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Then-Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney points out something to then-Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush during a campaign stop in Casper, Wyoming, on July 26, 2000.
Hard Numbers: Dick Cheney dies, China sentences Myanmar scammers to death, Jamaica town left in ruins, OpenAI splashes cash on computing power
84: Former US Vice President Dick Cheney, a powerful and controversial leader who had outsized influence as President George W. Bush’s second-in-command, died on Monday at 84. Cheney was best known for pushing the 2003 invasion of Iraq, using flawed intelligence to justify the decision. His critics would later call him a war criminal. A stalwart of Wyoming and Republican politics, Cheney came to reject his own party after the rise of Donald Trump.
90%: As Jamaica continues to assess the damage from Hurricane Melissa, one town has found itself hit especially hard. In Black River, a town on the south of the Caribbean island, 90% of the homes have been destroyed. The power is still out in the town, phones are down, and food supplies are running out.
5: A Chinese court handed down death sentences to five members of a major Myanmar mafia as part of a larger crackdown on scamming in Southeast Asia. The convicts had run schemes worth billions of dollars involving human trafficking, fraud, sexual slavery and murder of Chinese citizens. Myanmar had extradited the scam leaders to Beijing early last year.
$38 billion: As part of its tireless, and expensive, race to to secure computing power, OpenAI signed a $38-billion deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that will allow the loss-making AI firm to use AWS infrastructure to run its products. OpenAI has now committed to spending an eye-watering $1.5 trillion on computing resources.
People are reflected in protective glass as they listen to Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump as he speaks during a rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, U.S. September 7, 2024.
Trump threatens to jail opponents
Just days before Tuesday’s much-anticipated presidential debate, Donald Trump posted to social media late Saturday that he would jail “those people that CHEATED” during the 2020 election, including “Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.” Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin on Friday, the former president promised that if reelected, he would “rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime” and sign their pardons on his first day back in office.
Kamala Harris’ campaign spokesperson, Sarafina Chitika, responded to the comments, saying that if Trump is reelected he will “use his unchecked power to prosecute his enemies and pardon insurrectionists who violently attacked our Capitol on January 6.” Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist David Rohde, author of “Where Tyranny Begins,” told NBC News on Friday that “To have the former President talking specifically about jailing his enemies … is a frightening thing.”
Some Republicans are also alarmed by Trump’s threats against democratic order. On Wednesday, former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney endorsed Harris, and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, followed suit on Friday, calling Trump a “threat” to democracy. Liz Cheney urged Republicans opposed to Trump to vote for Harris, warning that it’s “not enough” to simply withhold support. While Harris holds a narrow national lead, she faces a tighter contest in key swing states like North Carolina and Pennsylvania, where flipping Republican support would make a huge difference.
Now all eyes turn to the debate scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET hosted by ABC News — the first major set piece between the candidates, and incidentally, the first time they will ever meet face-to-face.
Reminder: Join us Wednesday morning on X at 11 a.m. to unpack Tuesday’s debate. Set a reminder here.
Ian Explains: 20 years since the Iraq War: Lessons learned, questions raised
The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, dubbed "Operation Iraqi Freedom," began 20 years ago. The Bush Administration told the world that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and the war would last weeks, but none of that was true.
In fact, almost nothing in the Iraq War went as planned. The US wasn't prepared for a violent insurgency that lasted years, killing thousands of US troops and hundreds of thousands of civilians. And two decades from its start, the war still casts a long shadow––the rise of ISIS, a civil war, ongoing violence and political turmoil.
With 20 years of hindsight, can we say the world is better off after the invasion of Iraq? What about Iraq itself? And what lessons can we learn to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past?
These are the questions Ian Bremmer asks US Senator Tammy Duckworth, who served in Iraq, and NBC's chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer. Watch the episode on US public television or right here: Iraq War's legacy: Loss of lives, rise of ISIS, & political turmoil
The case against pulling out of Afghanistan this year
Earlier this month President Biden did what three of his predecessors could not: he announced an unconditional end to the war in Afghanistan after twenty years of American boots on the ground. This week, US Congressman Mike Waltz (R-FL), a combat-decorated Green Beret who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, joins GZERO World to explain why he thinks President Biden's announcement will end in catastrophe, for Afghans and Americans alike.
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- Podcast: Rep. Mike Waltz's case against ending the war in Afghanistan ›
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- Is the US abandoning NATO in Afghanistan? - GZERO Media ›
- Is the US abandoning NATO in Afghanistan? - GZERO Media ›