, one more that captures the tone of the piece:
«I got 38 percent of the male Black vote. Nobody knew that was possible. That’s a lot. I got 56 percent of Hispanics. How about that one? Every county along the Texas border is Hispanic. I won every one of them.» Though every single number he cited was wrong, the general thrust of his observation was correct.»
The reporters chronicled how things have gone south for the president, especially on tariffs and the economy, and how he pressured Hill Republicans into backing his nominees with primary threats.
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After the March phone interview, the reporters tried Trump’s cellphone again. Just got voice mail. But at 1:38 am, he tried them back. No message.
Trump believes he can win over even his worst enemies. In 2015 or 2016, I watched him make a beeline in the New York green room for Karl Rove, who was very rough on him. At worst, he thinks, he can neutralize the person. Or soften him or her up for the next time. He enjoys the challenge.
The mainstream media almost uniformly can’t stand Donald Trump. He does invite some of his own negative headlines, while providing unprecedented access, but much of the press is back in Resistance mode.
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Still, the Atlantic’s original pitch is undeniable, that he’s «The Most Consequential President of the 21st Century.»
Media Buzz,Donald Trump,Media
INTERNACIONAL
Con la designación de Mojtaba Jamenei, Irán endurece el régimen y profundiza la confrontación con EE.UU.
La designación de Mojtaba Jamenei como nuevo líder supremo de Irán profundizó el control de las fuerzas más conservadoras y el avance de la Guardia Revolucionaria (CGRI) en el poder político y militar del gobierno de los ayatollah en plena guerra de Medio Oriente.
El mensaje es claro: el “régimen teocrático” se endurece aún más en abierto desafío a los Estados Unidos e Israel y deja una clara advertencia a cualquier atisbo de protesta popular.
Leé también: Medio Oriente: Trump intenta minimizar el impacto económico, pero escala la tensión por el precio del petróleo
“Todo apunta a que la Guardia Revolucionaria ejerce el poder político y militar. El presidente Masoud Pezeshkian quedó relegado a figura simbólica», dijo a TN el analista internacional Federico Gaón, especializado en temas de Medio Oriente.
Según el experto, “Mojtaba Jamenei ejercía de enlace entre la oficina del ayatollah y el CGRI desde antes de la muerte de su padre”, Ali Jamenei, asesinado el 28 de febrero en el inicio de la guerra.
“Con Mojtaba al mando, la Guardia Revolucionaria quiere mostrar unidad y cerrar filas en pos de preservar la supervivencia del régimen”, advirtió.
La Guardia Revolucionaria acumula poder
La Guardia Revolucionaria, también conocida como Pasadarán, fue creada tras el triunfo de la Revolución Islámica en 1979. Su objetivo principal es salvaguardar el gobierno de amenazas internas y externas.
Se estima que cuenta con 150.000 efectivos entre fuerzas terrestres, navales y aéreas. Bajo su mando está la milicia voluntaria conocida como Basiji, utilizada para contener protestas y a la oposición. Además, tiene a su cargo a la fuerza Quds, el cuerpo de elite encargado de las operaciones en el exterior y nexo con los grupos proxy proiraníes como Hezbollah, Hamas o los hutíes yemeníes.
El humo se levanta en Teherán tras un ataque estadounidense-israelí (Foto: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)
Es, en la práctica, un ejército paralelo.
La Guardia Revolucionaria, según fuentes citadas por Irán Internacional, un medio especializado en noticias iraníes con base en Londres, presionó por la designación de Mojtaba Jamenei, a pesar de que la tradición chiíta rechaza la sucesión dinástica.
Leé también: La guerra en Medio Oriente golpea a China: petróleo, asociación estratégica con Irán y tensión geopolítica
De esa manera, este cuerpo militar de élite se convirtió virtualmente en el nuevo y monopólico gran poder político y militar del país, en un escenario complejo que deja muchísimas dudas en el terreno.
“La eliminación sistemática de los escalafones más altos del régimen por parte de los Estados Unidos e Israel va a dificultar el proceso de toma y ejecución de decisiones”, dijo Gaón.
Para el analista, “en este momento lo más probable es que distintas unidades de la Guardia Revolucionaria estén actuando de forma independiente o descentralizada, cual organización terrorista. Tienen más de 30 unidades o comandos que operan de forma independiente, decidiendo cómo continuar la guerra y qué hacer para mantener el orden interno”, añadió.
Amenazas de represión interna: “Orden de disparar a matar”
Salar Abnoush, un comandante de la Guardia Revolucionaria, citado por The Media Line, un portal estadounidense especializado en Medio Oriente, advirtió que cualquier iraní que salga a las calles a protestar será atacado bajo “orden de disparar a matar”.
Según el reporte, numerosos iraníes lanzan “espontáneamente” distintas consignas contra el gobierno desde sus casas y en la oscuridad de la noche. Pero nadie se anima a protestar en las calles, como en las masivas movilizaciones de diciembre y enero que dejaron miles de muertos.
Leé también: Los kurdos quieren combatir a los ayatollah: contactos con la CIA y el riesgo de una guerra civil en Irán
Según el reporte, las fuerzas Basiji desplegaron armas pesadas y vehículos blindados en lugares clave de Teherán listas para reprimir a manifestantes.
Un mensaje de SMS al que tuvo acceso el portal y distribuido entre la población de Karaj, a 40 kilómetros de Teherán, alertó sobre eventuales protestas. “Cualquier disturbio callejero será tratado como cooperación con el enemigo”, indicó.
Las unidades de la Guardia Revolucionaria y de los Basiji se reposicionaron en estadios, complejos deportivos, escuelas y mezquitas después de que sus cuarteles fueron blanco de los ataques estadounidenses e israelíes. El nuevo líder supremo de Irán, Mojtaba Jamenei, que sucede a su padre, el ayatollah, Alí Jamenei, que murió en el inicio de los ataques de Estados Unidos e Israel. (Foto: EFE – Mehr)
Más confrontación y línea dura
La designación de Mojtaba Jamenei y el aumento del poder de la Guardia Nacional son un claro mensaje de que el gobierno de los ayatollah eligió la confrontación total con Estados Unidos e Israel.
Es el triunfo de la línea dura del poder central.
“El mundo extrañará la era de su padre”, dijo a Reuters un funcionario iraní. “Mojtaba no tendrá más remedio que mostrar un puño de hierro. Incluso si el conflicto termina, habrá una severa represión interna”, advirtió.
En ese escenario, Irán no piensa cesar la guerra. «Mojtaba es aún peor y más de línea dura que su padre”, dijo Alan Eyre, exdiplomático estadounidense y especialista en Irán, citado por The Israel Times.
El mensaje es inequívoco: la Revolución Islámica está dispuesta a todo para preservar el poder.
Irán, Israel, Donald Trump
INTERNACIONAL
Ukraine sending drone team to help protect US bases in Jordan at Washington’s request, Zelenskyy says
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Ukraine has dispatched interceptor drones and a team of drone specialists to help protect U.S. military bases in Jordan as fighting tied to the Iran war intensifies across the region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with The New York Times.
Zelenskyy told the NYT that Washington made the request on Thursday, and Kyiv moved swiftly to respond, dispatching the drone team the following day.
«We reacted immediately,» Zelenskyy said. «I said, yes, of course, we will send our experts.»
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for confirmation.
IRAN PROXIES WAGE WAR ON ISRAEL, THREATEN US INTERESTS AS IRAQ SLAMMED FOR NOT DISARMING THEM
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi stands during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Rob Jetten on March 8, 2026, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images)
The reported request comes as the U.S. and Gulf states work to intercept hundreds of Iranian missiles and thousands of drones launched in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian drones have struck the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, including an attack on a tactical operations center in Kuwait that killed six U.S. service members.
The high volume of Iranian Shahed drone launches has drawn attention to the cost disparity between the relatively inexpensive unmanned aircraft and the far more sophisticated air defense systems, such as Patriot missiles, used to intercept them.
PETRAEUS CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA OVER ALLEGED INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT TO IRAN
According to the Department of the Army’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget estimates, the cost for a single Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptor is $3.8 million.
A basic Iranian-designed Shahed drone costs roughly $20,000 to $50,000, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
CENTCOM ISSUES SAFETY WARNING TO IRANIAN CIVILIANS AS REGIME USES ‘HEAVILY POPULATED’ AREAS FOR LAUNCHES
FPV training drones are seen on a wall at the Killhouse Academy drone training center on March 4, 2026, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
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«Iran knows it can’t match the U.S. or Gulf states plane for plane or missile for missile, but it can change the economics of the conflict,» said Patrycja Bazylczyk, an associate director with the Missile Defense Project at CSIS, in an interview with Military Times.
«Drones let Iran punch above its weight, keep its adversaries off balance, and project power across the region at minimal cost. We can’t just play whack-a-mole in the sky,» she added. «Shooting drones down one by one is the most expensive way to fight the cheapest threat. We have to go after the roots – the launch sites, the production lines, and the storage depots.»
ukraine,volodymyr zelenskyy,middle east,drones
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‘Serious concerns’: GOP sounds alarm on taxpayer funds going to ‘high risk’ universities vulnerable to CCP
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FIRST ON FOX: The House Select Committee on China is calling on the National Science Foundation (NSF) to pause a $67 million research security initiative, citing concerns that the universities leading the effort have engaged in problematic collaborations with Chinese military-linked institutions.
In a Tuesday letter to NSF Interim Director Brian Stone obtained by Fox News Digital, House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan, urged the agency to suspend funding for the «Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem» (SECURE) initiative and conduct a comprehensive review of the participating institutions.
Moolenaar’s concern, expressed in the letter, is that several of those participating institutions, including Texas A&M University and the University of Washington, receive tens of millions from the grant despite ties to the CCP that the committee finds concerning.
«The program is intended to develop tools, data infrastructure, and analytic capabilities for assessing research-security risks,» Moolenaar wrote. «Faculty from UW and TAMU – the same institutions now charged with designing systems and processes to protect taxpayer-funded research – have been collaborating with People’s Republic of China (PRC) defense research and industrial base entities, many of which are on various U.S. government national security entity lists, as detailed in this letter.»
NEW REPORT SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘STAGGERING’ AMOUNT OF FOREIGN MONEY POURING INTO US UNIVERSITIES
The House Select Committee on China is sounding the alarm about taxpayer dollars going to CCP-linked entities. (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
The committee alleges the University of Washington collaborated on research with Chinese institutions tied to the CCP’s military and defense sector, including entities on U.S. government watchlists. The committee cited joint publications with PLA-linked organizations, China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and universities known as the «Seven Sons of National Defense,» involving work in AI, advanced materials and other dual-use technologies.
The letter describes the university’s ties as «high-risk research relationships with PRC military- and defense-linked institutions.»
The University of Washington is designated to be awarded $50 million from the grant.
Additionally, the note claims that Texas A&M partnered with Chinese defense-affiliated institutions, including the PLA’s National University of Defense Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology. They argue these collaborations, some involving federally funded research, raise national security concerns and could conflict with U.S. research security and export control laws.
Texas A&M is designated to be awarded $17 million from the grant.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS SOUND ALARM OVER CCP-LINKED FAKE RESEARCH THREATENING US TAXPAYER-FUNDED SCIENCE
«Institutions entrusted with U.S. taxpayer dollars to safeguard the nation’s research enterprise should not simultaneously enable foreign adversaries to access and exploit sensitive research and taxpayer-funded scientific advances,» Moolenaar wrote.
«These joint research projects detailed above raise serious concerns about allocating taxpayer dollars for research security initiatives to institutions like TAMU and UW—institutions with documented and ongoing failures in safeguarding U.S. research from PRC defense entities,» Moolenaar said, adding that it is «troubling that U.S. institutions that collaborate with China’s defense research and industrial base, its nuclear weapons programs, its mass surveillance infrastructure, and institutions on U.S. government national security lists are being entrusted to co-lead the development of national research security frameworks.»
Moolenaar’s letter urges NSF to assess whether the institutions are complying with a range of federal requirements, including National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33) Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, and U.S. export control laws.
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Chinese honor guards prepare for the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)
Moolenaar also raised concerns about potential violations of the Wolf Amendment, an appropriations restriction in effect since 2012 that prohibits NASA from engaging in bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government or Chinese government-affiliated organizations in NASA-funded research without specific certification.
Moolenaar’s letter concludes with four requests for NSF to respond to by March 31.
First, the congressman asks if NSF will pause its SECURE contract funding to conduct a «full review» and also requests that NSF provide the committee with the results of that review.
The letter also requests that NSF «provide the award and contract details for the SECURE Initiative» and asks whether NSF believes that «it is appropriate for universities to use U.S. taxpayer funds to conduct research in collaboration with known Chinese defense research and industrial base entities or entities implicated in human rights violations?»
«Will NSF update its terms and conditions to expressly prohibit the use of award funds to conduct research with, or for the benefit of, any entity that appears on a publicly available U.S. government entity list?» the last question in the letter asks. «If not, please explain why.»
Fox News Digital reached out to Texas A&M University for comment, as well as Stanford University, who is mentioned in the letter as being a participant in the program.
«NSF will respond directly to the Committee’s letter,» an NSF spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a University of Washington spokesperson said, «SECURE is a dynamic program that is not prescriptive but can assist universities of all sizes and other research entities to address research security concerns. The University of Washington takes research security and integrity very seriously. The UW directs significant effort and resources toward being leaders in research security and integrity, and goes above and beyond SECURE’s guidance and recommendations. Given the evolving landscape, we are regularly reviewing our guidelines and protocols.»
Fox News Digital has extensively reported on rising concerns about the CCP’s attempts to infiltrate the education system in the United States, including a sweeping report last year warning that America’s top universities have been quietly partnering with Chinese artificial intelligence labs deeply embedded in Beijing’s surveillance and security state and in some cases co-authoring thousands of papers with entities tied to oppressive efforts against Uyghur Muslims.
china,politics,education,campus radicals
En 5 días puede ganar un Oscar, hace 17 años solo era un niño al que "mataron" en Ley y Orden. ¿Lo reconoces?
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Con la designación de Mojtaba Jamenei, Irán endurece el régimen y profundiza la confrontación con EE.UU.
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