Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, considering a 2020 presidential run, said Thursday that President Donald Trump has done "plenty of racist things" to divide the nation while failing to deliver on health care reform and other promises.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the two-term Democratic mayor who already has visited the important presidential election states of Iowa and New Hampshire said he intends to make a decision on his candidacy by March.
To oust the president in a 2020 campaign, Garcetti said his party needs to show Trump doesn't back up his words. He pointed to Trump's promise to deliver a better health care plan than President Barack Obama's model. "How's that going?" he asked.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti talks during an interview with the Associated Press in Los Angeles on Thursday Aug. 16, 2018. Garcetti, who already has visited the important presidential states of Iowa and New Hampshire, told The Associated Press he'll likely make a decision on his candidacy by March 2019. In a wide-ranging interview, the mayor touched on issues from the city's homelessness crisis to immigration. (AP PhotoRichard Vogel)
"We need to show this is not a strong man, this is a thin-skinned and ineffective person who isn't saying everything wrong, he's bringing up some good points, but he's not producing anything," Garcetti said. "And then the rest of the time he's dividing us and trying to take things away from us."
The mayor said that while "racism is something that lives in everybody," Trump "seems to be much more comfortable with his racism, letting it out."
"We do have a president, a commander in chief, who is using race to divide us. And not just race — immigration status, geography. He wants to divide us by these kind of essential categories, to point fingers," Garcetti said.
He stopped short of calling Trump a racist but said "he certainly has done plenty of racist things." Garcetti said it's important for the public to know if Trump used the N-word as alleged by fired White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.
In the wide-ranging interview, the mayor touched on issues from the city's homelessness crisis to immigration. He did not join some other Democrats in calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement but said its mission must be changed.
"We have political leadership that has given ICE this mission that is destructive to families, to economies and to even the safety on our streets," he said.
No candidate has ever ascended directly from a mayor's office to the presidency, but Garcetti has argued that the work of mayors is essentially the type of chief executive work a president does. And in his case, he's overseen a city that has a roughly trillion-dollar economy, behind only Tokyo and New York among world cities.
When asked about the characteristics a candidate would need to topple Trump in 2020, he appeared to describe himself in saying America needs someone not prone to theatrics and who listens more than speaks.
"President Trump is a great insulter. He's a pretty practiced bully. But I think American people don't want just somebody fighting with President Trump. They want somebody listening to them," he said.
"Average American people are just looking to connect with someone they trust. I don't think they trust Trump at the level that they did, even those who like him," he said.
Garcetti added he "can fire it up too," though he's known for a polished, mannerly disposition.
Strongly Democratic California has been a mainstay in the so-called Trump resistance, but Garcetti said Trump's tenure has amounted to more threats than any broad change in the way the city conducts business.
Should he run for president the expected crowded Democratic field could include fellow Californian Kamala Harris, a first-term U.S. senator and former state attorney general. Garcetti called her a dear friend and said what she does won't influence his decision.
AP Writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will pull the majority of its troops from Chad and Niger as it works to restore key agreements governing what role there might be there for the American military and its counterterrorism operations, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Both African countries have been integral to the U.S. military’s efforts to counter violent extremist organizations across the Sahel region, but Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement last month that allows U.S. troops to operate in the West African country. In recent days, neighboring Chad also has questioned whether an existing agreement covered the U.S. troops operating there.
The U.S. will relocate most of the approximately 100 forces it has deployed in Chad for now, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday at a press briefing.
“As talks continue with Chadian officials, U.S. AFRICOM is currently planning to reposition some U.S. military forces from Chad, some portions of which were already scheduled to depart. This is a temporary step as part of the ongoing review of our security cooperation, which will resume after Chad’s May 6th presidential election," Ryder said.
In Niger, the majority of the 1,000 U.S. personnel assigned there also are expected to depart, Ryder said.
U.S. and Nigerien officials were expected to meet Thursday in Niger's capital, Niamey, “to initiate discussions on an orderly and responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces," the State Department said in a statement late Wednesday. Follow-up meetings between senior Pentagon and Niger officials are expected next week “to coordinate the withdrawal process in a transparent manner and with mutual respect,” Ryder said.
Called status-of-forces agreements, these deals allow the U.S. to conduct critical counterterrorism operations within both countries' borders and have supported military partner training. The reversals have prompted concern that U.S. influence in Africa is losing ground to overtures from Russia and China.
Relations have frayed between Niger and Western countries since mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president in July. Niger’s junta has since told French forces to leave and turned instead to Russia for security.
Earlier this month, Russian military trainers arrived to reinforce the country’s air defenses and they brought Russian equipment, which they would train Nigeriens to use.
Niger plays a central role in the U.S. military’s operations in Africa’s Sahel region, a vast region south of the Sahara Desert. Washington is concerned about the spread of jihadi violence where local groups have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida and the Islamic State groups.
Niger is home to a major U.S. air base in the city of Agadez, about 920 kilometers (550 miles) from the capital, which is used for manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations. The U.S. also has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in training Niger’s military since beginning operations there in 2013.
Officials from the State Department, U.S. Africa Command and the Pentagon will work with Chad’s government to make the case for U.S. forces to continue operations, Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Adm. Christopher Grady said Wednesday.
Grady told The Associated Press in an interview that if both countries ultimately decide the U.S. cannot remain, the military will have to look for alternatives to run counterterrorism missions across the Sahel.
“If we are asked to leave, and after negotiations that’s the way it plays out, then we are going to have to recalculate and figure out a new way to do it,” Grady said.
The news of the departure of U.S. forces in Chad was first reported by The New York Times.
FILE - Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Adm. Christopher Grady, right, arrives for a closed door briefing about the leaked highly classified military documents, on Capitol Hill, April 19, 2023, in Washington. Grady says there's been no final decision on whether or not all U.S. troops will leave Niger and Chad. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
US to pull troops from Chad and Niger as the African nations question its counterterrorism role
US to pull troops from Chad and Niger as the African nations question its counterterrorism role
FILE - A U.S. and Niger flag are raised side by side at the base camp for air forces and other personnel supporting the construction of Niger Air Base 201 in Agadez, Niger, April 16, 2018. The United States is attempting to create a new military agreement with Niger that would allow it to remain in the country, weeks after the junta said its presence was no longer justified, two Western officials told The Associated Press Friday April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Carley Petesch, File)
