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The US economy expanded at a solid clip in 2024, helped by consumer and government spending, official data showed Thursday, signaling its resilience as President Donald Trump takes over the reins.Trump won a commanding victory in last November’s election on the back of public dissatisfaction over cost-of-living pressures, even as inflation has cooled while the job gains continued.In the October to December period, the world’s biggest economy grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent, the Commerce Department said, slowing from the 3.1 percent rate in July-September.Trump took office January 20, inheriting robust growth as his term kicks off.The latest figure was in line with a consensus forecast by Briefing.com.For 2024, GDP rose 2.8 percent from the annual level a year prior.Consumer spending, investment and government spending were among the drivers behind last year’s growth, according to Commerce Department data. The US economy has broadly held up in the face of high interest rates, helped by a resilient labor market with low unemployment and still-growing wages.This has allowed consumers to keep spending, even as they drew down on savings accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic.- ‘Souring mood’ -“Consumer spending on both goods and services continued to drive a substantial portion of growth,” said Joel Kan, deputy chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association.The latest data indicate the economy and job market remain strong, consistent with the US central bank’s view, he noted.Wages have continued to outpace inflation, while recent hurricanes triggered “replacement demand” for items like vehicles, said KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk in a note.Another factor was “massive wealth effects from sharp increases in equity and home values,” boosting spending in particular among higher-income households, added Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic.But Swonk warned that “the economy continues to look better on paper than it feels to most Americans.”The overall gains mask a “souring mood among consumers,” she believes, citing “inequality and the unease beneath the surface due to the high level of prices of the basics of food and shelter.”Swonk earlier told AFP that government spending could also have been stronger than expected as the outgoing administration of former president Joe Biden pushed funding out the door in its final months. This included defense spending for Ukraine.- Policy uncertainty -One drag on growth, however, was that businesses invested less in inventories than anticipated, according to Robert Frick, corporate economist with the Navy Federal Credit Union.This could be a response to economic uncertainty surrounding the new presidential administration, he noted.The sequencing and magnitude of policies on tariffs and immigration remains to be seen, Swonk said, expecting that their effects will also take time to materialize.She expects growth to cool in 2025 and that tariffs will increase, although the hikes will not necessarily translate into full-blown trade wars with all countries.Matthew Martin, senior US economist at Oxford Economics, told AFP that even though Trump has used “inflammatory words” on trade policy, these appear to be more of “a negotiation tactic.””The question is how far does this go,” said Dan North, senior economist for Allianz Trade North America, referring to the scale of tariffs and retaliation from other US trading partners.”Trade wars tend to be losers for everybody involved,” he told AFP.Looking ahead, analysts anticipate January’s employment figures will take a hit from devastating wildfires in California.Brendan Boyle, top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, called the fourth quarter growth figure “undeniable proof” that policies under Biden have proven effective.

Divers pulled bodies from the icy waters of Washington’s Potomac river Thursday after a US military helicopter collided midair with a passenger plane carrying 64 people, with officials saying there were likely no survivors.As dawn broke over the crash site just three miles (five kilometers) from the White House, wreckage from both aircraft protruded from the water and emergency vessels and diving teams scoured the area.”We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a news conference at Reagan National Airport.”We don’t believe there are any survivors,” he said, adding that 28 bodies had been recovered so far — including one from the helicopter.At least 300 first responders were involved in the operation — conducted in pitch darkness for several hours — with recovery teams discovering debris a mile downriver.”These responders found extremely frigid conditions, they found heavy wind, they found ice on the water, and they operated all night,” Donnelly said.There were no details on the cause of the crash, with transport officials saying both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility. “Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told the news conference.Dramatic audio from air traffic controllers showed them repeatedly asking the helicopter if it had the passenger jet “in sight,” and then just before the crash telling it to “pass behind” the plane.- ‘A fireball and it was gone’ -“I just saw a fireball and it was gone,” one air traffic controller was heard telling another after communication with the helicopter was cut.Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac river, and the fuselage of the passenger jet was broken into three sections.US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — who won the 1994 world pairs title — were also on the jet.The Bombardier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary, with 60 passengers and four crew on board, was approaching the airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Black Hawk chopper had “a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation.””They did have night vision goggles,” he added.Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw “the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land.””Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow,” Schulman told CNN.- Trump criticizes traffic control -President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak on the matter at 11:00 am (1600 GMT), but in the meantime posted a critical take on social media.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”Why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National, with operations set to resume at 11:00 am (1600 GMT).American Airlines’ chief executive Robert Isom expressed “deep sorrow” and said the plane pilot had six years’ experience.US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -It was unclear how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan National and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in 1982 when a Boeing 737 plummeted after takeoff, hitting a bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac. Seventy-eight people died.burs-gh/bgs/bfm

US officials said Thursday there were likely no survivors after a passenger jet carrying 64 people collided in midair with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy waters of Washington’s Potomac river.”We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a news conference at Reagan National Airport.”At this point we don’t believe there are any survivors,” Donnelly said, adding that 28 bodies had been recovered — including one from the helicopter.As dawn broke over the crash site, emergency vessels with powerful arc lights and inflatables with diving teams could be seen moving back and forth over a wide area of the river.Donnelly said 300 first responders had been involved in the operation — most of it conducted in pitch darkness.”These responders found extremely frigid conditions, they found heavy wind, they found ice on the water, and they operated all night in those conditions,” he said.There were no details on the cause of the crash, with transport officials saying both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility. “Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told the news conference.Dramatic audio from air traffic controllers showed them repeatedly asking the helicopter if it had the passenger jet “in sight,” and then just before the crash telling it to “pass behind” the plane.”I just saw a fireball and it was gone,” one air traffic controller was heard telling another after communication with the helicopter was cut.Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac river and the fuselage of the passenger jet was inverted and broken into three sections.US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — who won the 1994 world pairs title — were on the jet.The Bombardier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary, with 60 passengers and four crew on board, was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.US Army officials said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers on a “training flight.”Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.”Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.”It looked like a Roman candle.”- Trump criticizes traffic control -While other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — President Donald Trump posted a critical take on the incident on social media.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”Why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National, with operations set to resume at 11:00 am (1600GMT).American Airlines’ chief executive Robert Isom expressed “deep sorrow,” while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -It was unclear how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and nearby traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan National and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in January 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off but quickly plummeted, hitting the 14th Street bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac River. Seventy-eight people died.

A passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday after colliding midair with a military helicopter, with US media reporting multiple bodies pulled from the dark, near-freezing water.A massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.”We’re going to be out there as long as it takes,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.Citing local sources, CBS News said at least 18 bodies had been recovered, while NBC reported more than a dozen.US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — who won the 1994 world pairs title — were on the jet.”We unfortunately see that these sad reports are being confirmed. Our other fellow citizens were there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The Bombadier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.US Army officials said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers on a “training flight”.Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.”Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.”It looked like a Roman candle.”- Trump criticizes traffic control -President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed”, and added of any victims, “may God bless their souls.” Less than four hours after the disaster — and while other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — he took to social media to critique air traffic control.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”Why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National and the airport was not due to reopen until 11:00 am (1600 GMT) Thursday.American Airlines’ chief executive issued a video statement in which he expressed “deep sorrow”, while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -It was unclear how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and nearby traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan Airport and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in January 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off but quickly plummeted, hitting the 14th Street bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac River. Seventy-eight people died.Investigators concluded the pilot had failed to activate sufficient de-icing procedures.The last major fatal US air accident was in 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York crashed and killed all 49 people aboard.

President Ferdinand Marcos said Thursday his government will remove a US missile system from the Philippines if Beijing ends its “aggressive and coercive behaviour” in the contested South China Sea and ceases claiming Filipino territory.The US military deployed the Typhon missile system in the northern Philippines last year as part of an annual joint exercise, and Filipino troops have been training with it, with plans to acquire the system as a means to protect Manila’s maritime interests.Beijing’s forces have engaged in several confrontations with Philippine vessels in recent months over disputed reefs and waters in the strategically located South China Sea.The US mid-range weapon system’s presence on Philippine soil has angered China, which has warned Manila was “inciting geopolitical confrontation and an arms race” in the region.”I don’t understand the comments on the Typhon missiles. We don’t make any comments on their missile systems, and their missile systems are a thousand times more powerful than what we have,” Marcos told reporters Thursday during a visit to the central city of Cebu.”Let’s make a deal with China: Stop claiming our territory, stop harassing our fishermen and let them have a living, stop ramming our boats, stop water-cannoning our people, stop firing lasers at us, and stop your aggressive and coercive behaviour,” Marcos said.”If they stop doing all these things, I will return” the Typhon system to the United States, he added.Manila and Washington are bound by a mutual defence pact, and the recent South China Sea clashes have sparked fears the US military could be drawn into a war with China.The Philippine military said this week another of its platoons would be trained on using the Typhon system in February, ahead of annual joint drills with key ally the United States.

A US passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday after colliding midair with a military helicopter on a night training exercise, prompting a desperate search for survivors in the dark, near-freezing water.The plane was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.American Airlines, whose subsidiary PSA Airlines operated the Bombardier regional jet, said “there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft.”A US Army official said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers — their status currently unknown. They had been on a “training flight,” a separate military spokesperson said in a statement.Washington police said “there is no confirmed information on casualties at this time.”However, a massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.”We’re going to be out there as long as it takes, and we’re obviously trying to get to people as soon as possible, but we are going to recover our fellow citizens,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said at a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.”We will re-evaluate where we are with the rescue operation in the morning, when we get a better sense of it,” Donnelly said.”But we are still out there working, and we’re going to continue that throughout the night.”Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.”Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.”It looked like a Roman candle.”- Trump criticizes traffic control -President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed” and said of any victims, “may God bless their souls.” But less than four hours after the disaster — and while other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — he returned to social media to critique air traffic control.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”Why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National and the airport was not due to reopen until 11:00 am (1600 GMT) Thursday.American Airlines’ chief executive issued a video statement in which he expressed “deep sorrow”, while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -Questions were expected to focus on how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and nearby traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan airport and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in January 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off but quickly plummeted, hitting the 14th Street bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac River. Seventy-eight people died.Investigators concluded the pilot had failed to activate sufficient de-icing procedures.The last major fatal US air accident was in 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York crashed and killed all 49 people aboard.

A US passenger plane carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s chilly Potomac River on Wednesday after colliding mid-air with a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport, prompting a major emergency response and the grounding of all flights.The plane had been about to land after flying from Kansas.American Airlines, whose subsidiary operated the flight, said “there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft.”A US Army official said the helicopter was a Black Hawk model carrying three soldiers — their status currently unknown.Washington police said “there is no confirmed information on casualties at this time,” although a massive search and rescue operation was in progress. The Washington Post quoted unnamed sources saying police had started to pull multiple bodies from the Potomac.Witness Ari Schulman described “a stream of sparks” and what looked like a large firework when the nighttime collision erupted overhead as he drove home.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN. “Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added. “It looked like a Roman candle.”President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed” on the accident and said of any victims, “may God bless their souls.” – Dark, near-freezing river -The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National, and Washington’s police said on X that “multiple agencies” were responding to the crash site in the Potomac.Kristi Noem, the country’s new secretary of homeland security, posted on X that she was “deploying every available US Coast Guard resource for search and rescue efforts in this horrific incident at DCA.”Police said fireboats had joined the operation on the river, where any work was complicated by the fact it was dark and close to freezing. Dozens of fire trucks headed toward the airport and divers could be seen going off boats into the Potomac.The FAA said a Bombardier regional jet operated by American Airlines subsidiary PSA Airlines “collided in midair” with a Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter as it approached for landing at Reagan at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT). The plane had left from Wichita, Kansas.US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said the collision was “nothing short of a nightmare.””I ask the world to join me in praying for Kansas this evening, the first responders, rescue crews, and all those involved in this horrific accident,” he wrote on X. “I have been in contact with local and national authorities asking for answers and will continue to demand more information on how this unfolded.”

Donald Trump’s opponents have spent the days since his inauguration playing political whack-a-mole over a torrent of orders specifically calibrated to overwhelm and bewilder, say analysts, as the new president gets to work on his radical policy agenda.A chaotic first week saw him sign scores of divisive executive orders, as well as pardons or commutations for nearly everyone convicted of crimes — including serious violence — in the 2021 US Capitol insurrection.And then there were the new president’s freewheeling media appearances, the feuds with perceived enemies, dust-ups with the clergy, stripping of security details for critics, the launch of a meme crypto coin, and one headline-grabbing social media post after another.”He doesn’t just flood the zone, he drowns it,” said Evan Nierman, the founder and CEO of global crisis PR agency Red Banyan.”It’s a classic PR strategy: overwhelm, distract and control the narrative before anyone else can. Flooding the zone is his way of making sure no single controversy sticks because there’s always a new one incoming.”Longstanding Trump cheerleader Steve Bannon explained the shock-and-awe strategy in 2018, when he argued that the real opposition to the Republican billionaire was not the Democrats but the media. “And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit,” he said.”Flooding the zone” is a phrase with roots in sports lingo, originally used to describe the tactic in US football of saturating the opposition’s defense until a weak spot opens.- Assault on Congress -But Bannon was also echoing a widespread authoritarian move, premised on the notion that politicians can avoid scrutiny over any individual outrage by bombarding and overwhelming the public’s attention span.The blizzard of headlines is disorienting, and it is supposed to be, say analysts. The point isn’t to persuade anyone of anything, it’s simply to ensure that critics don’t mobilize around a coherent narrative and that no one has control over the flow of information.”By throwing out an overwhelming number of policy changes and provocations, Trump has presented his opponents with giant game of whack-a-mole stacked very much in his favor,” political scientist Michael Montgomery, of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, told AFP.In his first week Trump dived headlong into America’s culture wars, ending all federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.There was a stay of execution for Chinese-owned app TikTok, a back-to-the-office demand for federal workers, a hiring freeze, renamings of the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali and a likely unconstitutional order to end birthright citizenship.This week Trump — whose approval rating is at its highest ever — sowed chaos across government agencies with a pause on most federal grants, launching a frontal assault on Congress’s constitutional role as controller of the budget.He was forced into something of a climbdown amid a ferocious backlash. But nearly forgotten in the furor were other extraordinary measures, including his firing — widely considered to be illegal — of 18 inspectors general, who are independent watchdogs of the federal government.The firing of multiple officials who had previously worked on the federal criminal investigations into Trump was likewise overlooked. – ‘Yesterday’s outrage’ -Katherine Cartwright, a co-founder of media buying agency Criterion Global, sees Trump as a vector of “Disaster Attention Deficit Disorder” — leaving those deluged by demands on their attention paralyzed, like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights Another attention tactic in which Trumpworld excels, she says, is the “Friday drop” — ensuring the most unwelcome headlines arrive late in the week and burn out quickly as people lose interest though the weekend. Trump’s new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — a TV host with no relevant management experience and serious questions over his character — was confirmed on a Friday and “washed from the news by Monday morning,” Cartwright said.Nierman, the crisis PR expert, sees the president’s unpredictability as both strategy and reflex. “Trump thrives in the churn, where the public’s attention shifts too fast for any one scandal to stick,” he said.”While everyone else scrambles to process yesterday’s outrage, he’s already on to the next, ensuring his version of events dominates both the day’s headlines and social media conversation.”But the long-term risk of flooding the zone, says Nierman, is the kind of Trump fatigue that caused voters to vote him out of office after his first term. “Even loyal supporters can grow tired of constant turmoil,” he told AFP. “And swing voters may ultimately crave stability over spectacle.”

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, faces a potentially fiery Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday amid staunch Democratic opposition to his nomination to head the top US law enforcement agency.Patel, 44, has drawn fire for his promotion of conspiracy theories, his defense of pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and his vow to root out members of the so-called “Deep State” who oppose the Republican president.Republicans have a 12-10 majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the panel is likely to approve the nomination of the former Trump advisor and Pentagon official, sending it to the full Senate where his prospects are less certain.Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate but three Republican senators voted against Trump’s inexperienced nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, forcing Vice President JD Vance to cast the tie-breaking vote.If confirmed, Patel, who holds a law degree from Pace University and worked as a federal prosecutor, would replace Christopher Wray as director of the 38,000-strong Federal Bureau of Investigation.Wray was named by Trump to head the FBI but their relations became strained. Wray had three more years remaining in his 10-year term but resigned after Trump won November’s presidential election.A son of Indian immigrants, the New York-born Patel served in several high-level posts during Trump’s first administration including as senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council and as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.Patel has a reputation of being a fierce defender of the president and supports the Republican hardliner notion of a “Deep State” of allegedly biased government bureaucrats working to stifle Trump from behind the scenes, even having written a book on the subject.His nomination has been denounced by Democrats and opposed by some Republicans, including more than 20 Republican former law enforcement officials who reportedly sent a letter to Republican senators urging them not to confirm Patel.According to The Hill, which obtained a copy of the letter, the Republicans said Patel lacks the “record and temperament for FBI leadership” and is “motivated by revenge.”- ‘Grave concerns’ -Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said following a recent meeting with Patel that he has “grave concerns about his fitness for the role of FBI director.””He is a staunch political loyalist who has repeatedly peddled false conspiracy theories and threatened to retaliate against those who have slighted him personally and politically,” Durbin said. “He’s even published an enemies list of 60 people who he calls ‘government gangsters.'”The senator said Patel’s “political grievances make him a favorite of the MAGA world but they have not prepared him to work night and day to keep America safe from violent crime, drug trafficking, terrorism, and other threats.”Trump has defended his choice, saying in a Truth Social post that Patel “is the most qualified Nominee to lead the FBI in the Agency’s History and is committed to helping ensure that Law, Order, and Justice will be brought back to our Country again, and soon.”Patel also got a vote of confidence from Trump’s pick to be attorney general, Pam Bondi, who said during her Senate confirmation hearing that “Kash is the right person at this time for this job.””Mr Patel would fall under me and the Department of Justice and I will ensure that all laws are followed and so will he,” Bondi added.According to US media reports, Trump sought to name Patel deputy director of the CIA or the FBI in the waning months of his first term in the White House but dropped the plan after then-CIA director Gina Haspel and then-attorney general Bill Barr threatened to resign in protest.

“Manifest Destiny” is back, with Donald Trump as its champion.In the 19th century, the phrase was used to invoke the divine justification for the United States to expand its territory westward all the way to the Pacific — in bloody campaigns that saw the conquering of Mexican and Native American lands.Trump’s second term as president, not even two weeks old, is already mixing religious fervor, nationalism and territorial expansion.The Republican has vowed to acquire Greenland — and declined to rule out the use of military force to do so. And he’s targeted the Panama Canal, insisting on taking back the key waterway from Panamanian control.Canada, meanwhile, would be better off as America’s 51st state, according to Trump.Though key to Trump’s aggressive foreign policy, threats of territorial expansion more akin to the 19th century have rattled Washington’s modern diplomatic relationships.Manifest Destiny was “a belief on the part of some Americans, in a particular moment in American history, that God intended this country to expand from one coast to the other,” historian Alan Kraut, of American University, told AFP.”That was sort of the American conception of itself: this was a country that had been somehow blessed by God with great resources… (and) vast amounts of land, and now it was being filled with people from various other parts of the world who were coming here in ever greater numbers.”- Tarnished president honored -If Manifest Destiny entwined religion and nationalism, Trump himself hasn’t shied away from those themes either.After two assassination attempts on the campaign trail, he said at his inauguration on January 20 that he was “saved by God to make America great again.”His own Manifest Destiny also includes 21st century twists.”We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” Trump said during his inauguration speech.US westward expansion in the 1800s was a particularly violent era in American history, with a war against Mexico and the dispossession of Native Americans.One of the grimmer chapters was the so-called “Trail of Tears,” where thousands of Native Americans were forced out of the US southeast.A portrait of president Andrew Jackson (1829-37), whose Indian Removal Act spurred what modern historians have in retrospect called the ethnic cleansing or genocide of the tribes, now hangs in the Oval Office at Trump’s request.Manifest Destiny was also key in the acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Hawaii under William McKinley, in office from 1897-1901.The tallest peak in North America used to bear his name before president Barack Obama renamed the Alaskan mountain to Denali, the name used by Alaska Natives.One of Trump’s first acts of office was to rename it Mount McKinley.- Outdated? -Reviving 19th-century style imperialist expansion won’t come without a fight, however.Canada, Greenland and Panama have all pushed back on Trump’s rhetoric, which is itself a callback to a young American nation teeming with immigrants and a booming population — a far cry from the president’s isolationist vision today.”Manifest Destiny of the old fashioned kind, of the 19th century kind, is gone, right?” said the historian Kraut.”There are other countries in the world that are powerful, there’s an interdependence among countries, whether Mr Trump realizes it or not.”