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  • Pickleball, protests and MAGA. Trump stirs FL retirement community – USA Today

    May 1, 2026Updated May 2, 2026, 2:02 a.m. ET

    THE VILLAGES, FL – They skipped pickleball matches, softball practice and regular Friday card games, broke out their MAGA hats and “No Kings” signs, hopped into golf carts and gathered in one of the largest senior communities in America to make their voices heard.

    President Donald Trump was in town, and The Villages – a retirement mecca in Central Florida – was abuzz.

    Thousands of Trump-loving seniors waited for hours to show their appreciation, packing into a school gymnasium for a boisterous rally where they cheered on the president as he promoted a tax break and other policies aimed at older Americans. Nearby, a crowd of a few hundred Villagers lined a roundabout with protest signs and colorfully decorated golf carts.

    Trump and his party are in perilous political waters as polls show large majorities of voters dissatisfied with his handling of the economy and the Iran war. The president’s trip to The Villages – in an area where Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats – offered an opportunity to rally his base and speak to an important constituency of older voters who will be critical in the upcoming midterm election.

    “I like everything about him,” said Jackie Williams, a 74-year-old retiree from New Jersey who voted for Trump three times and would do so again “if I could.”

    Williams waited in a long line with other Villagers to see Trump, who took the stage in front of a “golden age for your golden years” sign. The president told the crowd that his tax break for seniors is fattening their refund checks.

    Supporters hold signs before President Donald Trump speaks at Middleton High School (The Villages Charter School) on May 1, 2026, in The Villages.

    “That means more money to visit your grandkids, bigger budget for taking a trip to someplace that you want to go, or extra dinners out with your family, you’re going to do a lot,” he said.

    Trump pointed to 401k retirement accounts swollen by rising stock prices, Medicare changes such as covering weight loss drugs and other actions targeting prescription drug costs.

    The president indicated he felt secure in The Villages, noting the recent shooting at a press gala he attended and concerns about his safety in public spaces.

    “They want me to be in a secure place. I said: ‘What’s more secure than The Villages?’” Trump said of the GOP stronghold.

    The rally provided a big show of support for a president facing political turbulence. Yet even in the The Villages, there were signs of the growing backlash to Trump’s aggressive second term agenda and bipartisan concern about the rising cost of living, an issue that has dogged the president and could be critical in the upcoming election.

    President Donald Trump speaks at Middleton High School (The Villages Charter School) on May 1, 2026, in The Villages.

    Skipping pickleball

    The Villages sprawls across a patch of inland Florida north of Orlando, drawing retirees from around the country.

    A display in one of its welcome centers Friday listed new arrivals from 30 different states and Canada, many attracted by the carefully manicured streetscapes and vast amenities, a seemingly endless succession of pickleball courts, golf courses, swimming pools and other adult play areas. Golf carts are a primary mode of transportation for many.

    GOP candidates have long been attracted to the community as a place to reach a high concentration of Republican voters.

    Paul Hoecker isn’t one of them. He was supposed to be at softball practice Friday, but since Trump won a second term he increasingly has been compelled to publicly show his disapproval of the president.

    Hoecker, 76, worked in insurance in Atlanta before retiring and moving to The Villages 12 years ago. An independent, Hoecker said he never attended a protest until recently, when he began showing up at “No Kings” demonstrations against Trump.

    “It’s gotten unbearable, the stuff he’s done,” said Hoecker, a Navy veteran sporting a “grumpy old vet” hat as he sat in camp chair in front of a golf cart parked with dozens of others at a demonstration organized by the Florida Democratic Party and The Villages Democratic Club.

    Hoecker dismissed Trump’s tax cut for seniors, saying the president’s big tax bill passed last year largely benefited the wealthiest individuals.

    Nearby, Dana Dandino held a sign jabbing Trump about the cost of grocery prices. She pointed to the rising cost of gas and other essentials.

    Dana Dandino, right, and her wife Andrea Bobby attended an anti-Trump protest in The Villages on May 1. Trump held a rally in the Central Florida senior community later in the day.

    “People are not going to be able to put groceries on the table,” said Dandino, 71, a retired teacher from New Jersey. “It’s already happening,”

    Many Villagers are fortunate, Dandino said. They often have pensions and Medicare and other cushions against rising costs. Many drive electric golf carts and aren’t as worried about gas prices.

    Yet the seniors she talks to are concerned about how the economy and debt could impact their grandchildren, she said, and about Trump’s policies in general. Dandino skipped her Friday pickleball game because she’s worried “we are going to lose our democracy” and wanted to speak out against Trump.

    Protesters organized by The Villages Democratic Club and Democratic Party of Florida gathered around a roundabout in The Villages community in Central Florida before President Donald Trump's rally there on May 1.

    Villages Democratic Club President Bill Knudson said membership has grown 20% under Trump’s second term to around 1,700. Around 7,000 people came out for the most recent “No Kings” anti-Trump protest in The Villages, he said.

    “Every time Trump does something major people show up,” he said, taking a break from passing out signs. Nearby someone held a large peace sign and another person had an “86 47” sign, the message spelled out in seashells that former FBI Director James Comey shared in a social media post and now is being prosecuted for.

    Cars drove by honking in support, with the occasional heckler. One man leaned out his window to ask if “ya’ll assassinators?”, an apparent reference to the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents Association dinner that Trump attended.

    Packed gymnasium

    The line to get into Trump’s rally at The Villages Charter School stretched out of the school parking lot and hundreds of yards down a sidewalk.

    Marie Hartz, 79, waited with a friend more than five hours to get into the rally. A retired kindergarten teacher from New York who bought her place in The Villages in 2004, Hartz said the wait to get into the rally was “well worth it.”

    She raved about Trump, from his immigration policies to “keeping us safe from Iran.”

    “They would’ve had the bomb,” she said of Iran as she sat in a high school bleacher, waiting in a bejeweled American flag pattern hat for Trump to speak. “I believe that. They’re always saying death to America.”

    Hartz said “everyone feels the pinch” of cost-of-living issues, but “I’m hoping that it’s temporary.”

    “I understand people who are affected but my parents were affected during World War II,” said Hartz, who skipped her regular card game for the rally. “They went without and so could we.”

    Rising gas prices are for a “good cause,” she said of the war.

    Trump assured The Villages crowd that oil prices would come “crashing down” when the war is over, something he has struggled to accomplish as negotiations with Tehran appear to be stalled. He suggested the economic fallout from the conflict could’ve been much worse, saying he expected oil prices to be higher and stock prices to be lower after attacking Iran.

    Supporters of President Donald Trump wait in line ahead of his planned appearance on May 1, 2026, at Middleton High School in The Villages, Florida.

    “I am surprised. I thought the stock market would go down by 25 percent, I thought that oil prices would be up much higher than they are right now,” Trump said, adding: “We had to get this done.”

    Hartz and others at the rally played down polls showing Trump’s approval rating plummeting. Ed Killory, 65, said the affordability issue is “overblown” as he waited in line for the rally.  

    “I think the war will be gone in four to eight weeks, everybody will forget it, gas will go down to $2 a gallon, the midterms will be fine,” said Killory, who owns an insurance business in The Villages and flies a Trump flag at his house.

    Greg Reed, right, and Andra Griffen perform

    Yet even among the crowd of die-hard Trump supporters there was nervousness about Iran and prices. While Williams, the New Jersey retiree, strongly backs Trump, she conceded that the Iran war and costs are weighing on people.

    “It could be better,” Williams said of the cost of living. “And if we can get out of this war . . . it would bring the cost of gasoline (down). Anytime the gasoline goes up, everything goes up, so that’s very important. He’s got to do that soon because you’re making a lot of people unhappy and I’m unhappy with that too.”

    For other Villagers, the president’s visit didn’t interrupt their daily routine. Retiree Ken Fraser, 66, is a Trump fan but decided to hit the pickleball court Friday instead. On the courts, “you forget about everything going on in the world,” he said as he took a break between matches for a coffee.

    Seniors critical to ‘MAGA base’

    Trump’s Florida rally was the latest in a series of trips aimed at selling his second term agenda and combating increasingly negative views of his administration ahead of the midterms.

    Backlash to Trump’s policies has fueled a series of wins and overperformances by Democrats in 2025 and 2026.

    Trump’s approval rating dipped to a second-term low in multiple recent surveys. Large majorities of voters in a recent Reuters/Ipsos survey gave the president low marks for his handling of the economy, inflation and Iran, which has driven up gas prices and added to cost of living concerns.

    President Donald Trump winds up his speech at Middleton High School (The Villages Charter School) on May 1, 2026, in The Villages.

    Even 41% of Republicans in the Reuters/Ipsos survey said they disapprove of Trump’s handling of cost-of-living.

    Senior voters are more likely to still approve of Trump’s performance, though.

    Trump has been bleeding support among younger voters and voters of color. A CNN survey from last month found that while Trump’s overall approval rating has dropped 10 percentage points from a year ago, it has dropped 19 points among voters age 18 to 34 and 11 points among voters of color. Among voters 65 and older Trump’s approval dropped six points.

    But an analysis by CNN that averaged recent polls by the news outlet, along with those from CBS and FOX News, found that Trump’s approval rating among senior voters has barely dipped from a year ago.

    Seniors vote at significantly higher rates than younger voters, and Trump’s continued strength with older voters could be a lifeline for his struggling party in the midterms.

    President Donald Trump speaks at Middleton High School (The Villages Charter School) on May 1, 2026, in The Villages.

    “Seniors have been, and continue to be, a large part of the Trump-supporting MAGA base,” said University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett, noting Trump still has “solid approval” among this group and keeping them motivated ahead of the next election could be important.

    Jewett said issues such as affordability, health care, retirement benefits and crime tend to be top concerns for seniors.

    Trump has pushed policies aimed at cutting costs for seniors, but his efforts to sell his economic agenda has been fitful as the Iran war at pet projects like a planned White House ballroom draw his attention away. And the cost of gas remains a potent reminder of the affordability problem weighing on many older Americans, Jewett said.

    “Many seniors are still feeling edgy about the current economy and worried about the future,” he said.

  • Air Force says former Qatari 747 will be ready to fly as Air Force One this summer – NPR

    Air Force says former Qatari 747 will be ready to fly as Air Force One this summer – NPR

    President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Ocala International Airport, in Ocala Fla., Friday, May 1, 2026, after speaking at an event in The Villages, Fla.

    President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Ocala International Airport, in Ocala Fla., Friday, May 1, 2026, after speaking at an event in The Villages, Fla. Matt Rourke/AP hide caption

    toggle caption

    Matt Rourke/AP

    The U.S. Air Force has finished modifying and testing a Boeing 747 jet donated by Qatar for temporary use as Air Force One and expects to have it ready for President Donald Trump to use this summer, the service announced late Friday.

    The jet is currently being painted red, white and blue, the Air Force said in a news release.

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accepted the luxury jet a year ago despite questions about the ethics and legality of accepting an expensive gift from a foreign nation, as well as concerns about security and cyber intelligence. Trump has defended the gift as a way to save tax dollars.

    Trump has said he wouldn’t fly around in the aircraft when his term ends. Instead, he said, the plane would be donated to a future presidential library, similar to how the Boeing 707 used by President Ronald Reagan was decommissioned and put on display as a museum piece.

    Air Force officials said the former Qatari jet will serve as a “bridge” until Boeing is ready to deliver a pair of new aircraft, which is now expected in 2028.

    The two planes currently used as Air Force One have been flying for nearly four decades, and Trump is eager to replace them. During his first term, he displayed a model of a new jumbo jet in the Oval Office, complete with a revised paint scheme that echoed the red, white and dark blue design of his personal plane.

    Boeing has been retrofitting 747s originally built for a now-defunct Russian airliner. But the program has faced nearly a decade of delays from a series of issues, including a critical subcontractor’s bankruptcy and the difficulty of finding and retaining qualified staff who could be awarded high-level security clearances.

    The new planes aren’t due to be finished until near the end of Trump’s term, and he’s out of patience. He has described the situation as “a total mess,” and he has complained that Air Force One isn’t as nice as the planes flown by some Arab leaders.

    The $400 million Qatari plane has been described as a “palace in the sky,” complete with luxurious accommodations and top-of-the-line finishes.

    But security is the primary concern when it comes to presidential travel. The current Air Force One planes were built from scratch near the end of the Cold War. They are hardened against the effects of a nuclear blast and include a range of security features, such as anti-missile countermeasures and an onboard operating room. They are also equipped with air-to-air refueling capabilities for contingencies, though they have never been used with a president on board.

    It is not clear which capabilities were added to the former Qatari jet. The Air Force did not reveal the cost of the modifications, but lawmakers suggested last year that they could top $1 billion.

    Air Force officials said they leased a 747-8 freighter from Atlas Air between October and February so pilots could get familiar with the latest variant. The U.S. has also purchased two jets from the German carrier Lufthansa for training and spare parts. Boeing stopped building 747s in 2023.

  • Trump says US forces are ‘like pirates’ taking Iranian oil – Al Jazeera

    Trump says US forces are ‘like pirates’ taking Iranian oil – Al Jazeera

    .

    Trump says US forces are ‘like pirates’ seizing ships and taking Iranian oil

    NewsFeed

    Donald Trump says US forces are ‘like pirates’ taking over Iranian ships and cargo near the Strait of Hormuz. The US is maintaining a blockade of Iran’s ports and has seized at least three Iranian flagged vessels.

    Published On 2 May 2026

  • US pulling 5,000 troops from Germany amid spat with Trump over Iran war – The Times of Israel

    US pulling 5,000 troops from Germany amid spat with Trump over Iran war – The Times of Israel

    WASHINGTON  — The United States is withdrawing 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany, the Pentagon announced on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war widens between US President Donald Trump and Europe.

    Trump had threatened a drawdown in forces earlier this week after sparring with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said on Monday the Iranians were humiliating the US in talks to end the two-month-old war and that he did not see what exit strategy Washington was pursuing.

    A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recent German rhetoric had been “inappropriate and unhelpful.”

    “The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks,” the official said.

    The Pentagon said the withdrawal was expected to be completed over the next six to 12 months. Germany is home to some 35,000 active-duty US military personnel, more than anywhere else in Europe.

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    The official said the drawdown would bring US troop levels in Europe back to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a buildup by then-president Joe Biden.

    US President Donald Trump (right) meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House, March 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

    The official also cast the decision in terms of the Trump administration’s push for Europe to become the main security provider on the continent. But it is nonetheless another potent reminder of Trump’s willingness to respond to perceived disloyalty by allies.

    Reuters exclusively reported last week an internal Pentagon email that outlined options to punish NATO allies that Washington believes failed to ​support US operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from NATO and reviewing the US position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands.

    Clashes with Europeans

    It is unclear if more withdrawals from Europe will follow. On Thursday, Trump said “probably” when asked whether he would consider pulling US troops out of ​Italy and Spain.

    Last month, he threatened to impose a full US trade embargo ​on Spain, where the Socialist leadership said it would not allow its bases or airspace to be used to attack Iran. The United States has two important military bases in Spain: Naval Station Rota ‌and Morón Air ⁠Base.

    Trump has also clashed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over the Iran war and Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo. The US president said in April that Meloni, once a strong Trump supporter, lacked courage and had let Washington down.

    US President Donald Trump greets Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool, File)

    Trump has chastised NATO allies, too, for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway, a chokepoint for global oil shipments, has remained virtually shut during the Iran conflict, causing market turmoil and unprecedented disruption in energy supplies.

    “The president has been very clear about his frustrations about our allies’ rhetoric and failure to provide support for US operations that benefit them,” the senior Pentagon official said.

    German ties fray

    Merz has said Germans and Europeans were not consulted before the US and Israel started attacking Iran on February 28, and that he had conveyed his scepticism about the conflict directly to Trump afterwards.

    Trump has long wanted to reduce the US troop presence in Germany. He pushed for a reduction of about 12,000 troops at the end of his first term, but that cut was never enacted. Trump lost the election, and Biden reversed the plan.

    Trump’s Wednesday announcement that he was reviewing US troop levels in Germany surprised German military officials who spoke to Reuters, citing what they called constructive meetings at the Pentagon earlier in the day.

    They argue that Germany has done more than other allies to support the US war in Iran, including allowing the use of bases and giving permission for overflights. Germany is also home to a huge military hospital in Landstuhl.

    In this image provided by the US Army, soldiers, airmen and civilian staff at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, receive victims on Aug. 27, 2021, who were medically evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 26. (Marcy Sanchez/US Army via AP)

    Earlier this week, the German government approved key targets for its 2027 budget, including a strong commitment to ⁠increase defense spending.

    Imran Bayoumi, a former Pentagon official, said that while the cuts in Germany were not as drastic as they might have been, they nonetheless risked further dividing the United States and Europe.

    “European leaders will likely push more to bolster their defense spending, viewing Washington as increasingly unreliable and untrustworthy,” said Bayoumi, now with the Atlantic Council.

    As part of Trump’s withdrawal decision, a brigade combat team now in Germany will be pulled out of the country, and a long-range fires battalion that the Biden administration had planned to begin deploying to Germany later this year will no longer deploy, the official said.

  • Havana slams new Trump sanctions as ‘collective punishment’ of Cuban people – Al Jazeera

    Havana slams new Trump sanctions as ‘collective punishment’ of Cuban people – Al Jazeera

    The Cuban government has firmly rejected the recent sanctions levied by US President Donald Trump.

    The Cuban government has firmly rejected new sanctions levied by United States President Donald Trump, calling them “unilateral coercive measures” intended to impose “collective punishment on the Cuban people”.

    In a post on social media on Friday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that “these measures are extraterritorial in nature and violate the United Nations Charter”, while further asserting that the US “has no right whatsoever to impose measures against Cuba or against third countries or entities”.

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    “While the US government represses its own people in the streets, it seeks to punish ours, who are heroically resisting the US imperialism’s attacks,” the foreign minister said.

    The Cuban minister’s remarks came hours after the White House signalled a further hardening of its policy towards the Caribbean island.

    Earlier on Friday, Trump issued an executive order to expand sanctions on the Cuban government, according to two White House officials who spoke to the Reuters news agency. The move serves as an effort by Washington to ramp up pressure on Havana following the abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in January by US forces and Trump’s recent warning that “Cuba is next”.

    ‘Unusual and extraordinary threat’

    The new US sanctions focus on individuals and groups that help the Cuban government’s security forces, according to Reuters.

    The measures also target those involved in corruption, serious human rights abuses, or anyone working as an official or supporter of the Cuban government.

    It remains unclear exactly which individuals or entities are affected by the new restrictions. However, a White House statement said, without evidence, that the Caribbean island serves as a “safe haven for transnational terrorist groups” such as the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

    The Trump administration has recently threatened Cuba with military attacks in addition to greater economic pressure.

    Earlier this year, Trump issued an executive order declaring a national emergency to address what the White House described as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” posed by the Cuban government.

    Trump’s measures established a framework to impose additional tariffs on any country that provides oil to Cuba, either directly or indirectly, and have recreated an effective fuel blockade on the island, shattering its already weakened economy and imposing huge burdens on everyday Cubans.

    Frequent power blackouts have increased as the nation’s electrical grid struggles due to the severe fuel shortage.

    Earlier this week, the US Senate blocked a resolution designed to stop Trump from initiating military action against Cuba without first receiving approval from Congress. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 51 to 47 – largely following party lines – against the resolution.

  • Hope out of chaos: how the dark era of Trump is creating a new approach to global politics – The Guardian

    Hope out of chaos: how the dark era of Trump is creating a new approach to global politics – The Guardian

    Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Brazil’s ambassador to London, had no difficulty joining the dystopians describing the modern world in a recent speech, a world suffering from “global warming and environmental degradation, multiple conflicts, rising military budgets, disregard for international law and international humanitarian law, disruptions to trade, erosion of democratic governance and technological developments that are met with excitement and fear”.

    Yet beneath the surface, he said, “something is happening. Something is moving.”

    The change Patriota could detect in “the global north” was a new division into “two poles, a unilateralist superpower on the one hand and a majority of multilateralists on the other”.

    “The highly unpopular and illegal war in Iran is fast becoming a vivid example of the chaos and instability bred by unilateralism,” he said. “It is laying bare a perception that the world will not be made unipolar again.”

    The argument that the current dark era of American unilateralism and lawless militarism may be coming to a premature end, sinking below the waters in the strait of Hormuz, is gathering momentum as other western countries recover their poise and place long-term bets that they can no longer cower under the US security blanket.

    Trump lashes out at Australia, Japan and South Korea for not helping in Iran war – video

    They have seen what meagre protection that blanket provided for the Gulf monarchies and how little it has promoted European interests in Ukraine, and many have finally realised they are better off with different, diverse friendship groups.

    In a recent speech in China, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, explained “what is happening today is not a transfer of hegemonies. It is a multiplication of poles – not only of power, but also of prosperity.” This was something to be celebrated, the liberal leader said. “For the first time in contemporary history, progress is germinating simultaneously in many places across the planet. This is happening here in China, in Asia. But also on the African continent and in a region very close to Spain: Latin America.”

    But it is not just leftwingers claiming the era of American primacy is on the wane. It is embedded in the thinking of Paris, Brussels, Warsaw and even Berlin. Friedrich Merz, the centre-right chancellor of the impeccably Atlanticist Germany, initially neutral about the lawfulness of the US attack on Iran, has declared that the US is being humiliated by Iran, and likens Donald Trump’s misjudgment in launching his attack on Tehran to those made by his predecessors in their invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Instead of cowering, disagreeing or hoping Trump’s attacks on Europe’s feckless freeloaders might be a passing phase, many European countries are embracing his advice to take more responsibility for defence. As a result, a bypass around America is being constructed.

    Similarly, on the global stage, the demands are growing that western powers – not just the US – relinquish their outsized representation in global institutions in favour of the global south.

    Few of these changes will occur overnight or prove linear. But Iran, and the running mutual resentments it is stirring between Trump and Europe, are accelerating the process of detachment.

    Decline in US dependability

    Prof Stephen Walt, of Harvard University, recently explained this is partly because American influence is not just a function of its wealth or power. It’s also a function of how the US is viewed. He said it was important for allies “to think that the United States knows what it’s doing, not that it’s infallible, but it generally knows what it’s doing, that it can execute a plan in a competent fashion. The Trump administration has sent a message to the rest of the world that that’s not the case any more, and that means other states are going to be less likely to rely on American advice going forward, at least for a while.”

    Walt added that “the other message this war has sent is that the administration really cared about only one other country in the world, Israel, and that came at the expense of other allies in Europe and Asia”, because of the huge economic damage the war has caused and the lack of consultation with other allies before the war began.

    Protesters make it look as if Donald Trump and Netanyahu are in prison, with sign saying ‘war criminal’ on the bars
    South Korean protesters wear face masks of Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, perform during an anti-war demonstration in Seoul. Photograph: Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA

    The former US ambassador to London, Jane Hartley, recently said of the British prime minister: “In defence of Keir Starmer, what was our goal in Iran? What was the legal basis for this war? What was our plan B? What was our exit strategy? We could not answer any of those questions. But what is most troubling is the public. Because the public no longer thinks America is a force for good.”

    But for this to be more than another temporary episode of US retreat, it requires more than a change in attitude. What is needed is a serious attempt to build other poles and alternative forms of cooperation besides the US. That process is now under way.

    Building new alliances

    Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, has set out his concept of a middle powers grouping, and Canada has already signed more than 20 economic and security deals, including with China, to increase exports outside its US base. New ad hoc alliances and trade corridors that do not go through Washington are being formed. From the Brazilian perspective it is new “coalitions of the responsible” that are being created, with “coordination across regions, cultures and political systems”.

    Patriota also praised the new, confident, more political groupings challenging populism and American militarism. The inaugural meeting of Global Progressive Mobilisation in Barcelona in April was attended by leaders including Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, the Barbados prime minister, Mia Mottley, as well of course as the new poster child of the European left, Sánchez.

    Large number of people stand behind a big sign that says ‘Forward together now’
    World leaders pose for a family photo before the Global Progressive Mobilisation forum’s official dinner in Barcelona on 17 April. Photograph: Óscar del Pozo/AFP/Getty Images

    Sánchez told the progressives to be confident about what lay ahead despite a “horizon full of uncertainty” and “the noise of the subservient right”. “Do not be fooled,” he said. “The far right and the right are not shouting because they are winning; they are shouting because they know their time is running out.”

    His willingness to condemn the Iran war as illegal, a view not initially voiced by the British or Germans, has infuriated Trump, but Sánchez knows, as does the European right, that Trump has become an electoral albatross. Even Nigel Farage denies him thrice.

    Trump’s response is to threaten to throw Spain out of Nato, something he does not have the power to do, or to withdraw troops from Germany. US commitment to Nato becomes a bargaining chip. For instance, instead of praising Germany for planning to boost its number of active duty soldiers by 75,000 by the mid-2030s, Trump threatens. Like a pyromaniac, he burns alliances for fun.

    Macron has warned that Trump’s daily questioning of US commitment to Nato is corrosive. “It threatens to empty Nato of substance,” he has suggested.

    The signs of a reaction to this are springing up in surprising places. For instance, there can be few bodies that so faithfully represent the British establishment as the House of Lords select committee on international relations and defence. Its members include the former Nato secretary general George Robertson, the former UK ambassador to Washington, Kim Darroch, and the former Conservative chancellor, Norman Lamont.

    George Robertson
    George Robertson, seen here in 1999, was Nato’s secretary general for four years. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/Reuters

    Yet in its recent report on the future of the US special relationship, the peers were unconstrained in their criticism of America. “US intelligence is being politicised … force is no longer a last resort. A leadership vacuum is being created … the changing complexion of US foreign and defence policy means the current degree of UK reliance is no longer tenable. Future UK policymaking on Russia and security in eastern Europe and the high north should no longer take US support in conventional deterrence as given.

    “Nor can the UK rely on historic goodwill and cultural affinity to sustain the relationship in an increasingly transactional context.”

    The solution was for the UK no longer to be infantilised by the US – in Robertson’s phrase – and “lead on a concentrated move towards greater European leadership in Nato”.

    Defence in Europe

    The idea of a European Defence Union, complementary to Nato, is now increasingly aired in the European Commission, one involving Britain, Norway and Ukraine as well as EU countries – something Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself advocates.

    John Lough, the head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre thinktank, said: “There is growing recognition in the European core of Nato that for Europe to defend itself against Russia will require integrating Ukraine into a European defence framework. Ukraine has the largest conventional army in Europe with more than four years’ up-to-date experience of fighting the Russians.

    “It also has a capable and innovative defence industry that has shown the ability to develop new weapons at speed. The agreements signed between Germany and Ukraine earlier this month on drone production and the sharing of battlefield data for the development of new weapons systems are a sign of things to come.

    “Ukraine is a world leader in the development of drone capabilities, including drone interceptors. It is hardly a surprise that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE have quickly signed deals with Ukraine on drone cooperation after coming under attack by Iran.”

    Humanity at stake

    But the transformation is not just about Europe restructuring its defences faced with an unreliable ally, it is whether this decline in US primacy is seen as a badly needed opportunity to address the wider global crisis.

    For millions of people, the head of the UN humanitarian programme, Tom Fletcher, said last week: “The international order is not on the cusp of collapse, it has already collapsed. What we are going through right now is not a drill.” Fletcher called for greater honesty about the scale of global upheaval and the need for a renewed seriousness in public life.

    This is because the way Trump and his fellow travellers have put an axe to international law has made the task of humanitarians near impossible. Indeed, humanity itself is under attack, Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said in presenting the human rights organisation’s 2025 report. She described 2025 as the year of the predators.

    Over 500 pages, Amnesty International set out a report card for the world in which humanity scored badly owing to genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza”, “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine, extrajudicial killings committed by the US outside its borders, and attacks on Venezuela and Iran.

    The world has been plunged into an age of unorder, as Mark Leonard, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations thinktank, puts it in his new book Surviving Chaos.

    Leonard warns that “to talk about disorder implies that there is an order that people agree on and that people are breaking the rules, but I think our world is quite different from that. The rules are not being violated. They’re being ignored as irrelevant. There is no stable balance of power. There’s no agreement on what the rules are.”

    He added: “The difficulty is that the US regards its domestic strength rather than international institutions or global alliances as the basis of its security.”

    Yet as Patriota said, something is moving, or poised to move. The unipolarists – he identified the US, Russia and Israel – retain their power to punish and wreak revenge. Trump can still mesmerise every news cycle. In France and Germany, the populist right are ascendant. But at the same time, the unipolarists are an embattled minority even in their own countries and finding it increasingly hard to locate allies or impose their will.

    A new UN secretary general next year would at least have the chance to challenge the current unrepresentative security council – made up of the second world war victors China, France, Russia, UK and US – to reform after 30 years of failing to do so. In this post-rupture world in which Washington’s reliability can no longer be assumed, and in which Beijing’s partnership, however complicated, cannot be refused, everything suddenly is up for grabs.

    A US reverse in Iran may not have the visual symbolism of the retreat from Saigon or Kabul, but its reverberations could yet be as wide.

  • President Trump makes first public appearance in Florida after alleged assassination attempt – WPBF

    President Trump makes first public appearance in Florida after alleged assassination attempt – WPBF

    President Trump makes first public appearance in Florida after alleged assassination attempt

    SEVEN DAY FORECAST. WE’LL SEE YOU WITH EVERYTHING COMING UP. ALL RIGHT CHRIS, THANK YOU. BACK NOW TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S VISIT TO WEST PALM BEACH. JUST HOURS AGO, HE SPOKE AT THE KRAVIS CENTER, WHERE HE ATTENDED A DINNER CELEBRATING THE FORUM CLUB’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY. MY CO-ANCHOR TODD MCDERMOTT JOINING US LIVE FROM OUTSIDE THE KRAVIS CENTER WITH THE LATEST REMARKS FROM THE PRESIDENT TONIGHT, TODD. WELL, FELICIA, HE SPOKE ABOUT 750 TONIGHT, TAKING THE STAGE AFTER VISITING THE VILLAGES IN ORLANDO EARLIER IN THE AFTERNOON, MAKING AN APPEARANCE THERE. MAYBE ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THAT PARTICULAR VISIT WAS QUESTIONING THE HOW VERIFIED IT CAN BE THAT AFFORDABILITY IS A PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY. AGAIN, HE LANDED AT THE AIRPORT THAT WILL SOON BEAR HIS NAME AND CAME OVER HERE TO SPEAK FOR ABOUT AN HOUR. THE PRESIDENT WARMLY WELCOMED TO THE FIRST EVER DINNER HELD BY THAT FORUM CLUB, WHICH WAS FORMED 50 YEARS AGO CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY. IT’S A NONPARTISAN ORGANIZATION THAT PROMOTES CIVIL POLITICAL DISCOURSE. THEY INVITED THE PRESIDENT, WHO WAS WARMLY RECEIVED AND GAVE SHOUT OUTS TO ALL KINDS OF FRIENDS, ALLIES, OTHER POLITICIANS. ET CETERA. BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS, I MIGHT ADD. HE OPENED WITH A SERIES OF JOKES ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAN, TOUTING THE EASE OF THE U.S. MILITARY OPERATION THERE AND THE LACK OF CLEAR LEADERSHIP IN TEHRAN’S GOVERNMENT SINCE THE U.S. AND ISRAEL BOMBING CAMPAIGNS. HE JOKED THAT NO ONE WANTS TO BE IRAN’S PRESIDENT NOW. THE PRESIDENT ALSO SLAMMED THE WAR POWERS ACT THAT REQUIRES CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL. ON THE 60TH DAY OF THE WAR, WHICH IS TODAY. YOU KNOW, THEY DON’T LIKE THE WORD WAR, AND THEY CALL IT A MILITARY OPERATION, BECAUSE THAT WAY YOU DON’T HAVE A WAR. YOU DON’T HAVE LEGAL PROBLEMS. BUT YOU EVER HEAR A SITUATION WHERE WE’RE KNOCKING THE HELL OUT OF SOMEBODY AND WE HAVE A CONGRESS? PLEASE, YOU’VE ONLY GOT THREE DAYS LEFT. WE SPENT 19 YEARS IN VIETNAM. WE SPENT 12 YEARS IN IRAQ. WE SPENT SEVEN YEARS IN ANOTHER PLACE, TWO YEARS IN ANOTHER ONE, SEVEN YEARS IN ANOTHER ONE. WE HAD ANOTHER ONE FOR 14 YEARS. AND WE’RE IN THERE FOR SIX WEEKS. WHAT’S TAKING SO LONG NOW? WE COULD LEAVE RIGHT NOW. RIGHT NOW. WE LEFT RIGHT NOW. IT WOULD TAKE THEM 20 YEARS, 25 YEARS TO REBUILD THE PLACE. THE AIR FORCE WANTS THE AIR FORCE. THEY’RE NOT GOING TO GIVE IN. SPACE IS SO IMPORTANT NOW FOR THE WAR AS A, QUOTE, EXCURSION AND JOKED ABOUT RENAMING THE PERSIAN GULF, THE GULF OF TRUMP CHUCKLED. HE WILL NOT BE DOING THAT BECAUSE SOME OF HIS ADVISORS TOLD HIM IT’S A BAD IDEA. HE ALSO MADE A JOKE ABOUT THE U.S. TAKING OVER CUBA NEXT, OR SOON ADDED, THEY HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS. PRESIDENT CONTINUE TO REFER TO THE U.S. ECONOMY AS HOT AND POINTED TO THE SURGING STOCK MARKET. THIS ALL COMES WITH THE BACKDROP OF TODAY’S WASHINGTON POST ABC IPSOS POLL, WHICH SHOWS THAT 61% OF AMERICANS CONSIDER THE WAR IN IRAN A MISTAKE AS FAR AS SKYROCKETING GASOLINE PRICES AND THE PRICE OF OIL. HE CALLED THIS ALL A DETOUR AND GUARANTEED THE PRICES WILL SNAP BACK. WHICH. WHICH WHEN THE WAR IS TAKEN CARE OF. ONE NOTABLE SURPRISE THE PRESIDENT. SHOUT OUT TO SHERIFF RIC BRADSHAW. NOT A SURPRISE. THE SURPRISING PART. HE SAID HE VOTED FOR HIM AND POINTED OUT THAT THE SHERIFF IS A DEMOCRAT. HIS ONE MENTION OF LAST WEEK’S DANGEROUS INCIDENT AT THE WASHINGTON HILTON IN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENTS DINNER WAS ONLY THAT. NOW EVERYBODY LOVES MY BALLROOM. THE BALLROOM IDEA ARI HAIT WAS HERE OUTSIDE THE KRAVIS CENTER WHILE WE WERE INSIDE. HE HAS A LOOK AT HOW PEOPLE REACTED OUTSIDE THE KRAVIS. SECURITY IS VERY TIGHT HERE ALONG SOUTHERN BOULEVARD HEADING TOWARD MAR-A-LAGO. THEY’VE BEEN OCCASIONALLY STOPPING VEHICLES AS THEY CROSSED THE BRIDGE ONTO PALM BEACH. THIS IS JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING OUTSIDE THE EVENT. LONG BEFORE PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ARRIVED AT THE KRAVIS CENTER IN DOWNTOWN WEST PALM BEACH, THE PROTESTERS WERE ALREADY THERE. WE HAVE A POLICE WHO IS ENRICHING HIMSELF USING OUR TAX DOLLARS. ABOUT 50 PEOPLE GATHERED, HOLDING SIGNS CALLING TO IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT AND DEMANDING NO KINGS IN AMERICA. WE ARE NOT IN FAVOR OF FASCISM. WE ARE OUT HERE FIGHTING TO TO SAVE AND CLAIM OUR DEMOCRACY BACK. ALSO IN THE CROWD, A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT HERE FOR A CONVERSATION ABOUT HIS POLICIES, HAVING MORE DIALOG LIKE THIS IS IMPORTANT TO REALLY MAINTAIN OUR INTEGRITY AS A COUNTRY, ALONG WITH THE CROWDS DOWNTOWN, THERE WAS ALSO SECURITY. A LOT OF IT. AFTER THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN WASHINGTON, D.C. LAST WEEKEND, LAW ENFORCEMENT IN PALM BEACH COUNTY WAS NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES. RIGHT AT THE ENTRY TO THE KRAVIS ARMED SHERIFF, SWAT MEMBERS, ALONG WITH WEST PALM BEACH POLICE AND METAL DETECTORS. THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE TELLS US THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF DEPUTIES ALL AROUND THE AREA, ALONG WITH SECRET SERVICE SNIPERS ON THE ROOFS OF NEARBY BUILDINGS. THE PRESIDENT’S WEEKEND IN FLORIDA IS ALSO EXPECTED TO INCLUDE A TRIP TO MIAMI. THE PGA HAS A TOURNAMENT AT ONE OF HIS GOLF COURSES THERE, AND THE PRESIDENT IS EXPECTED TO ATTEND IN WEST PALM BEACH, ARI HAIT WPBF 25 NEWS. THANK YOU TO ARI FOR THAT. AGAIN, THAT CONCLUDES OUR TEAM COVERAGE OF THE PRESIDENT’S VISIT AND SPEECH HERE AT KRAVIS CENTER. OF COURSE, HE WAS HOME AT MAR A LAGO WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF LEAVING HERE. ONE OTHER NOTE, BY THE WAY, THE FORUM CLUB HAS BEEN AROUND FOR 50 YEARS. THEY’VE INVITED DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, OTHER LEADERS TO COME AND SPEAK. JIMMY CARTER ALSO SPOKE THE FIRST YEAR OF THE ORGANIZATION. BUT THERE IS ONE NOTE HERE. PRESIDENT TRUMP IS THE FIRST SITTING U.S. PRESIDENT TO SPEAK BEFORE THE FORUM CLUB. FOR NOW

    President Trump makes first public appearance in Florida after alleged assassination attempt

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    Updated: 11:17 PM EDT May 1, 2026

    Editorial Standards

    President Donald Trump made his first public appearance at The Villages in Central Florida following an alleged third assassination attempt against him. On Saturday, Cole Allen of California was accused of storming a security checkpoint at the White House correspondents’ dinner. Prosecutors said Allen was attempting to kill Trump and members of his administration. Allen is facing several charges, including attempted assassination of the president. In September 2024, Ryan Routh was accused of trying to kill the president after pointing a rifle through the fence of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. In July 2024, Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Following the most recent incident, the president and his administration expressed confidence in the security protocols in place. “Look, I’m here to do a job. It’s part of the job,” Trump said. “The White House will continue to engage with DHS and with Secret Service to find ways to improve and strengthen security. But as far as Saturday night is concerned, the president was satisfied with the response,” the administration said. Security concerns remain heightened after a separate incident involving a suspicious U-Haul truck in West Palm Beach Thursday, Apr. 30. Police shut down roads for hours around lunchtime after a bomb-detection dog alerted on the truck. The bomb squad was called in, but after a search, nothing dangerous was found. “In today’s environment, you have to be safe. Everything that we put in place, law enforcement worked,” police said. “Our due diligence is always in play, and we’re going to do what we need to do to keep the city safe,” they added. The renter of the U-Haul said the truck had been parked in the area for days as she was moving and had paid for it to be there. She was not charged with anything. Stay up to date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —

    President Donald Trump made his first public appearance at The Villages in Central Florida following an alleged third assassination attempt against him.

    On Saturday, Cole Allen of California was accused of storming a security checkpoint at the White House correspondents’ dinner. Prosecutors said Allen was attempting to kill Trump and members of his administration.

    Allen is facing several charges, including attempted assassination of the president.

    In September 2024, Ryan Routh was accused of trying to kill the president after pointing a rifle through the fence of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

    In July 2024, Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

    Following the most recent incident, the president and his administration expressed confidence in the security protocols in place.

    “Look, I’m here to do a job. It’s part of the job,” Trump said.

    “The White House will continue to engage with DHS and with Secret Service to find ways to improve and strengthen security. But as far as Saturday night is concerned, the president was satisfied with the response,” the administration said.

    Security concerns remain heightened after a separate incident involving a suspicious U-Haul truck in West Palm Beach Thursday, Apr. 30.

    Police shut down roads for hours around lunchtime after a bomb-detection dog alerted on the truck.

    The bomb squad was called in, but after a search, nothing dangerous was found.

    “In today’s environment, you have to be safe. Everything that we put in place, law enforcement worked,” police said.

    “Our due diligence is always in play, and we’re going to do what we need to do to keep the city safe,” they added.

    The renter of the U-Haul said the truck had been parked in the area for days as she was moving and had paid for it to be there. She was not charged with anything.

    Stay up to date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25

    Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.