3 Stories You Should Read 5/22/2019: Parliament Elections, Modi, Trump
Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
In the category of: Unlikely meeting of the minds
Trump Holds Impromptu Press Conference To Complain About The Mueller Report
Trump stood behind a sign reading “no collusion, no obstruction” and argued he’s “the most transparent president in history.”
President Donald Trump held an impromptu press conference Wednesday to vent his frustrations, again, about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Trump stood behind a sign reading “no collusion, no obstruction” and argued he’s “the most transparent president in history.” He attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for saying earlier Wednesday that Trump “is engaged in a cover-up.”
“This meeting was set up a number of days ago … all of a sudden I hear last night they’re going to have a meeting right before this meeting to talk about the I-word,” Trump said, referring “impeachment,” not “infrastructure.”
Pelosi did call a meeting Wednesday morning to brief her caucus on the various efforts to oversee Trump’s administration. House Democrats have reportedly pushed the speaker to begin impeachment proceedings, with more and more speaking out publicly about the need to hold Trump accountable.
That apparently upset Trump, who refused to discuss infrastructure with Democratic leaders just before his impromptu press conference.
“He just took a pass,” Pelosi told reporters. “I pray for the president of the United States and I pray for the United States of America.”
In the category of: And so it spreads
A Modi Victory Puts India’s 200 Million Muslims in Danger
The Hindu nationalist party ran a hate-filled campaign and now seems poised to return to power with a terrifying mandate.
On Thursday, India will announce election results that could put the country’s 200 million Muslims in danger. Over the last five and a half weeks, more than 500 million Indians voted in an election that will determine whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ultra-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will return to power. If exit polls are to be believed, Modi and the BJP seem set to win a terrifying mandate.
One candidate for Parliament in particular illustrates the growing extremism of the BJP. In Bhopal, a city of 1.8 million people, Modi personally endorsed Pragya Singh Thakur, who is out on bail after almost nine years in jail for alleged involvement in a terrorist bombing that killed six Muslims.
In the category of: And spreads some more
Euroskeptic far-right parties are attempting to build a coalition to try to remake the EU.
Euroskeptic parties have always existed within the European Parliament. But they’ve struggled to wield substantial influence. Their staunchly nationalistic views aren’t exactly a successful formula for cooperation in the pan-European political body.
But the current crop of far-right leaders are trying something different this year: attempting to build a cross-continent alliance of anti-EU parties. They’re betting that by working together, they can weaken — and remake — the EU from within.
Salvini, who’s framed himself the de facto leader of this coalition, has embraced the slogan “Towards a Common Sense Europe.” Besides Le Pen’s National Rally and Wilders’s Party for Freedom, other far-right parties have joined the cause, including Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) and Austria’s (currently scandal plagued) Freedom Party. Broadly, these leaders want to curtail immigration. They may want to reorient the EU’s priorities on the global stage, too.
But, mostly, they want to elevate the sovereignty and economic interests of individual member-states over the collective interests of the EU.
Confluence Daily is the one place where everything comes together. The one-stop for daily news for women.
