US Politics

Democratic and independent candidates stump the US midwest and prairie states, hoping to win over Republican strongholdsIn this final stretch of the US midterm elections, Democrats and independents could win back communities and towns across America’s rural heartlands through a combination of resurgent “prairie populism”, local despair over the impact of Donald Trump’s agenda and an old-fashioned tenet of shoe-leather politics: showing up everywhere.When Dan Osborn rolled into one of the most rural counties in Nebraska earlier this month, he started walking into businesses in the tiny main drag of Arthur, ready to meet whomever he could in the town of about 100. Continue reading… More

How a rebuilt, historic California baseball diamond embodies ‘the contradictions in America’s legacy’When Dan Kwong first dreamed of staging baseball games at the Japanese American concentration camp where his family was held captive during the second world war, he thought of it as an exercise in living history, an eye-catching way to convey the trauma of 120,000 men, women and children who were locked up in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.Baseball was a passion for Kwong, a 71-year-old performance artist from Los Angeles. He knew that the wartime internees had played the game not just as a distraction from their predicament, but as a quiet expression of their loyalty to the United States. He wanted to stage an event that would cast the game as an act of resistance, and teach new generations about the damage governments do when they strip a whole segment of the population of their constitutional rights. Continue reading… More

Barack Obama headlined a rally for Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for the US Senate, in Detroit on the first day of early voting in Michigan. The former US president told thousands of supporters at Cass technical high school that the 3 November election was an ‘inflection point’ for American politicsObama rallies rapturous Michigan crowd for El-Sayed: ‘He’ll finish the job we started’ Continue reading… More

Joanna Coles and Michael Wolff spend most of their days thinking about the president’s follies for their podcast, Inside Trump’s Head. Someone’s gotta do itFor a couple of journalists who spend such an inordinate amount of time sloshing around the putrid inner recesses of Donald Trump’s mind, they come across as remarkably chipper.Michael Wolff, chronicler of the 45th and 47th president, and Joanna Coles, chief creative and content officer of the Daily Beast, are just about to record the 168th episode of their runaway podcast, Inside Trump’s Head. Now in its 15th month, the thrice-weekly show is attracting an expanding audience as it digs down into Trump’s unique blend of megalomania, narcissism and insatiable lust for fame. Continue reading… More

James Blair’s data-driven approach delivered victory in 2024 but president’s unpopularity and idiosyncratic style do not bode well this timeThey are both young, bald and fathers of four. They are also the brains behind Donald Trump. But while Stephen Miller is infamous as the US president’s ideological enforcer, James Blair could, in the words of Time magazine, “be the most important person in Donald Trump’s Washington you’ve never heard of”.That imbalance is deceptive, however. Blair has sufficiently impressed Trump to earn the nickname “Brilliant James”. And a well-positioned source told the Guardian: “I would say that James is probably twice, five times, 10 times more effective than Stephen Miller.” Continue reading… More

Brazil, Israel, Serbia and the US are holding elections within the space of 10 days. Will the authoritarian right cement its global gains, or can pro-democracy forces make a comeback?Four elections on four continents within 10 days could profoundly reshape global politics, propelling the world further along its current authoritarian trajectory or marking a limited comeback for democratic norms.In all four contests, basic democratic norms are at stake at a time when autocracy is advancing worldwide at an alarming rate. According to the Sweden-based V-Dem Institute, which uses multivariable assessment tools, the democratic freedoms enjoyed by the average global citizen are down to levels last seen in 1978 – long before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Europe. Continue reading… More

State attorney general said Trump’s justice department’s directive to verify 20,000 ballots is completely improperCalifornia’s attorney general on Saturday rebuked the Trump administration’s efforts to quash alleged noncitizen voting, calling it “politicizing and weaponizing the law”.Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney general, said the justice department acted at Donald Trump’s direction. Continue reading… More

Former president speaks to crowd of thousands in support of Abdul El-Sayed for US Senate and Democratic ticketBarack Obama told a Detroit crowd on Saturday that Abdul El-Sayed was “fighting for change, real change, that will get money out of politics and put money in your pocket”, as he threw his weight behind the Democratic Senate candidate and the rest of the ticket on the first day of early voting in Michigan.Obama said in front of thousands of onlookers at Cass technical high school in Detroit that El-Sayed would “finish the job we started with the Affordable Care Act and guarantee quality, affordable healthcare to every single American”. Continue reading… More