Why Republicans who criticised him are still with him ? - NBC News

Republicans who blasted Trump are still standing by him. Here’s why.
by CHUCK TODD, MARK MURRAY and CARRIE DANN
WASHINGTON — Over the past year, we’ve witnessed prominent Republicans — who’ve been critical of President Trump and his volatile behavior — still stand behind the president or his policies.
Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who denounced Trump on the Senate floor back in October ("When the next generation asks us: 'Why didn't you do something? Why didn't you speak up?' What are we going to say?"), has consistently voted for Trump’s policies and nominees.
Retiring Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. – who also blasted Trump last fall ("His governing model is to divide and to attempt to bully and to use untruths”) — still voted for Trump’s tax legislation.
And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who said Trump was “crazy,” “unifit” and “a kook” during the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, has emerged as a key Trump ally.
On “Meet the Press” yesterday, Graham explained why he still sticks up for Trump: 1) because Trump is president, and 2) because Trump can help him with his policy goals.
CHUCK TODD: I've got to ask you something. The president sort of joked with you the other day and he said, "Boy, Lindsey used to be a great enemy of mine, and now he's a great friend of mine." What's changed? A lot of, a lot of your friends have been asking me that, going, "Hey, ask the senator why he's suddenly cozying up to President Trump." What would you say to them?
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Because he's president of the United States, he's going to make a decision about immigration, I've been working on for a decade. He's president of the United States, going to make a decision about North Korea, which is one of the biggest threats to the world at large. He's going to decide whether or not to stay in the Iranian agreement. I've enjoyed his company. He beat me like a dog. I've said everything I know to say about him. I, I used every adjective on the planet. I lost, he won. And I feel an obligation to help him where I can. I've enjoyed working with him. I don't think he's crazy. I think he's had a very successful 2017. And I want to help him where I can. And we should all want him to be successful. He's got a lot on his plate.
In other words, if Graham still denounced as a “kook” and “unfit,” he’d be unable to influence the president on immigration and North Korea. And Graham sees it as an obligation to help Trump succeed.
Bottom line: The congressional GOP’s relationship with Trump isn’t going to change until people back up their words with action. And everything we have learned about the Trump presidency over the past week — the “Fire and Fury” book, Trump’s relatively empty schedule, his reaction to questions about his stability — is troubling. And remember, the job hasn’t really gotten hard yet; there has been no international crisis in Year One.
Lindsey Graham on the Russia probe: “Bob Mueller is doing a great job”
Also in his interview on “Meet the Press” yesterday, Graham said he stood behind special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. “All I can say is that it's not a hoax. The Russians stole the emails. They did interfere in our elections. We now know that Trump Junior met with the Russians in Trump Tower and that Bob Mueller is doing a great job. He's the right guy at the right time. He needs to be allowed to do his job.”
But he also said there needs to be a second special counsel to investigate potential wrongdoing at the Justice Department and FBI. “There's a bunch of stuff about the Department of Justice, how they conducted themselves, that need to be looked at just as much as Trump needs to be looked at.”
“A very stable genius”
Additionally on “Meet” yesterday, the author of the new “Fire and Fury” book on the Trump White House said that concern of Trump’s stability has become so great that the 25th Amendment has become a frequent topic inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Michael Wolff “said White House staffers he talked to would say things like ‘we're not at a 25th Amendment level yet.’ Others, he said, called Trump's behaviors ‘a little 25th Amendment,’” per NBC’s Kailani Koenig. The 25th Amendment would allow the president’s cabinet to remove him from office.
Responding to those kinds of allegations, Trump took to Twitter over the weekend. “Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart,” adding: “I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!"
Trump also said this at Camp David Saturday: “I went to the best colleges for college. I went to a — I had a situation where I was a very excellent student. Came out and made billions and billions of dollars. Became one of the top businesspeople.”
 Wolff: 25th Amendment is discussed in the White House every day 1:56
Bannon’s non-apology apology
On Sunday, according to NBC’s Hallie Jackson, Kelly O’Donnell and Kristen Welker, Steve Bannon released a statement backtracking from calling that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr./Paul Manafort/Jared Kushner and the Russians as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.” But it wasn’t a full backtrack. Here’s the statement:
Donald Trump, Jr. is both a patriot and a good man. He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around.
My support is also unwavering for the president and his agenda — as I have shown daily in my national radio broadcasts, on the pages of Breitbart News and in speeches and appearances from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Arizona and Alabama…
My comments about the meeting with Russian nationals came from my life experiences as a Naval officer stationed aboard a destroyer whose main mission was to hunt Soviet submarines to my time at the Pentagon during the Reagan years, when our focus was the defeat of 'the evil empire,’ and to making films about Reagan's war against the Soviets and Hillary Clinton's involvement in selling uranium to them.
My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge of how the Russians operate. He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were not aimed at Don Jr.
Everything I have to say about the ridiculous nature of the Russian 'collusion' investigation I said on my 60 Minutes interview. There was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt.
I regret that my delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr. has diverted attention from the president's historical accomplishments in the first year of his presidency.
As NBC’s Jonathan Allen decodes the statement, Bannon doesn’t deny he said the meeting was treasonous and unpatriotic; he admits he can’t afford to alienate Donald Trump Jr.; he stresses that the Russians are a potential threat; and he doesn’t mention Jared Kushner AT ALL.
For relaxing times, make it Executive Time
In First Read last Friday, we observed how Trump didn’t hold a single public event in first workweek back from the Christmas/New Year’s holiday. And yesterday, Axios’ Jonathan Swan reported on Trump’s shrinking schedule.
“President Trump is starting his official day much later than he did in the early days of his presidency, often around 11am, and holding far fewer meetings, according to copies of his private schedule shown to Axios,” Swan writes. “This is largely to meet Trump’s demands for more ‘Executive Time,’ which almost always means TV and Twitter time alone in the residence, officials tell us.”
By the way, here’s Trump’s schedule today: He speaks at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention in Nashville, Tenn., at 4:10 pm ET, and then he attends the NCAA national championship football game in Atlanta.
Talks are underway about Trump’s interview with Mueller
NBC’s Kristen Welker, Carol Lee, Julia Ainsley and Hallie Jackson: “Anticipating that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will ask to interview President Donald Trump, the president’s legal team is discussing a range of potential options for the format, including written responses to questions in lieu of a formal sit-down, according to three people familiar with the matter."
More: “Trump’s legal team is seeking clarification on whether the president would be interviewed directly by Mueller, as well as the legal standard for when a president can be interviewed, the location of a possible interview, the topics and the duration. But the president’s team is also seeking potential compromises that could avoid an interview altogether, two of those interviewed told NBC News.”

It Appears Stephen Miller’s CNN Meltdown Wasn’t Just for Show - Intelligencer ( New York Magazine )

8/1/2018

It Appears Stephen Miller’s CNN Meltdown Wasn’t Just for Show

By

Margaret Hartmann

@MargHartmann

Yelling at journalists will definitely convince people that the book is fake news. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Apparently concerned that his tweets proclaiming himself to be a “very stable genius” did not convince the American people of this fact, on Sunday President Trump dispatched senior White House adviser Stephen Miller to repeatedly shout this point on CNN. At several points during the deeply bizarre interview, Jake Tapper accused Miller of hamming it up to please Trump, who was presumably tuning in to his least favorite TV network.

“There’s one viewer you care about right now, and you’re being obsequious, you’re being a factotum in order to please him,” Tapper said, ending the interview as Miller tried to shout over him. “I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time.”

Trump seemed to confirm Tapper’s theory by quickly tweeting his praise for Miller, but perhaps the performance wasn’t solely for the president’s benefit. According to Business Insider, Miller remained so agitated that eventually CNN had him escorted out of the studio:

White House adviser Stephen Miller was escorted off the set of CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday after a contentious interview with host Jake Tapper.

Two sources close to the situation told Business Insider that after the taping was done, Miller was asked to leave several times.

He ignored those requests and ultimately security was called and he was escorted out, the sources said.

Arden Farhi, a producer with CBS News, backed up this report.

@ArdenFarhi

A source at @CNN re the Stephen Miller interview with @jaketapper on @CNNSotu:

“The segment was over and Mr. Miller was politely asked to leave the set multiple times—after refusing to leave, he was escorted out by security.”

2:22 PM - Jan 8, 2018

As Tapper alluded to in the interview, Miller was once seen as Steve Bannon’s ally in promoting a nationalist agenda, but as the White House strategist’s star fell, he aligned himself with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. According to the Washington Post, in the fallout from the publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, White House aides have made it clear that all Trump allies must pick a side: the president’s, or Bannon’s.

Bannon issued an apology over the weekend, but it did nothing to improve the situation. Trump’s friend and Newsmax chief executive Christopher Ruddy dismissed the mea culpa, saying it had “nothing to do with repairing the relationship with Trump,” and everything to do with “repairing his relationship with Trump supporters who read Breitbart and big donors he depends on” (primarily, the Mercer family).

The Post reported that Bannon knows his political future looks grim:

He has tried to convince allies in recent days that all will be fine — even texting one “onward!” — but he seems jolted and “even more manic than normal,” in the words of one person who spoke to him. He has remained ensconced in his Capitol Hill townhouse, with a rope on the steps blocking people from approaching. “STOP!” a large red sign reads, urging visitors to check in downstairs.

“He knows he is at his lowest point,” said one associate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “He won’t tell you that, but he knows it.”

But one Bannon ally told Politico that there’s a silver lining: “You’ll see a more serious Bannon come out of this.”

Finally, we may see a more serious side of the guy portrayed as the grim reaper on Saturday Night Live.

Trump’s Twitter Threats Put American Credibility on the Line - New York Times

Trump’s Twitter Threats Put American Credibility on the Line

By STEVEN ERLANGERJAN. 7, 2018

BRUSSELS — Since the first of the year, President Trump has attacked a variety of countries in Twitter posts, urging protesters to overthrow the Iranian government, threatening to blow up North Korea and calling for cuts in aid to the Palestinians. In bluster and tone, he has begun 2018 where he left off.

Two things stand out about the foreign policy messages Mr. Trump has posted on Twitter since taking office: How far they veer from the traditional ways American presidents express themselves, let alone handle diplomacy. And how rarely Mr. Trump has followed through on his words. Indeed, nearly a year after he entered the White House, the rest of the world is trying to figure out whether Mr. Trump is more mouth than fist, more paper tiger than the real thing.

Countries are unsure whether to take his words as policy pronouncements, or whether they can be safely ignored. If Mr. Trump’s threats are seen as hollow, what does that do to American credibility? In a series of Twitter posts on Saturday, Mr. Trump reacted to questions about his mental fitness by calling himself a “very stable genius.”

Even if there is a recognition that Mr. Trump’s tweets may be largely intended to let off steam or reassure his domestic base, there is an increasing sense that the credibility of the administration, and the presidency itself, is being eroded.

Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, recently repeated some of Mr. Trump’s more belligerent tweets and said: “This is our commander in chief. Think about it.”

The words of the American president matter, he added in a Twitter message: “That is why so many of this president’s tweets alarm. The issue is not just questionable policy on occasion but questionable judgment and discipline.”

Rason, North Korea. Despite Mr. Trump’s Twitter posts, Pyongyang has gone ahead with tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Credit Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The bottom line, Mr. Haass said, is that Twitter posts should be handled as seriously as any other White House statement, lest the currency of what the president says comes to be devalued.

Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson addressed Mr. Trump’s Twitter posts in a recent interview with The New York Times Magazine, saying his department’s approach was “resilient enough” to handle the unexpected and still pursue long-term goals. “I take what the president tweets out as his form of communicating, and I build it into my strategies and my tactics,” he said.

But the Twitter posts have already devalued the president’s words, argues R. Nicholas Burns, a former career diplomat and ambassador to NATO, who teaches at Harvard and worked with Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “These are statements of the president, of the U.S. government, so the tweets are important,” Mr. Burns said.

“Even when Mr. Trump is right,” defending Iranian protesters or objecting to North Korean missile tests, “there’s always some excess or some objectionable statement that undermines American credibility, and it’s hard to win that back,” he said. “Allies and opponents invest in your judgment and common sense.”

He pointed to Mr. Trump’s decision to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, however delayed or symbolic. That broke with years of international policy consensus, which called for the status of Jerusalem to be settled in peace talks.

“When you give away the status of Jerusalem unilaterally and get nothing from Israel and anger the Palestinians and challenge the world and then you lose, it’s a disastrous example of lack of U.S. credibility,” Mr. Burns said.

The decision infuriated the Palestinians and the Europeans. Then, Mr. Trump and his United Nations envoy, Nikki R. Haley, threatened to cut off aid to any country that opposed the new American position in a vote in the General Assembly.

A protest at Tehran University this month. Some critics believe Mr. Trump’s full-throated support for the demonstrators has actually helped the hard-liners. Credit Associated Press

In the end, the vote was a humiliating rebuke of the United States, 128 to 9, with 35 abstentions. Most European allies voted against the United States, and even European allies in Central Europe, who consider Washington a key guarantor against Russia, did not vote with Washington but abstained.

A senior European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly, called the Jerusalem episode destabilizing and said it had come when the Middle East and the world did not need it.

As much as the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has annoyed Mr. Trump with his criticism of the Jerusalem move, saying that it disqualified Washington from a serious role in any peace talks, even Israel has urged Mr. Trump to abandon his threat to cut off aid to the United Nations agency that looks after millions of registered Palestinian refugees.

On North Korea, despite Mr. Trump’s Twitter posts, Pyongyang has gone ahead with tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles and has given no indication that it will agree to denuclearize in exchange for talks with Washington. Instead, it has gone around Washington to reopen talks with Seoul.

Even on Pakistan, where Mr. Trump followed through last week on threats to suspend aid over the country’s ambiguous support for the American battle against the Taliban, the president was for the Pakistanis before he was against them.

In one of his first calls with a foreign leader after being elected, Mr. Trump spoke with the Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and gushed that he was a “terrific guy.”

“Mr. Trump said that he would love to come to a fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people,” Mr. Sharif’s office said in a statement describing the call. “Please convey to the Pakistani people that they are amazing and all Pakistanis I have known are exceptional people.”

A port in Shanghai, China. Mr. Trump’s position on China has been changeable. Credit Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

More recently, Mr. Trump switched to threatening them, saying on Twitter that Pakistan had “given us nothing but lies & deceit” and accusing it of providing “safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.”

The public humiliation outraged Islamabad, giving an opening to China, which moved within 24 hours to praise Pakistan’s fight against terrorism. Pakistan then agreed to adopt the Chinese currency for transactions, to improve bilateral trade.

François Heisbourg, a French defense and security analyst, commented tersely about Mr. Trump’s anger this way: “Pushing Pakistan into an exclusive relationship with China.”

Mr. Trump has been equally changeable with the Chinese, whom the president repeatedly threatened to punish for what he termed trade dumping and currency manipulation, only to say in December that he had “been soft” on Beijing, needing its help on North Korea.

Some suggest that Mr. Trump’s Twitter posts should not be taken so seriously. Daniel S. Hamilton, a former State Department official who directs the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University, says that Mr. Trump “uses these tweets and social media to secure his political base,” and “whether the tweets turn into a policy or not is a whole different question.”

One cannot ignore presidential tweets, Mr. Hamilton said, “but their purpose is not to make daily policy pronouncements.” Mr. Trump is well aware of their impact and timing, and when he tweets so early in the morning, Mr. Hamilton said, “it sets up the media for the whole day.”

For those around Mr. Trump in Washington, the daily battle is to “try to temper his temperament,” Mr. Hamilton said. “But for the allies it’s very hard to read.”

A protest against American aid cuts in Chaman, Pakistan, at the border with Afghanistan. Credit Asghar Achackzai/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

But when Mr. Trump’s threats are not followed through — or are tempered by White House staff, Congress or the courts — that undermines American credibility, too.

While allies do not necessarily take his Twitter posts as policy pronouncements, they still create significant confusion, said Pierre Vimont, former French ambassador to Washington and former top aide to the European Union foreign policy chief.

Even in areas where allies agree — for example, on the threat posed by North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-un — “we have a hard time understanding the real policy line from Washington,” Mr. Vimont said.

There are clear differences with European allies on climate change, multilateral trade and Jerusalem, he said, “but even on Ukraine and Syria, where we could agree, we have difficulty understanding where U.S. leadership is, what they are really looking for.”

On Iran, for example, many Europeans agree with those protesting against the Islamic government, but believe that Mr. Trump’s full-throated support for them on Twitter helps the hard-liners and hurts the moderates.

The Europeans are united in trying to keep a dialogue going with Iran and to preserve the nuclear accord, which many say should be improved but kept separate from other issues.

President Emmanuel Macron of France criticized the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia last week for encouraging the antigovernment protests, saying the stance “is almost one that would lead us to war.” Mr. Macron said France wanted to avoid “surreptitiously rebuilding an ‘axis of evil,’” a reference to the countries singled out by former President George W. Bush — Iran, North Korea and Iraq.

“Trump’s tweets do shape how others react,” said Leslie Vinjamuri of SOAS, University of London. “If they were once aimed at his base, they now seem a way for Trump to shout back at the world, and he keeps circling back to the same issues. In some ways, he’s predictable, emotional and erratic, but he’s not consistent.”

But no one can ignore the president of the United States, Ms. Vinjamuri said.

“The U.S. still matters, and people are a bit afraid,” she said. “There’s a lot of hedging going on, countries abstaining but not voting against him. But that’s not enough for Trump. This is a man who wants loyalty.”

Donald Trump 'starts his working day at 11am - later than at beginning of presidency' - Independent

8/1/2018

Donald Trump 'starts his working day at 11am - later than at beginning of presidency'

President has first meeting at 11am after spending morning in residence watching TV and tweeting, report claims

Samuel Osborne @SamuelOsborne

Donald Trump's days finish around 6pm, according to his private schedule

Donald Trump's schedule has reportedly become shorter than it was at the start of his presidency and he is starting his work day much later.

The US President demanded more "executive time," according to private schedules obtained by Axios, which officials said "almost always means TV and Twitter time alone in the residence."

The schedule says Mr Trump has "executive time" in the Oval Office each day between 8am and 11am, but instead he often spends time in his residence watching TV, tweeting or making phone calls.

He then begins his first meeting at 11am, which is typically an intelligence briefing, according to Axios.

Theresa May refuses to condemn Donald Trump in Andrew Marr interview

Mr Trump's days are also shorter than during the early days of his administration, the news site reports, and finish around 6pm when he returns to his residence.

George W Bush usually arrived at the Oval Office by 6.45am, while Barack Obama preferred to work out and got to the office between 9am and 10am.

Responding to the Axios article, Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: "The time in the morning is a mix of residence time and Oval Office time but he always has calls with staff, Hill members, cabinet members and foreign leaders during this time.

"The President is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen and puts in long hours and long days nearly every day of the week all year long.

"It has been noted by reporters many times that they wish he would slow down because they sometimes have trouble keeping up with him."

Apple urged to tackle smartphone addiction by two large investors - Reuters

7/1/2018

Apple urged to tackle smartphone addiction by two large investors

A leading activist shareholder asks Apple to consider developing software that would limit children's phone use

Elizabeth Dilts

Social media and smartphone use has been linked to increased levels of depression

Apple shareholders Jana Partners and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System are urging the smartphone maker to take steps to address what they say is a growing problem of young people getting addicted to Apple’s iPhones, Jana partner Charles Penner said.

Jana, a leading activist shareholder, and CalSTRS, one of America’s largest public pension plans, delivered a letter to Apple on Saturday asking the company to consider developing software that would allow parents to limit children’s phone use, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Sunday.

Jana and CalSTRS also asked Apple to study the impact of excessive phone use on mental health, according to the publication.

Every iPhone can be hacked – here's what you need to do

CalSTRS and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jana and CalSTRS together control about $2bn worth of Apple shares, the Journal reports.

The social rights issue is a new turn for Jana, which is known for pushing companies it invests in to make financial changes.

However, the issue of phone addiction among young people has become a growing concern in the United States as parents report their children cannot give up their phones. CalSTRS and Jana worry that Apple’s reputation and stock could be hurt if it does not address those concerns, according to the Journal.

Half of teenagers in the United States feel like they are addicted to their mobile phones and report feeling pressure to immediately respond to phone messages, according to a 2016 survey of children and their parents by Common Sense Media.

The phone addiction issue got a high-profile boost from the former Disney child star Selena Gomez, 24, who said she cancelled a 2016 world tour to go to therapy for depression and low self-esteem, feelings she linked to her addiction to social media and the mobile photo-sharing app Instagram.

Reuters

The one thing you're getting wrong with your sleep routine - Daily Mail

The one thing you're getting wrong with your sleep routine

Posted 7/1/2018

by Louis Doré in discover

UPVOTE

Getting a good night's sleep eludes a surprising number of people these days.

Some blame the blue light of electronic screens, others blame our attention span and caffeine habits. Many suggest a lack of exercise is a contributing factor.

Some 39 per cent of people in England suffer disrupted sleep, according to one survey.

What you may not realise is how your alarm is affecting your sleep - especially if you change the time frequently.

Australian sleep expert Dr Carmel Harrington told Whimn:

Most people don’t know that the time you get up in the morning affects the time you will be able to fall asleep that night.

When we see bright light in the morning our brain switches off the production of melatonin and it is this off-switching that actually sets up our 24 hour body clock.

In short, consistency is key as both bedtimes and wake-up times dictate they circadian cycle of sleep and waking experienced by the body.

It's therefore recommended you keep a fairly regular wake up time, so as to not throw out your cycle (which can affect your rest and acuity), it's also recommended you stay off electronics for an hour before bed.

After all, it's quite a gear change to go from visually stimulated to fast asleep - especially with high action TV or video games.

The National Sleep Foundation explain that the nature of the light emitted by our devices is one of the key issues:

This is largely due to the short-wavelength, artificial blue light that’s emitted by these devices. The more electronic devices that a person uses in the evening, the harder it is to fall asleep or stay asleep.

Besides increasing your alertness at a time when you should be getting sleepy, which in turn delays your bedtime, using these devices before turning in delays the onset of REM sleep, reduces the total amount of REM sleep, and compromises alertness the next morning.

Over time, these effects can add up to a significant, chronic deficiency in sleep.

And definitely do not check your phone momentarily if you wake up in the night, even to check up on Trump's tweets.

Harvard researchers found the blue light could shift people's sleep schedules by up to three hours.

Plus, you may not sleep after reading POTUS' feed.

@realDonaldTrump

....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!

11:30 PM - Jan 6, 2018

HT Daily Mail

Malaysia's 92-Year-Old Former PM Returns to Politics to Challenge Country's Leadership - TIME

8/1/2018

Malaysia's 92-Year-Old Former PM Returns to Politics to Challenge Country's Leadership

By EILEEN NG / AP 3:36 AM EST

(KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia) — Malaysia’s opposition alliance has named 92-year-old former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as its prime minister candidate for upcoming general elections to boost its chances of wrestling power from a coalition that has ruled since independence.

The announcement Sunday by the four-party Hope Alliance puts an end to squabbling over the thorny issue and is seen as a major show of unity ahead of polls that must be held by August but are widely expected in the second quarter.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has clung to power despite an epic corruption scandal that involved hundreds of millions of dollars passing through his bank accounts. Support for his ruling National Front coalition has dwindled in the last two elections. In 2013, the coalition lost the national popular vote for the first time to the opposition.

Analysts said the opposition still faces an uphill battle due to party infighting, unfavorable electoral boundary changes and strong support for the government from rural ethnic Malays.

“Clearly the opposition is trying hard to prove that they are united. It is a potential risk (to Najib) as Mahathir is still attractive to the Malays but the government still has the upper hand due to an unlevel playing field,” said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, who heads the think tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.

Government leaders scorned the candidacy of Mahathir, who will be the world’s oldest leader if the opposition wins. Government minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan called his candidacy a stumbling block to the opposition’s reform agenda.

“It’s laughable for (the opposition) to appoint Mahathir as the next PM and expect him to implement those reforms,” he tweeted. “It’s a tragedy to their own cause….anyway, I thank (the opposition) for making it even easier for (the ruling coalition) to win the upcoming general election.”

Mahathir, Asia’s longest-serving leader for 22 years before stepping down in 2003, was an authoritarian who made a high-profile return to politics in a bid to oust his protege Najib.

Najib has sacked critics in his own government including an attorney general and deputy prime minister and muzzled the media since the scandal erupted two years ago. The U.S. and several other countries are investigating allegations of cross-border embezzlement and money laundering at 1MDB, a state investment fund set up and previously led by Najib to promote economic development but which accumulated billions in debt. Najib has denied any wrongdoing.

The opposition coalition Sunday also agreed on allocation of seats for the polls and to limit the prime minister’s tenure to two terms if they win. The coalition, which includes the party led by jailed former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, also said they will seek a royal pardon for him so that Anwar can take over from Mahathir as the next prime minister.

Anwar was Mahathir’s deputy until he was sacked in a power struggle in 1998 and later imprisoned on charges of corruption and sodomy that Anwar said were trumped up. Anwar was freed in 2004 but in 2015 he returned to prison following a second sodomy conviction that critics said was a political conspiracy to break up the opposition. He is due for release in June.

Mahathir told The Associated Press in an interview last year that the opposition could win a simple majority in the polls by tapping into anger at Najib’s corruption scandal and rising cost of living.