Within a span of two hours on Thursday, President Trump won two pressure campaigns.
First, he celebrated a significant victory in his self-described goal as a peacemaker when Israel approved the first phase of his plan to end the devastating war in Gaza. Just a short time later, New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, was indicted after he publicly demanded she be charged, making her the latest target of his retribution.
While Mr. Trump has sought to cast himself as a force for peace abroad, he is fueling a seemingly never-ending series of conflicts at home. The split screen has emerged as a defining element of Mr. Trump’s presidency, providing ammunition to his allies and adversaries alike.
It’s a dizzying dichotomy that has crystallized in images and headlines that capture Mr. Trump’s dueling presidential personas over the past week.
As relieved Israelis and Palestinians danced in the streets to celebrate a cease-fire that could lead to the end of the two-year war, federal law enforcement officials and protesters clashed in the streets of American cities where Mr. Trump has deployed the military to areas led by Democrats he has railed against.
As he campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize on his claim of brokering an end to multiple conflicts abroad, he has refused to negotiate with Democrats over health care to end the government shutdown, instead promising to inflict pain on them and their constituents.
(Mr. Trump has a history of boasting about ending multiple world conflicts — claims that, often, require some important context.)
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The post The Trump Split Screen: A Peacemaker Abroad, a Retribution Campaign at Home appeared first on New York Times.
