1 week ago
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‘A war from within’
This week, President Trump told hundreds of top U.S. military commanders where they should set their sights.
Not Ukraine. Not Taiwan. Not Poland, Romania, Estonia or Denmark — the NATO allies whose airspaces have recently been violated by Russian drones.
The president instead chose San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, saying “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
He has referred to those cities — all led by Democrats and populated by people who mostly voted for his opponents — as crime-filled urban hellscapes.
“We’re going to straighten that out one by one, and this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room,” Trump told the generals and admirals he had summoned from their posts around the world. “It’s a war from within.”
In that moment, the president tapped into a fear that resonates in many places around the world: A country’s army can be turned against the people it is supposed to protect.
Safeguards against tyranny
America’s founders were deeply concerned that their government could use a standing army to suppress dissent and establish tyranny. They tried to create safeguards against that scenario.
In the decades and centuries since, the use of the military within U.S. borders has had a complicated history, often related to race. One key measure limiting the military’s ability to operate within the U.S. was passed after the Civil War to placate white supremacists in the South, who didn’t want federal troops to block racially discriminatory state and local laws.
And in the 1950s and ’60s, the U.S. military and National Guard troops were sent to Southern states to enforce federal laws against racial discrimination, during periods of intense civil unrest. (I explore some of the fascinating U.S. history in depth here.)
By contrast, Trump is ordering National Guard troops to cities that are not experiencing widespread civil disturbances, said Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who has studied the military for decades.
“Since there is not the generalized breakdown in civil order, or a global crisis, that makes a nonpartisan case harder to make, and we’re left with the partisan interpretation,” he said.
‘Crush every threat’
At the gathering on Tuesday, Trump looked into the crowd of military commanders and spoke about his own vision for how the U.S. military should be used.
“With leaders like we have right here in this beautiful room today, we will vanquish every danger and crush every threat to our freedom,” he said.
Trump’s comments were greeted by expressionless faces. Senior military leaders had warned the officers not to react or cheer, in keeping with rules that require the military to stay neutral in politics.
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An attack on a British synagogue on Yom Kippur
An attacker rammed a car into people outside a synagogue in Manchester, England, and then went on a stabbing spree, killing two people on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Police officers shot and killed the man minutes after he began his assault outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation. Security guards and bystanders had prevented him from entering the synagogue, where morning Yom Kippur prayer services had just begun.
The violence, which the police called an act of terrorism, comes amid heightened fears across Europe and the U.S. for the safety of Jews amid a rise in antisemitism related to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
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Many Palestinians say ‘enough is enough’
Hamas has yet to respond to a cease-fire proposal from President Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that gives Israel nearly everything it wants and offers no clear path to Palestinian statehood. But two years into a brutal conflict that has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and with Israel systematically restricting food aid, many Gazans just want an end to the war.
“Hamas must say yes to this offer — we have been through hell already,” said Mahmoud Bolbol, 43, a construction worker who has remained in Gaza City with his six children in the battered shell of their home throughout the war.
The proposal contains several elements that Hamas has said are unacceptable, including a requirement that the group give up power in Gaza. That leaves Palestinians squeezed between Israel and Hamas. Mahmoud Abu Mattar, who was once an accountant in Gaza City, said he was disgusted with the negotiators in faraway conference rooms who seem to control his family’s fate.
“The ones negotiating on my behalf are sitting in air-conditioned rooms,” he said. “They are not the ones living in sand, walking half an hour to fetch water or searching for a bag of flour and getting killed.”
OTHER NEWS
Three people were killed during Gen Z antigovernment protests in Morocco.
In Madagascar, thousands of young people took to the capital’s streets, demanding the president’s resignation.
Trump called the government shutdown an “unprecedented opportunity” to slash the federal bureaucracy through another round of mass layoffs.
Stores in Denmark have reported huge increases in sales of emergency radios, rice and canned mackerel since a wave of drone incursions unsettled the public.
Rescuers in Indonesia said they would end the search for students trapped under a collapsed school in East Java.
Australia expanded a sunscreen recall after regulators found that multiple brands delivered protection far short of their advertised SPF.
SPORTS
Tennis: Eva Lys explains the secret behind her rise up the WTA Tour — doing less.
Golf: A comedian apologized for leading a foul-mouthed chant at the Ryder Cup.
NUMBER OF THE DAY
996
— A high-octane work schedule (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) that first gained infamy in China, and is now taking hold in California’s Silicon Valley. Though the term is new, working intense hours is a longstanding tradition in the tech industry.
MORNING READ
The World is counting down to the release of Taylor Swift’s 12th album, which was inspired by her record-breaking, headline-grabbing Eras tour — and her eventful offstage life. (She’s engaged to the American football star Travis Kelce, in case you haven’t heard.)
The promotional blitz for “The Life of a Showgirl,” which comes out today, will include an 89-minute “release party” at movie theaters worldwide this weekend. (One of my best friends is going in London!) It’ll feature the new music video for the song “The Fate of Ophelia” and a behind-the-scenes look at how the video was made.
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How they’re fighting loneliness in … New York
The desire for more human connection has created a business opportunity in modern bathhouses, where young people gather in saunas to take classes on “Self-Care Sweat” and “Gratitude.”
Melissa Kirsch, who writes for our sister newsletter, The Morning, took the plunge to understand why the bathhouse experience holds an enduring communal appeal.
“The ice baths were excruciating at first, but I eventually was able to stay in for several minutes,” Melissa said. “I spent the rest of the day feeling a weird sense of pride for having done something challenging.”
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The top of this rustic mango Basque cheesecake may color unevenly as it bakes. Embrace this, as they do at La Viña in San Sebastián, Spain, the home of this newly-famous dessert. Every cheesecake is slightly different, but all are glorious.
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Where is this Carnival celebration?
BEFORE YOU GO …
Just a quick note to say … thank you! Danke! Gracias! Shukran! 谢谢!
The World is now one week old. It’s been a roller coaster. Thanks for riding along with us. I know there have been glitches. For some of you on iPhones, the links to our app haven’t been working. We’re aware of the problem. It should be fixed soon.
I want to use this space in the Friday edition to send you into the weekend with what my teenagers call “inspo.” An amazing song. A book that changed me. A film that rocked my world. If you want to send me favorites from your part of the world, that would be cool.
I’ve got two things for you this week: I went to a screening of “Love+War,” a gripping documentary about my colleague Lynsey Addario. She’s a war photographer, mother and one of the bravest people I know. Those of us who are working parents are all familiar with work-life balance issues. Lynsey’s are off the scale. (Her husband, Paul, is the other hero of this story.) Do watch the trailer.
Finally, here’s James Brown to play us off, with his song “World.” Sit with it. It’s infused with despair about a troubled world. But it’s also a soulful cry for love and reconciliation. What else is there?
Katrin Bennhold is a senior writer on the international desk. She was formerly Berlin bureau chief and has reported from London and Paris, covering a range of topics from the rise of populism to gender.
