A5
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019
Trump abandons
Kerchaert: Trained on tour in New Orleans
— that’s you fl exing the mus-
Kurdish allies in Syria Continued from Page A1
‘I THINK THE CORE OF WHAT
cle of your awareness or your
By ROBERT BURNS,
LOLITA C. BALDOR
and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President Donald Trump on
Monday cast his decision
to abandon Kurdish fi ght-
ers in Syria as fulfi lling a
campaign promise to with-
draw from “endless war”
in the Middle East, even as
Republican critics and oth-
ers said he was sacrifi cing a
U.S. ally and undermining
American credibility.
Trump declared U.S.
troops would step aside for
an expected Turkish attack
on the Kurds, who have
fought alongside Ameri-
cans for years, but he then
threatened to destroy the
Turks’ economy if they
went too far.
Even Trump’s staunch-
est Republican congressio-
nal allies expressed outrage
at the prospect of abandon-
ing Syrian Kurds who had
fought the Islamic State
group with American arms
and advice. It was the lat-
est example of Trump’s
approach to foreign pol-
icy that critics condemn as
impulsive, that he some-
times reverses and that fre-
quently is untethered to the
advice of his national secu-
rity aides.
“A catastrophic mis-
take,” said Rep. Liz
Cheney of Wyoming, the
No. 3 House Republican
leader. “Shot in the arm to
the bad guys,” said Sen.
Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina.
Trump said he under-
stood criticism from fellow
GOP leaders but disagreed.
He said he could also name
supporters, but he didn’t.
Pentagon and State
Department offi cials held
out the possibility of per-
suading Turkey to abandon
its expected invasion. U.S.
offi cials said they had seen
no indication that Turkey
had begun a military oper-
ation by late Monday.
Trump, in late after-
noon remarks to reporters,
appeared largely uncon-
cerned at the prospect of
Turkish forces attacking
the Kurds, who include
a faction he described as
“natural enemies” of the
Turks.
“But I have told Tur-
key that if they do anything
outside of what we would
think is humane ... they
could suffer the wrath of an
extremely decimated econ-
omy,” Trump said.
In recent weeks, the U.S.
and Turkey had reached an
apparent accommodation
of Turkish concerns about
the presence of Kurdish
fi ghters, seen in Turkey
as a threat. American and
Turkish soldiers had been
conducting joint patrols in
a zone along the border.
As part of that work, bar-
riers designed to protect
the Kurds were dismantled
amid assurances that Tur-
key would not invade.
Graham said Turkey’s
NATO membership should
be suspended if it attacks
into northeastern Turkey,
potentially
annihilating
Kurdish fi ghters who acted
as a U.S. proxy army in a
fi ve-year fi ght to eliminate
the Islamic State’s so-called
caliphate. Graham, who
had talked Trump out of a
withdrawal from Syria last
December, said letting Tur-
key invade would be a mis-
take of historic proportion
and would “lead to ISIS
reemergence .”
This all comes at a piv-
otal moment of Trump’s
presidency. House Dem-
ocrats are marching for-
ward with their impeach-
ment inquiry into whether
he compromised national
security or abused his
offi ce by seeking nega-
tive information on former
Vice President Joe Biden,
a political rival, from
Ukraine and other foreign
countries.
Kerchaert said the show
was tongue-in-cheek. She
said she was receiving call-
backs for auditions in fi lm
and television, but she was
consistently typecast as a call
girl, mistress or young girl.
Her one-woman show
was about a personal sha-
manic
healing
journey
through the lens of a call girl
from the 1920s who could
travel through space and time
for the sake of uncovering her
roots as a priestess.
“It was really fun and wild
and wacky and I even got a
grant from the city of Chi-
cago to produce it,” Ker-
chaert said. “And then it was
like this total fork in the road
moment where I reached
this point where I had actu-
alized this dream and goal I
had set for myself of writing
and performing in a one-per-
son show.
“A nd it was kind of this
breaking point where if I
stayed I think things would
have taken off in my career as
an actor, yet my heart wanted
something else. And that was
the path of a healer.”
Kerchaert decided to
move to New Orleans and
devote herself to energy heal-
ing , which felt like a terrify-
ing leap into the unknown.
After moving, her acu-
puncturist became a mentor
and teacher and encouraged
Kerchaert to embrace her
intuitive nature, telling her
that was her gift.
Her acupuncturist facili-
tated Access Consciousness
and Access Bars, which is
intended to deeply relax the
body by lightly touching 32
points on the head, allowing
the recipient to deepen their
level of consciousness. This
practice helped Kerchaert in
her own healing process, and
eventually, she learned how
to facilitate it for others.
Kerchaert then began to
explore tarot cards and prac-
ticed giving herself a full
reading every day.
In the evenings, Kerchaert
worked as a haunted ghost
I’M ABOUT IS HELPING PEOPLE
MOVE THROUGH THAT PHASE
INTO BECOMING MORE OF WHO
THEY ARE. AND ESPECIALLY
WOMEN ... IT’S KIND OF LIKE
BEING IN THE BUSINESS OF
EMPOWERING OTHER WOMEN .’
Aislinn Kerchaert | energy healer
tour guide in the French
Quarter giving live storytell-
ing performances .
She then mustered up the
courage to offer readings
on her tours and eventually
began reading tarot cards for
an entertainment company
and at a historic shop in the
French Quarter called Bot-
tom of the Cup.
Tea leaf, tarot and palm
readings at Bottom of the Cup
became the training ground
for her to practice deepen-
ing her intuition. She eventu-
ally stopped doing tours and
became a full-time intuitive
psychic reader.
“It’s more about what’s
available now in this space
that’s presented to us,” Ker-
chaert said. “It’s kind of
when you get out of your
own way and you’re the most
relaxed, those awarenesses
come through.
“Like the ability to think
of a friend and then they call
and then you acknowledge it
ability to receive. A nd the
more you practice that, the
stronger it gets. A nd that’s
just you building the bridge
to your own intuitive nature.”
New Orleans also became
Kerchaert’s base to travel
throughout Europe, Hawaii
and the Pacifi c Northwest.
She and her boyfriend
decided to move to the Pacifi c
Northwest and were drawn to
Astoria.
Her goal as an energy
healer is to help people move
through their transitions and
forks in the road by helping
them deepen their awareness
of themselves and discover
their gifts .
“I think the core of what
I’m about is helping people
move through that phase into
becoming more of who they
are,” Kerchaert said. “And
especially women ... it’s kind
of like being in the busi-
ness of empowering other
women .”
Where: Liberty Theatre, Astoria, Oregon
When: Saturday, October 12, Doors open 6:30 p.m. Show at 7:00 p.m.
All tickets: General Admission $25 in advance, $35 day of show
On Sale Now
libertyastoria.showare.com or Liberty Theatre Box Office