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Biden's preaching the benefits of democracy in Europe, but new concerns rise back home
CNN
President Joe Biden's attempts to talk up democracy in Europe this week are facing headwinds from back home, where revelations about the Justice Department's attempts to obtain Democrats' data have raised new concerns about the state of American politics.
Throughout his time here, Biden is making the case to American allies that democracy must prevail over a rising tide of authoritarianism. His argument has been that democracies are better at providing for their people and the world. He has openly acknowledged that democracies are often messy. But he said this week that the world had reached an "inflection point" where the competition between democracy and autocracy is coming to a head.
The retired Air Force general announced as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Donald Trump after the abrupt Friday night firing of his predecessor is a respected career F-16 pilot who is described by current and former officials who served with him as a professional with a “strong moral center.”
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Over the past 10 days, Vice President JD Vance put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on notice, rattled the confidence of century-old allies in Western Europe during his first foreign trip, decamped to Capitol Hill to help in delicate budget talks and delivered a spirited defense of the Trump administration’s first month to a gathering of conservatives outside the nation’s capital.