US Politics

Subterms

    More stories

    • 225 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump’s comeback victory, after reshaping his party and national politics, looks a lot like Andrew Jackson’s in 1828

      by

      As the nation prepares for a second Donald Trump presidency, some history-minded people may seek understanding in the idea that it wasn’t until Richard Nixon’s second presidential term that the serious consequences arrived.

      But as a scholar of American politics, I don’t think that’s the right parallel.

      Trump has already faced most of the situations that brought down Nixon – a congressional investigation and federal prosecutors’ inquiries.

      Trump has survived by – consciously or not – following the example of another American president who created a political party in his own image and used it to rule almost unchecked: Andrew Jackson, whose portrait Trump hung in the Oval Office during his first term.

      Unlike Nixon, Trump outlasted investigations

      Richard Nixon was reelected by an Electoral College landslide in 1972 in the midst of the Watergate scandal, in which people affiliated with Nixon’s reelection campaign broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and then sought to cover up their actions. Although Nixon started off his second term with sky-high approval, his demise soon followed.

      A Senate special committee investigating the Watergate break-in was established just 18 days after his inauguration in January 1973. By the summer of 1974, evidence of Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate crimes had become overwhelming. In an Aug. 7, 1974, visit to the White House, Republican congressional leaders asked the president to step down. He announced his decision to resign the following day, Aug. 8, 1974.

      Trump, however, has already weathered numerous legal battles, investigations and controversies. From the Jan. 6 committee to special prosecutor Jack Smith’s probes and the Mar-a-Lago documents case, Trump’s political career has been marked by repeated confrontations with legal and political institutions – including two impeachments by the House, though both were rejected by the Senate.

      The House Jan. 6 committee announced four recommended charges against Donald Trump, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S.
      Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

      After the Republican Party’s loss in 2020 and an underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterms, many within the GOP urged Trump to step aside to allow for a new generation of leaders. But Trump held firm.

      Investigations stalled or were delayed, giving him breathing room through to the 2024 election. Now, with his his return to the White House, Trump will almost certainly end the federal investigations, and there’s little sign that state cases will press forward soon.

      In recent years, historical revisionism – popularized by Tucker Carlson – has taken place within segments of the Republican Party. Under this view, Nixon wasn’t ousted for his involvement in Watergate but rather was the victim of a system aligned against him. But where Nixon stepped aside, Trump has fought back.

      Like Jackson, Trump reshaped his party

      In many ways, though, Trump more closely resembles Jackson than the scandal-plagued Nixon.

      Following his narrow defeat in the controversial 1824 election, Jackson, much like Trump would two centuries later, claimed the election had been stolen.

      Jackson seized on his supporters’ frustrations, reorganizing the Democratic-Republican Party, which ultimately rebranded itself as the Democratic Party, in his own image. His followers championed his cause, creating state and local Democratic parties and building a powerful grassroots movement.

      As a result, the Democratic Party democratized its nomination process, moving from elite-driven congressional caucuses that chose candidates behind closed doors to well-attended party conventions. This shift allowed voters to participate directly in the candidate selection process.

      The new Jacksonian Democratic Party not only aligned with his views but also introduced a wave of increased political participation. Through what became known as the “spoils system,” Jackson rewarded loyalists by appointing them to government positions, ensuring that his allies held key roles in federal and state institutions. This approach allowed Jackson to implement his agenda more effectively, while also mobilizing his supporters at all levels of government, integrating them into the workings of American politics in unprecedented numbers.

      When he won election in 1828, Jackson’s efforts created a political landscape that gave him broad power, including actions that bypassed institutional checks.

      For instance, Jackson’s forced removal and relocation of Native American communities from their ancestral lands – the “Trail of Tears” – illustrated the dangers inherent when a president holds extensive unilateral power.

      Jackson disregarded judicial decisions and public outcry, acting with executive authority that appeared unconstrained. An 1832 Supreme Court ruling – Worcester v. Georgia – established tribal sovereignty, yet Jackson refused to enforce the ruling and the displacement of the Cherokee people continued.

      His restructured party and control over appointments allowed him to act with what seemed near-total impunity. Jackson demonstrated his power by vetoing the renewal of the charter for the Second Bank of the United States, then unilaterally directing the removal of federal deposits despite congressional support for the bank.

      A short film made by the Cherokee Nation with the National Park Service tells the tale of the Trail of Tears.

      Likewise, Trump has reshaped the Republican Party. His influence has been evident in Republican primary contests, where candidates aligned with Trump’s vision succeeded, and opponents – the so-called “Never Trumpers” and “RINOs” – found themselves pushed to the margins.

      This transformation has not been confined to rhetoric but is visible in the composition of state legislatures and in Congress, solidifying a pro-Trump ideology that extends to party policies and priorities. This shift gives Trump a firm foundation from which he can pursue his agenda.

      Furthermore, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has, in effect, become a guardian of the political revolution Trump has spearheaded, granting the executive substantial powers and legal protection.

      What to look for next

      But there are limits to what Trump can achieve, even with his strengthened position.

      Unlike in Jackson’s era, today’s federal bureaucracy is a vast, entrenched institution, with checks in place that may challenge or obstruct executive overreach. Some of Trump’s promises – particularly around immigration policy, social welfare reform and trade – are likely to encounter resistance, not only from Democratic opposition but also from civil servants and legal processes embedded within federal agencies.

      However, Trump has said he wants to substantially remake that federal bureaucracy, replacing experienced career public servants with political appointees aligned with Trump himself.

      Donald Trump’s return to office likely signals an end to at least some of the yearslong investigations into his past actions and ensures his hold over the Republican Party remains intact. With a loyal base of voters and supportive institutions, Trump is positioned to further reshape the American political system. More

    • 188 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      The role gender played in Donald Trump’s victory and his renewed efforts to remake America

      by

      Like many women, I’m having a horrible flashback. It’s 6 a.m. on Nov. 9, 2016 — the day after the United States presidential election that pitted Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump. I went to bed assuming Clinton had won.

      I remember thinking to myself on the night of that election that there was nothing to be worried about. Americans would do the right thing and vote for the most qualified person, not the reality TV star. I came into the dining room where my partner was sitting reading the news and looked at him hopefully when he told me, still in shock: “Trump won.”

      Read more:
      The real reason Trump won: White fright

      I was wrong eight years ago and I was wrong today about Vice President Kamala Harris’s chances of beating Trump.

      I hoped the polls were wrong and the race was not as close as it appeared to be in the swing states. I believed women would come out in droves to protect their reproductive rights. I hoped and assumed that white women, in particular, would turn out for Harris en masse. That was a false hope.

      Trump has been declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election after handily winning several swing states. He’s also on track to win the popular vote, something he failed to do in ’16. In fact, he has done better with almost all demographics in 2024 than he did in 2020.

      Voters cast their ballots in Indianapolis on Nov. 5, 2024 in the heavily Republican state of Indiana.
      (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

      Tight race

      It was a hard-fought battle and, according to the polls, neck and neck right up until the final days of the campaign.

      In hindsight, several questions have been answered that were not so clear just a day ago. Will America vote for a Black woman? No. Will Harris be able to do what Clinton couldn’t do eight years ago? No. Will she break the Oval Office glass ceiling? No.

      The fact that these questions were still in play in 2024, as Harris waged a disciplined campaign against an opponent as flawed and felonious as Trump, seems revelatory about the misogyny and racism that bedevils America.

      Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia.
      (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

      Gender played an outsized role in the election for several reasons. The overturning of Roe v Wade in June 2022 galvanized women across the U.S., especially when the deaths of several women after being refused pregnancy or miscarriage-related health care illustrated the consequences of these extreme anti-choice positions.

      Concerns about women’s reproductive rights and Trump’s casual dismissal of sexualized violence seemingly gave women, young and old, a cause to embrace.

      A survey in Iowa conducted by vaunted pollster Ann Selzer showed women 65 and older were voting for Harris by a two to one margin, though Trump ended up winning the state.

      TikTok videos showing Trump’s infamous “grab them by the pussy” comments went viral among young TikTokers who weren’t old enough to remember when the remarks originally surfaced in 2016. They spoke of their astonishment that their fathers and anyone with daughters, sisters or mothers could vote for such a person.

      But it was not enough, even though exit polls suggested a majority of women cast their ballots for Harris. Women apparently preferred Harris, but not by the margins her campaign had hoped.

      Trump’s allure to men

      On the other side of the gender equation are men. Trump’s appeal to young men increased as their apparent fears of being overtaken by women’s gains in equality were exploited.

      This is a disturbing trend. According to a September NBC poll, women backed the Democrats 58 per cent to 37 per cent, while men supported Republicans 52 per cent to 40 per cent. Research has shown that young women have become more liberal while young men have become more conservative, perhaps because they are angry at falling behind and losing their former advantages.

      The candidates themselves recognized the differences in support with their choices of podcasts and media appearances. Trump spent three hours with Joe Rogan — who subsequently endorsed him — for his podcast that skews heavily towards young men while Harris went on Call Her Daddy, a podcast directed at women under 35.

      In the end, the U.S. voted for what is called “hegemonic masculinity,” a cultural valorization of stereotypical male traits, and Trump’s endless and regressive belittling of women and “feminine” men won the day.

      Donald Trump waves to the crowd after speaking at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 5, 2024.
      (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

      The impact of white women

      Another key factor in the campaign was race.

      Exit polls suggested white women without college educations overwhelmingly voted for Trump, while white college-educated women cast their ballots for Harris.

      Prior to the election, most white women said they backed the Republican Party, but suggestions their support for Trump was wavering now seem unfounded. Exit polls suggest Harris didn’t perform as well with women voters as Joe Biden did in 2020.

      We don’t have the final numbers yet in terms of how white women in swing states ultimately cast their ballots, but they probably weren’t good. Democrats ran videos, one narrated by actress Julia Roberts, pointing out the obvious constitutional guarantee that women have the right to vote any way they wanted to — and that what happens in the ballot box should stay in the ballot box.

      The backlash against these ads was illuminating, suggesting there are still many men who think their wives should vote the way their husbands do and that it’s a betrayal if they don’t — and perhaps Trump’s win suggests their wives agreed.

      The loss of reproductive freedom was evidently not enough for white women to go against their race, their class interests — or possibly their husbands.

      Black, Latino men

      The other racial factor in the campaign was the perception of the dwindling support for Harris from Black and Latino men. Trump also increased his share of the Latino vote.

      And according to a New York Times poll, while Obama was supported by 93 per cent of Black Americans in 2008 and Biden was supported by 90 per cent in 2020, support had fallen to 73 per cent for Harris in 2024.

      Is this the result of sexism or internalized misogyny? Could Black men not bring themselves to vote for a Black woman?

      Barack Obama’s plea to Black men certainly seems to suggest a problem with sexism within that cohort of voters.

      Former U.S. president Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally in support of Kamala Harris on Oct. 28, 2024, in Philadelphia.
      (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

      After the 2016 election, the American Psychological Association coined the anxiety around the election results as election stress disorder.

      That stress has returned as the world now watches what will happen as Trump, with no guardrails, no checks and balances in place and billionaires by his side, attempts to remake America in his own authoritarian image. More

    • 250 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump has vowed to be a ‘dictator’ on day one. With this day now coming, what exactly will he do?

      by

      Trying to predict what Donald Trump will do during a second term in office is a fool’s errand.

      It is all the more challenging considering Trump has prioritised winning re-election far more than discussing a detailed policy agenda. In many ways, Kamala Harris had the same strategy of maintaining an ambiguous policy agenda, though to obviously lesser success.

      With that said, Trump comes back to the White House after not only four years of a prior tenure in the Oval Office, but also an additional four years since leaving office. These many years in the public eye may not tell us exactly what he will do, but they do give us an indication of his priorities.

      Trump’s ambiguous policy agenda

      Many point to Trump’s policy agenda as lacking both consistency and coherence.

      On one hand, he has touted his Supreme Court nominees for overturning Roe v Wade. On the other, he shied away from talking about abortion on the campaign trail and encouraged fellow Republicans not to legislate conservative restrictions.

      On one hand, many of his top advisors from his first term in office wrote the exceedingly conservative and controversial Project 2025 manifesto. On the other, he has distanced himself from it and the people who wrote it, saying he had never even read the document.

      And on one hand, Elon Musk, one of Trump’s biggest supporters and financial backers, has claimed he could cut the size of government, government spending and even a number of federal agencies. On the other hand, most economists have said the Trump campaign’s economic agenda would dramatically expand the federal deficit more than Harris’ proposed policies.

      It should be noted, however, there definitely is one area where Trump has never wavered: trade.

      Trump has maintained a protectionist stance for many decades, so we can expect
      consistency here. However, it remains unclear how much his Republican colleagues from rural parts of America will support such protectionist policies.

      The agenda for a ‘dictator on day one’

      The most well-known – and probably the most infamous – of Trump’s promises for his return to the White House was his statement about being a dictator “only on day one”.

      This quote became a well-known part of the Biden and Harris campaigns’ stump speeches against Trump. It’s perhaps less well-known what exactly he would do.

      He initially pledged to immediately close the border with Mexico and expand drilling for fossil fuels. On the campaign trail, he broadened his first-day priorities to also include:

      firing Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has charged Trump in two federal cases

      pardoning some of the rioters imprisoned after the January 6 2021 riots

      beginning mass deportations for the estimated 11 million people living in the United States without legal immigration status
      and ending what he has called “Green New Deal atrocities” within President Joe Biden’s framework for tackling climate change.

      Trump also, in a surprise to immigration activists, said he would also “automatically” give non-citizens in the country permanent residency when they graduate from college.

      What about his Cabinet?

      The old adage that “personnel is policy” applies to Republican and Democratic administrations alike.

      When Biden appointed Kurt Campbell to lead the White House’s Indo-Pacific efforts on the National Security Council, the move made clear that an “allies and partners” approach would define his administration’s policy in Asia.

      And when Trump appointed Mike Pence to be his running mate in 2016, it made clear to traditional Republicans that Trump would have a “Republican insider” in an influential position in his administration.

      Trump has made clear that Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will play sizeable roles in his administration, but it remains unclear exactly what they will do.

      Musk has promised to cut government regulation and red tape and Kennedy has pledged to “Make America Healthy Again”. On a practical level, however, it’s still too early to tell what type of role the two celebrities will have – particularly given Trump cabinet appointees will require Senate confirmation.

      Trump and Kennedy have grown closer in recent months.
      Evan Vucci/AP

      While the Republicans are going to control the Senate again, this doesn’t guarantee it will support his appointees. A slim Republican majority in the Senate in 2017 did not support all of Trump’s agenda.

      The high staff turnover that defined Trump’s first term of office may once again define his second term. There was also sometimes little coherence between his appointments. For example, Trump national security advisors Michael Flynn and John Bolton had little in common beyond a shared antagonism for the Obama administration’s policies.

      At the same time, deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger ultimately stayed for nearly the entirety of the Trump administration. He not only led much of Trump’s strategic policies toward Asia, but also defined the term “strategic competition”, which will likely outlast both the Biden and Trump administrations.

      The more things change, the more they stay the same

      Ultimately, if Trump’s second term in office is anything like his first term, then the prognostication about his policy agenda and personnel appointments will continue for some time.

      It’s therefore less valuable to guess what Trump will do than to focus on the long-term structural trends that would have continued regardless of who is in the White House.

      After all, the Biden administration maintained or sought to expand man of the Trump administration’s efforts abroad, including his “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” policy, tariffs, and the Abraham Accords that normalised relations between Israel and several Arab states.

      At home, the Biden administration built on Trump policies that included government support for domestic manufacturing, expansion of the Child Tax Credit and increasing restrictions on large technology firms.

      And furthermore, even a Harris administration would have been unlikely to view China as a fair economic partner, deploy US troops to the Middle East, or oppose NATO allies increasing their defence spending.

      Trump will undoubtedly remain unpredictable and unconventional, but it would be a mistake to think there are not clear areas of continuity that began before Trump and will continue long after him. More

    • 175 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden’s home town says farewell to ‘Scranton Joe’: ‘We were very proud of him’

      by

      There’s the President Joseph R Biden Jr Expressway that winds off the interstate into the center of Scranton. Then there’s Biden Street, tucked along one side of the square that houses the towering stone courthouse and the sparkling electric city sign downtown. Then there’s Biden Way, an honorary thoroughfare at the intersection of North Washington Avenue and Fisk Street, where the 46th president was born and lived until he was 10.At Hank’s Hoagies, just down the street from Biden’s childhood home in the Green Ridge section of Scranton, there is a life-size cutout of Biden and shelves of presidential memorabilia. The 46th president is also a member of the restaurant’s hall of fame.Yet for all the deep connection between Joe Biden and this scrappy Pennsylvania city, the president’s visit here on the final weekend of the campaign was relatively muted. He visited two union halls to stump for Kamala Harris, bringing his granddaughter Natalie on stage at one and singing Happy Birthday to a union worker at another.View image in fullscreenBiden may have represented Delaware in the US Senate for more than three decades, but he has always made it clear that he is a son of Scranton. For a president who has staked his presidency on defending the soul of the nation, Scranton, the small city nestled in the mountains of the Wyoming valley in what might be the most important swing state in the nation, has served as his moral compass. His adopted nickname, after all, is “Scranton Joe”.“He has represented our area, our city, and our county in a way that really, to me, is indescribable with such grace and such honor and such dignity,” said Bill Gaughan, a Lackawanna county commissioner who led the effort to rename a street in the city in honor of Biden. Asked what he thought Biden meant when he talked about “Scranton values”, Gaughan said: “I would describe it as similar to how the president describes it. When you get knocked down, people in Scranton pick you back up.”The first time Biden visited as president and drove on the expressway that bears his name, the president turned to Gaughan and told him how proud Biden’s mother would have been to see the sign.View image in fullscreen“We love him. He’s a good man,” said Rosalie Mesko, 85, who lives in Biden’s old neighborhood and said she remembered him and some of his friends from when they were kids. “We were very proud of him. I think he did a good job. He remembered Scranton.”Mary Hazzouri, who has lived in Biden’s old neighborhood for 20 years, said she would get excited every time she would hear him reference a landmark in Scranton. Asked what she thought Biden meant when he talked about Scranton values, she said: “I just feel like we’re middle class. Small town. Everybody knows everybody. Church and little things like that. It’s just a family-oriented town.”Every Friday, a small group meets at a local church to pray for the office of the presidency, said Marie Jordan, a photographer who grew up a few houses down from where Biden did. Jordan showed a reporter a photograph collage she had made of thousands of people who had visited Scranton.A woman walking her dog in front of Biden’s old house, a modest three-story colonial, said she didn’t remember Biden, but that they were the same age and went to St Paul school around the same time.“His family sounds like our family growing up,” she said. “It’s nice to see a kid from Scranton, St Paul’s, go to the White House.”This election, Scranton wasn’t just a symbol; it was a political battleground.View image in fullscreenBarack Obama carried Lackawanna county in 2012 by nearly 28 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton carried it by 3.4 points, underscoring how much Democrats had been slipping with white working-class voters. In 2020, Biden carried it by a little more than eight points – a performance Harris would have needed to match or improve to carry Pennsylvania. She wound up carrying it by about three points.Downtown on Biden Street, a storefront window has signs for Republican candidates, including Trump. The block where Biden grew up is sprinkled with lawn signs mostly for Democrats, but there are a few for Trump.A man out for an afternoon walk wearing a black “Make America great again” hat said he did not think Biden lived by the hardworking Scranton values he was said to stand for. But asked whether he was proud to have a son of Scranton in the White House, the man, who declined to give his name, said: “Of course.” Then he walked off.Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage

      Trump wins the presidency – how did it happen?

      Full presidential election results and map

      Abortion ballot measure results by state

      Republicans retake control of the Senate

      Senate, House and governor results More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Roars of delight from the Maga faithful as Donald Trump does the unthinkable

      by

      The news came at 1.20am. Playing on a giant TV screen, Fox News declared that Donald Trump had won the all-important state of Pennsylvania. The room erupted in roars and shrieks of joy. “It’s over!” shouted one man, turning to hug a stranger. “Fuck Joe Biden!” shouted a young bro in a black Maga hat. “Fuck her!”The crowd broke into chants of “USA! USA! USA!” – for them, a positive affirmation. For the rest of the world, it may have sounded like the ugly threat of a superpower bully it no longer understands.This was the scene at Donald Trump’s election watch party, a lurid spectacle in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday morning. The unthinkable had happened. Once seemingly down and out, Trump, a twice impeached convicted criminal, appeared to have fought his way back to the White House.“I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America,” said Senator JD Vance, now set to be vice-president.That may well be true. But to at least some of Trump’s critics, it will go down as the moment America elected its first fascist president.The people in the room scoffed at such a description. They welcome Trump’s tough stance on immigration and policies they believe will make the economy thrive. They believe Trump has been the victim of Democratic hoaxes and sabotage for years. Now it was payback time.The party was held in a somewhat nondescript convention centre. Inside a cavernous exhibition hall of blacks and greys, a giant “Trump will fix it!” banner hung on one wall and “Dream big again” banner hung opposite. People chatted, drank, milled around and helped themselves to a buffet of cheese and wine and other snacks.The guests were blonder, more tanned and more bejewelled than average. There was a blond woman with a gold necklace, gold and diamond bracelet and red leather dress; a 16-year-old African American girl in a Maga cap; a man in a checked suit and red Maga cap; a young Black man in a double-breasted grey suit and a Maga cap; a woman in a long red dress with floral tattoos climbing her right arm and a Maga cap.View image in fullscreenThree red, two white and three blue lights were suspended above a stage against the backdrop of a deep blue curtain and a giant Stars and Stripes. There were about 50 US flags on poles. Before them a blue lectern boasted: “Trump will fix it.”Two giant TV screens flicked between election coverage on CNN and Fox News. When Kamala Harris won Colorado and Illinois, the crowd booed. But as Trump picked up states, they erupted in cheers. The fog of uncertainty that had dominated this election was slowly lifting. A surge of confidence was palpable. The Maga fans began to believe their man was going to win.At 12.46am, the TVs showed an announcement from Washington that Harris would not be delivering an address. Immediately the Village People’s YMCA boomed from loudspeakers as the screens showed Trump pumping his fists at various rallies – an object of ridicule for his detractors; a sign of affection here.For those who has been present at Trump’s party in New York in 2016, there was a distinct sense of deja vu. History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.People gathered in front of the stage, forming a sea of red caps. Prominent among them was Blake Marnell, a rally regular who wears a suit styled after Trump’s wall. For a few minutes he held up a phone on which a message scrolled: “Trump will win!” Meanwhile a man studied the New York Times on his phone, anxious for updates.Then came the Pennsylvania announcement and bedlam ensued. Ethan Kirkegaard, 25, a property developer, said: “This is magical. We’re creating history right here. We’re on the right side of history, I truly believe. We’re so close to a victory. We just need a few more states to come through and I think we’re going to pull it off.”At 1.48am, the TV screens displayed: “Fox projects Trump elected 47th president.” There were more screams of delight. A group of young men in Maga caps hugged each other. “Let’s fucking go!” someone shouted. More chants of “USA! USA! USA!” Tricia Weldon, 52, clutching a drink, said: “This is history. I’m so excited. I feel like it’s a surreal moment.”At 2.24am the crowd’s patience was rewarded when Trump – wearing his customary dark suit, white shirt and long red tie – took the stage. The crowd joined in with his regular theme song God Bless the USA and raised a forest of phones to shoot photos and videos. “We love you, Trump!” one yelled.Melania Trump stood near her husband and was joined by Barron, the former president’s youngest son, whose pale white face contrasted with his father’s orange complexion. Trump’s older children – Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany – were all on stage too.“I want to thank my beautiful wife Melania!” Trump said. She smiled and waved. He praised her new book and went over to hug and kiss her. She kept smiling.Trump delivered a relatively low-energy speech for a man who, shadowed by criminal convictions and investigations, had just landed the ultimate get-out-of-jail card: the American presidency.“It’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us,” the uniquely divisive Trump said. “It’s time to unite.” The architect of the January 6 insurrection claimed again without irony: “This was also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom.”But the remarks were also freighted with grim omens for the second Trump administration. He gave a shout-out to Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, who has become one of his most high-profile supporters. “We have a new star,” he said. “A star is born: Elon.”Trump also lavished praise on vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy Jr, promising that he would help “make America healthy again”. The crowd chanted “Bobby! Bobby!”He left the stage to the familiar strains of YMCA. People danced and punched the air. Barron turned briefly and gave a farewell wave.It was a different universe from the mood for millions of Americans who will wake on Wednesday with ashen faces and sick stomachs, struggling to understand that Trump was not an aberration after all. His political resurrection is complete.The world, too, will be reeling. It has long known the most powerful nation on earth committed war crimes from Vietnam to Iraq. Many will now take the view that has also committed a crime against decency and democracy itself. More

    • 250 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      US election 2024 live: Donald Trump says ‘we made history’ as he closes in on victory with win in Pennsylvania

      by

      On stage in West Palm Beach, Trump declared victory and pledged to bring a “golden age” to the United States.“This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond,” Trump said.“And now it’s going to reach a new level of importance, because we’re going to help our country. We’ll help our country … we have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We’re going to fix our borders. We’re going to fix everything about our country. And we made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that we overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and it is now clear that we’ve achieved the most incredible political thing.”He continued:
      I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president, and every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future. Every single day, I will be fighting for you and with every breath in my body, I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America.
      Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, says Athens “looks forward to further deepening the strategic partnership between our two countries,” in a post on X congratulating Donald Trump on his election victory.At a time of regional turmoil, the centre right leader highlighted the need to continue working closely on geopolitical issues.Nato-member Greece has increasingly emphasised its role as a “pillar of stability” in the eastern Mediterranean – a role that in turn has been highlighted by the Middle East conflict.Hours before ballot boxes opened in the US, Mitsotakis said that while the presidential elections were of “particular importance for the entire international community” it was “absolutely necessary for Europe to come of age geopolitically. The time has come for Europe to re-energize itself by launching policies that go off the beaten track”.The comments have been interpreted as speaking to the nervousness many in Europe will feel about a Trump comeback.The video team have shared the below clips of Donald Trump supporters gathered at a watch party in Florida earlier erupting in celebration as Fox News called the 2024 race.The Associated Press, which the Guardian relies on for projections, has not yet called the election overall.Israel’s president Isaac Herzog has described Donald Trump as a “champion of peace” as senior figures in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government welcomed the prospect of the return of the former president to the White House.In a post to social media Herzog said:
      Congratulations to president Donald Trump on your historic return to the White House. You are a true and dear friend of Israel, and a champion of peace and cooperation in our region.
      I look forward to working with you to strengthen the ironclad bond between our peoples, to build a future of peace and security for the Middle East, and to uphold our shared values.
      Earlier, the Israeli prime minister Netanyahu himself offered congratulations, saying a Trump victory “offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America”.Israel’s newly appointed defense minister, Israel Katz, said he believed that a Trump presidency will “bring back the hostages” and defeat Iran, posting:
      Congratulations to president-elect Donald Trump on his historic victory. Together we’ll strengthen the US-Israel alliance, bring back the hostages, and stand firm to defeat the axis of evil led by Iran.
      Two far-right members of the Netanyahu cabinet, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir both used social media messages to invoke blessings from God on Trump, Israel and America. The two of them head parties which are for the exansion of Israel’s illegal settlements on the land of the occupied West Bank.Qatar’s Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, also offered congratulations to Trump, saying:
      I wish you all the best during your term and look forward to working together again to strengthen our strategic relationship and partnership, and to advancing our shared efforts in promoting security and stability both in the region and globally.”
      Qatar has been one of the nations working most closely with the US and Egypt in attempts to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. Hamas is believed to still be holding about 100 hostages seized from Israel on 7 October 2023, many of whom are thought to have been killed.Hamas, which launched the 7 October attack last year, leading to Israel’s sustained military assault on Gaza, has also reacted to the US election.Reuters reports senior official Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump would be tested on his statements that he can stop the war within hours as US president, and told the news agency: “We urge Trump to learn from Biden’s mistakes.”Charles Michel president of the European Council, which represents the leaders of the 27 EU member states has congratulated Donald Trump.The prime minister of Ireland, which is the European HQ to some of the US’s most important companies, has congratulated Donald Trump.“The people of the United States have spoken and Ireland will work to deepen and strengthen the historic and unbreakable bonds between our people and our nations in the years ahead,” said Simon Harris.Ireland’s relationship with the US is one of its most important economically and politically given its role over the peace deal in Northern Ireland.Foreign investment from the US is the backbone of the country’s economy with US multinationals including tech companies Google, Microsoft and Intel, employing 300,000 people in Ireland and contributing 50% of the country’s corporate tax.Here’s a video of Donald Trump speaking on stage in West Palm Beach, Florida, earlier where he pledgedto bring a “golden age” to the United States.The leader of the UK’s Liberal Democrats party has called a likely Donald Trump election victory “a dark, dark day for people around the globe” and described the Republican as a “destructive demagogue”.Ed Davey, who leads the third largest political party in the UK parliament, wrote on X:
      This is a dark, dark day for people around the globe. The world’s largest economy and most powerful military will be led by a dangerous, destructive demagogue.”
      In a statement recently released by the party, Davey added:
      The next president of the United States is a man who actively undermines the rule of law, human rights, international trade, climate action and global security.
      Millions of Americans – especially women and minorities – will be incredibly fearful about what comes next. We stand with them.
      Families across the UK will also be worrying about the damage Trump will do to our economy and our national security, given his record of starting trade wars, undermining Nato and emboldening tyrants like Putin.
      Fixing the UK’s broken relationship with the EU is even more urgent than before. We must strengthen trade and defence cooperation across Europe to help protect ourselves from the damage Trump will do.
      Now more than ever, we must stand up for the core liberal values of equality, democracy, human rights and the rule of law – at home and around the world.”
      The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has congratulated Donald Trump and urged him to work with her on a “transatlantic partnership”.Von der Leyen said the EU and US were “more than just allies”, but shared a deep bond “rooted in our shared history, commitment to freedom and democracy, and common goals of security and opportunity for all”.She said:
      Let us work together on a transatlantic partnership that continues to deliver for our citizens. Millions of jobs and billions in trade and investment on each side of the Atlantic depend on the dynamism and stability of our economic relationship.”
      Behind the scenes von der Leyen’s team has been preparing for a Trump victory for months, including by drawing up lists of US imports to Europe to target with tariffs, if Trump imposes punitive duties on European goods to the US.Donald Trump has won Michigan’s Saginaw county, a bellwether that bodes well for his chances of flipping the Great Lakes state Joe Biden won four years ago.Trump is leading with 84.2% of the votes counted, picking up 50.9% support to Kamala Harris’s 47.7%. In 2020, Biden beat Trump by winning 49.4% of the vote compared to the Republican’s 49.1%. The county supported Trump in 2016, when he won Michigan overall.The Associated Press has not yet called Michigan, but Trump currently has a lead of just under five percentage points over Harris.Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has congratulated Donald Trump and said he showed “strong US leadership” in his first term in office that strengthened the alliance.In a statement Rutte said he looked forward to working with Trump “to advance peace through strength through Nato”.Rutte, who took office last month, referred to the challenges facing the alliance without a direct reference to the war in Ukraine.He said:
      We face a growing number of challenges globally, from a more aggressive Russia, to terrorism, to strategic competition with China, as well the increasing alignment of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
      The veteran Dutch politician, reputed for knowing how to handle Trump, praised the US president-elect, while seeking to convince him of the value of the alliance.India’s prime minister Narendra Modi joined the ranks of world leaders congratulating Donald Trump on his presumed victory. In a post on X, Modi offered “hearty congratulations to my friend Donald Trump”, alongside several photos of the two men tightly embracing each other and holding hands.Modi, who has been Indian prime minister for a decade, was seen to have a close relationship with Trump during his first term in office, and Trump has repeatedly referred to “my friend Modi”.As it looked like Trump was claiming victory on Wednesday, Modi said he was “looking forward to collaboration” between the US and India and added:
      Together, let’s work for the betterment of our people and to promote global peace, stability and prosperity.”
      At the Republican watch party in Las Vegas, the crowd is giddy.The bar at the Ahern hotel is packed with excited, bleary-eyed supporters. In a city known for its flair and theatrics, many supporters are dressed up in their most flamboyant Maga gear. A man wearing a rubber Trump mask and a star-paneled cape draws laughs and cheers.Sari Utschen, 57, was wearing a homemade dress that was embroidered with the word “Trump” down the front in huge block letters, and string of LED lights draped like a scarf.“I feel relieved. I feel joyous,” she said.Utschen said she used to vote with Democrats in the 80s and 90s, but finds that the party has gone too far to the left in recent years. “I’ve been red-pilled,” she said, laughing. Over the past four years, she said: “I felt like we were being bamboozled under Biden. Nothing made sense.” More

    • 225 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Today is a day of despair for America. We are plunged into an anticipatory grief | Moira Donegan

      by

      Today is a day of despair, and it would be futile to tell those who fear and grieve for what is to come in America that they will be OK. It would also be dishonest: many of us, in truth, will not be OK.Donald Trump appears to have decisively won the American election. He and his Republican allies have promised mass deportations that will ruin lives and sunder families; they have threatened to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and appoint the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr to a position of authority on public health. They have pledged vast cuts to social security and Medicare, the persecution of dissidents and violent suppression of Trump’s political enemies. There will almost certainly be a nationwide abortion ban and this will further degrade women’s citizenship, rob them of their dignity, steal their dreams and ruin their health.For those of us aware of what Trump is capable of, this morning has plunged us into a cold kind of anticipatory grief. There are people in America who are reading the news with worry, who are bracing themselves for crackdowns and unrest, and who will, inevitably, be confirmed in their anxiety; who will discover that they have even more to fear from the coming administration than they now know. I’m thinking of all the ordinary Americans who are alive now, thriving or struggling in this declining country, who will have their lives destroyed or cut short by what is coming.For many, Trump’s victory will remind them of nothing so much as his 2016 upset over Hillary Clinton. Once again, his vulgarity, corruption, pettiness, narcissism and bigotry have been rewarded, at our expense; once again, the nation will be plunged into chaos as his vanity, greed, incompetence and anger take precedence over the national interest; once again, a violently and grossly misogynist man has been elevated to a position of superlative power over a flawed but competent, hardworking woman.But 2024 is not 2016. It is worse. In his first term, Trump’s incompetence was often an impediment to the worst of his agenda; no longer. Institutions, both in the government and in civil society, worked to slow or resist his program; now, many of them seem all too willing to participate, with universities and NGOs eager to launder Trumpism into respectability and the billionaire-controlled media eager to cut deals, suppress unfavorable coverage and minimize his misdeeds. And if in his first term Trump’s impulses were sometimes mitigated by moderates and institutionalists in his administration, by now those people have all been purged. He is surrounded by incels, bigots, conspiracists and sadists, and they are much better prepared to use the organs of the state to pursue their hateful aims. Trump himself even has the promise of broad criminal immunity, a recent gift from the supreme court that will enable his authoritarianisms in ways we cannot yet anticipate.But Trump’s victory, and his return to the White House, will not only be a catastrophe because of what they will mean for America’s future. They are also a horror for what they will do to our past. The last eight years, four under Trump’s governance and four under what American politics has become due to his influence, have prompted tremendous struggle and suffering. The groups he disparages – from immigrants, to women, to disabled people, to those from “shithole countries” – will be humiliated again by his return and betrayed by the countrymen who refused to vindicate their dignity with a vote against him. The people who have been harassed and threatened and attacked by his supporters have now seen their countrymen treat the violence that has been done to them with what they will read as indifference at best, and approval at worst.The historically marginalized among us – those who are Black, or trans, or female – have struggled to make their worthiness and citizenship meaningful in spite of the hatred and hierarchy that Trump has championed. This was the aim of the Women’s Marches, of #MeToo, of Black Lives Matter, which were in part rebukes to Trumpism, and symptoms of the desire for a different America, one that is less cruel to its citizens and more worthy of its stated ideals of liberty and justice for all. They dreamed of turning this country into a free nation of equals; instead, they must now settle for the smaller dream of keeping themselves safe from the worst of what is to come. Trump’s return to the presidency makes these bygone years of activism seem, in retrospect, like a humiliating exercise in futility.Does America deserve Trump? In the years since he rose to power, one theory posits that he is merely the manifestation of the nation’s unexorcised demons – a vestige of the racism that allowed this country to build its economy off the backs of the enslaved, of the casual relationship to violence that allowed it to build its territory and its global hegemony through violent conquest and coercion, of the grubby love of money and shameless disregard for principle that have always motivated our rapacious economy. In this version of the story, Trump is not merely a morbid symptom, but something like America’s comeuppance, a punishment for our sins. Living under his rule takes on the grim appropriateness of one of those ironic punishments in the underworlds of classical mythology, or in the hell of Dante’s Inferno. It is a feature of this horror that those who suffer most under his rule are usually those who are least culpable for these trespasses. Because we never really atoned – not for slavery, not for empire, not for the slaughter and dispossession of Indigenous Americans or the war and exploitation of foreign countries – this is what we now must endure: a figure who brings these cruelties home and who mocks our self-flattering delusion that we ever were, ever could have been, anything else.And yet there remain so many Americans who hope for this country to be something else, if only because they will not survive it otherwise. In the coming days, those who tried to prevent this outcome will turn on one another. Liberals and leftists will point fingers; various Harris campaign staffers will be named responsible for failed strategies in this or that state; someone will make a racist bid to scapegoat Arab Americans and the Uncommitted movement; and many people, smug and insulated from the worst of what is to come, will say that the Democratic party spent too much time campaigning on abortion rights issues.There is plenty of blame to go around. But for the most part, this finger-pointing will be a distraction, a way of putting off the confrontation with what is coming. Instead, I hope that we can turn our attention to the most vulnerable among us: those Trump has antagonized and ridiculed, those who are less safe today than they hoped they might be yesterday. It is those targeted groups who need us, our solidarity and careful attention. In turning to them, we can keep alive in ourselves some small part of the America that Donald Trump seeks to destroy.

      Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist More

    • 175 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      Starmer congratulates Trump and says ‘we stand shoulder to shoulder’ – UK politics live

      by

      Good morning. Keir Starmer has just issued a statement congratulating Donald Trump on his election victory, which now appears all but certain. Starmer said:
      Congratulations President-elect Trump on your historic election victory. I look forward to working with you in the years ahead.
      As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.
      From growth and security to innovation and tech, I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come.
      There will be plenty, plenty more UK reaction to the US election to come. I’ll be covering it here.And it is an important day in UK politics too, with Kemi Badenoch taking PMQs for the first time since her election as the new Conservative party leader.Here is the agenda for the day.Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.2.30pm: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about the budget.If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. I’m still using X and I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I’m also trying Bluesky (@andrewsparrowgdn) and Threads (@andrewsparrowtheguardian).I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.Kemi Badenoch, the new Conservative leader, and Priti Patel, the new shadow foreign secretary, have not yet issued a statement following Donald Trump supporting victory. Badenoch has not been as overtly pro-Trump as some Tories, like Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, but it is fairly clear where her sympathies lie. In a GB News hustings during the Tory leadership debate, asked if she favoured Trump or Kamala Harris, she replied: “I like both of them equally.” But she also laughed, implying it was a diplomatic answer, not a truthful one. She has also said she is a “huge fan” of Elon Musk, Trump’s richest and most influential supporter.But one Conservative MP, the rightwinger Nick Timothy, has been commenting on Trump’s win in detail. He has put a series of posts on social media highlighting the challenges raised for Labour. A lot of these are questions they will probably be asking in Downing Street this morning.
      I’m not into America-brained punditry but the US election poses questions of our government.
      1. Trump has made clear America will not subsidise European defence any longer. The Govt has refused to put a timeline on an increase in defence spending. What’s it’s plan? (1/n).

      2. American subsidies and the enormity of its equity market have drawn British talent and businesses across the Atlantic, even under Joe Biden. What is the response?
      3. Trump will adopt a more confrontational approach to trade with China. How will we handle that?

      4. We don’t know his Ukraine policy but it’s likely Trump will push for a deal. Does our Government back a deal or is its Ukraine policy independent?
      5. Trump will take a hard line towards Iran. Our Government won’t even proscribe the IRGC. What’s the policy?

      6. In the UN the UK has recently voted with European countries not America on eg Iran. Will that change?
      7. The constant in Trump’s career is his concern about the US trade deficit. If he goes protectionist with British produce, goods and services, what’s our response?

      8. On the many other issues that arise between the two countries – eg security cooperation, extradition, diplomacy – what’s the plan to ensure good relations?
      9. Who will be our next ambassador in DC? Labour blocked a skilled diplomat in Tim Barrow and have flirted with options including Mandelson, Miliband and Baroness Amos, who thinks we should consider paying reparations to Caribbean countries.

      11. How wise was it to appoint Lammy to this position when this election result was always a possibility?
      12. How wise was it to send armies of Labour activists to fight against Trump in the election?
      The Green party says Donald Trump is a “bigot, bully and liar”, and that people around the world must fight the “politics of hate” he represents. In a statement from the party, Carla Denyer, the co-leader, said:
      A dangerous bigot, bully, and liar is once again set to become the leader of the most powerful country in the world. A climate change denier, a proud racist and misogynist, and a man who has sought to subvert elections and incite insurrection.
      On this dark day, we stand in solidarity with all US citizens who fear a convicted criminal and a fascist in the White House. And we stand with all those around the world who dreaded this moment and must now live with its consequences, including those in Gaza and Ukraine.
      Together, those of us who believe in democracy must work together to overcome authoritarianism and the politics of hate.
      Another Labour politician who has criticised Donald Trump strongly in the past is Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader and now chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee. In an interview on the Today programme this morning she said Trump’s victory (or apparent victory – he still has not officially hit 270 electoral college votes) was “disappointing”, and that it made the world “unpredictable”.When it was put to her that she described him as a “racist, sexual predator” when he visited the UK during his first term as president, she replied:
      Well, he is. But he is the president of the United States, and we need to work with him.
      Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has put out a statement saying people in the capital will feel “anxious” about the results of the US presidential elections. He said:
      I know that many Londoners will be anxious about the outcome of the US presidential election. Many will be fearful about what it will mean for democracy and for women’s rights, or how the result impacts the situation in the Middle East or the fate of Ukraine. Others will be worried about the future of NATO or tackling the climate crisis …
      The lesson of today is that progress is not inevitable. But asserting our progressive values is more important than ever – re-committing to building a world where racism and hatred is rejected, the fundamental rights of women and girls are upheld, and where we continue to tackle the crisis of climate change head on.
      During Trump’s first term as US president, Trump publicly criticised Khan on various occasions, prompting Khan to respond robustly.The most detailed account of Keir Starmer’s private dinner with Donald Trump in New York in September (see 8.44am) appeared in an article by Tim Shipman in the Sunday Times at the weekend. Here is an extract.
      Twice during Sir Keir Starmer’s first dinner with Donald Trump at the end of September, the former president turned to the prime minister and said: “You’re a liberal, so we won’t always agree but we can work together.” At the end of the meal, he looked at Starmer and said: “You and I are friends.” Starmer’s team breathed a sigh of relief. With America set to choose a new commander-in-chief, personal relationships could define the future of the transatlantic alliance.
      An even bigger hit with Trump than the buttoned-up Starmer, however, was David Lammy, the foreign secretary. Lammy laughed in the right places at Trump’s jokes and the former president personally offered him a second portion of food, a moment of both levity and symbolism as a man accused of neo-fascist tendencies bonded with the descendant of slaves.
      Lammy, who attended Harvard Law School and has relatives in the United States, is given to the kind of back-slapping bonhomie that goes a long way in Washington. “David gets American politicians,” said one diplomatic source.
      The Stand Up to Racism campaign says it is organising a “No to Trump” protest at 6pm tonight at the US embassy in London. Weyman Bennett, co-convenor of of the group, said:
      Trump is a racist who gives every fascist and far-right activist a boost. His last presidency saw millions march against him. We are coming out to oppose him – and his racism, sexism, bigotry and Islamophobia again.
      Other organisations supporting the protest include the Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the Abortion Rights CampaignUK growth would be halved in the event Donald Trump wins the US presidential race and imposes the swingeing new tariffs he has threatened, a leading thinktank warned in a report published as the US election results starting coming in. Larry Elliott has the story.Opposition party politicians have scope to criticise Donald Trump in a way that members of a government that will have to deal with the Trump administration do not, and that is evident from the Liberal Democrats’ reaction to Trump’s election victory (which still have not been officially confirmed, but which seems very certain).Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, released a statement shortly after Keir Starmer’s (see 8.32am) saying that Trump declaring victory was a “dark, dark day” for the world and that it made fixing the UK’s relationship with the EU “even more urgent”.
      This is a dark, dark day for people around the globe. The world’s largest economy and most powerful military will be led by a dangerous, destructive demagogue.
      The next president of the United States is a man who actively undermines the rule of law, human rights, international trade, climate action and global security.
      Millions of Americans – especially women and minorities – will be incredibly fearful about what comes next. We stand with them.
      Families across the UK will also be worrying about the damage Trump will do to our economy and our national security, given his record of starting trade wars, undermining NATO and emboldening tyrants like Putin.
      Fixing the UK’s broken relationship with the EU is even more urgent than before. We must strengthen trade and defence cooperation across Europe to help protect ourselves from the damage Trump will do.
      Now more than ever, we must stand up for the core liberal values of equality, democracy, human rights and the rule of law – at home and around the world.
      Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, told the Today programme this morning that Donald Trump would be “a genuine radical”. Farage, who counts Trump as a friend and who is in the US to attend Trump’s election day party in Florida, said:
      What you are going to see from this Trump administration, and I’m guessing that Elon Musk will be the man that is tasked to do it – is there will be a big fightback against the administrative bureaucratic state which is far too big, far too powerful and actually very undemocratic.
      He also claimed Trump was “bringing Americans together”.
      What is very interesting about the Trump movement is that it’s critics call it all sorts of nasty names, the truth is in many ways it’s bringing Americans together.
      David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has posted a message on social media congratulating Donald Trump.
      Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump on your victory.The UK has no greater friend than the US, with the special relationship being cherished on both sides of the Atlantic for more than 80 years.We look forward to working with you and @JDVance in the years ahead.
      Lammy is one of several senior Labour figures who made very critical comments about Trump in public in the past. Lammy’s comments included describing Trump as a “neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath”, a “profound threat to the international order” and a “dangerous clown”.Kamala Harris has not conceded yet in the US presidential contest, and Donald Trump has not quite secured the necessary 270 electoral college votes needed to make him president. But Downing Street sent out a message from Keir Starmer congratulating Trump anyway at 8.16am. By that point other word leaders, like the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, had already offered Trump their congratulations and Starmer will have decided that it was best not to hang around.Most Labour MPs are horrified by Trump’s politics. But Starmer knows he has to work with him and as Labour leader in opposition he was scrupulous about talking about him respectfully, and as PM he has made an effort to cultivate a good relationship, calling him to express support after the assasination attempt and arranging a private ‘get to know you dinner’ when he was in New York for the UN general assembly meeting recently.Good morning. Keir Starmer has just issued a statement congratulating Donald Trump on his election victory, which now appears all but certain. Starmer said:
      Congratulations President-elect Trump on your historic election victory. I look forward to working with you in the years ahead.
      As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.
      From growth and security to innovation and tech, I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come.
      There will be plenty, plenty more UK reaction to the US election to come. I’ll be covering it here.And it is an important day in UK politics too, with Kemi Badenoch taking PMQs for the first time since her election as the new Conservative party leader.Here is the agenda for the day.Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.2.30pm: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about the budget.If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. I’m still using X and I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I’m also trying Bluesky (@andrewsparrowgdn) and Threads (@andrewsparrowtheguardian).I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog. More