US Politics

Florida rejects 54 math textbooks over ‘prohibited topics’ including critical race theoryMove follows a series of hardline measures by Republicans in the state to alter teaching in schools as governor welcomes news Florida’s education department has rejected 54 mathematics textbooks from next year’s school curriculum, citing alleged references to critical race theory among a range of reasoning for some of the rejections, officials announced.The department said in a news release Friday that some of the books had been rejected for failure to comply with the state’s content standards, Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking [Best], but that 21% of the books were disallowed “because they incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT”.Department officials disapproved an additional 11 books “because they do not properly align to Best Standards and incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT”.Critical race theory is an academic practice that examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society.The release does not list the titles of the books or provide any extracts to offer reasons why the books were removed. The announcement follows a series of hardline measures by Republicans in the state to alter teaching in schools as conservatives thrust the issue of critical race theory into the country’s ongoing political culture wars.In June last year, the Florida board of education ruled to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. That included the teaching of the New York Times’s Pulitzer prize-winning series the 1619 Project, which re-examines American history in the context of slavery and its consequences.In a statement, Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis welcomed the education department’s announcement and accused some textbook publishers of “indoctrinating” children with “concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students”.Florida Democrats rebuked the announcement. Democratic state representative Carlos G Smith argued on Twitter that DeSantis had “turned our classrooms into political battlefields and this is just the beginning”.Swathes of Republican-controlled states in the US have passed measures seeking to ban the teaching of critical race theory, which will probably be a prominent conservative talking point in this year’s midterm elections.Many of those bills and orders are vaguely worded, leading to fears of censorship on school and college campuses around the country.TopicsFloridaRon DeSantisUS educationRaceUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

‘Why not me?’: the boot camp giving Indigenous women the tools to run for office Indigenous women are underrepresented in the US Congress and other elected offices. The Native Action Network wants to change thatOn a picturesque island just a 30-minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle, Juanita Perez described losing a recent race for a delegate seat for the Tlingit and Haida tribes:“I didn’t have all the tools to do it the right way,” she said.It was a recent weekend in April and the third day of an advocacy boot camp put on by the Native Action Network, a non-profit in Seattle, Washington. She was sitting in a circle of more than a dozen Native women going over the challenges of running for office as a Native woman and the political positions they were each interested in pursuing. The event, a first for the organization, was designed to help more “Native womxn” run for office at every level.The 20 participants from 17 different tribes had traveled to the meeting space from across Washington state and Oregon. There was a PhD student, a school district board member, a child advocate, a Native American education liaison, real estate brokers and an undergraduate student.Some, like Perez, had already tried their hand in the political realm, while others were still getting acquainted with the prospect.But each one had put their life on hold as they explored the idea of taking a seat at the decision-making table that too often leaves out Native women. And in the process, they had each found a loyal support system in each other.In 2020, the Center for American Women and Politics, which has tracked female political candidacies for 30 years, identified a record 18 women who identified as Native American as running for US congressional seats, with two winning in the House. The center’s figures don’t include Yvette Herrell, who is a member of the Cherokee nation and was elected to the House.The following year, Representative Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, became the first Indigenous cabinet secretary in US history.But American Indian or Alaska Native women account for 1.1% of the population, and yet they, in combination with Native Hawaiian women, still make up just 0.2% of all voting members of Congress.In other words, they continue to be largely left out of the decision-making at the highest levels of the country, despite the fact, as Leah Salgado, chief impact officer for the Native women-led organization IllumiNative, explained it, that their “very existence is a political issue”.Now, as the country heads into the midterm elections, the bootcamp is meant to build on the momentum of past years by creating a space that, unlike many other campaign trainings, was Native specific, said Iris Friday, president and co-founder of Native Action Network.“It makes all the difference when you get all of these women in the room and they have a safe space where they can have open, honest conversations and dialogues,” she said. “It’s just so powerful to see what transpires at the end of the day.”There appear to be nine women who identify as Native American running for US congressional seats in the upcoming elections, said Kelly Dittmar, director of research for the Center for American women and politics, the second highest number to date. That number could still increase, as more than 100 women have registered their candidacy without stipulating their race. Salgado said it’s important to understand the historical context surrounding Native people and the country’s political system. Native people were not granted citizenship in the US until 1924, and then it took more than three decades before they were considered eligible to vote in every state.“Native people stepping into a place where we’re training and putting forth efforts to ensure Native people have access to the political process is necessary and important because we haven’t always had access to it,” she said.Although still fairly rare, she said she has noticed a slight increase in training sessions like this one. But, she said, getting Native women into leadership roles is just one step. It’s also about helping them once they are there.“It also has to be about what are the ways in which we’re making sure that they’re supported through all of this because you don’t get elected and then the racism stops,” she said.In a series of detailed sessions, the boot camp participants were taught about fundraising, Pacs, communication styles and crafting their individual message. They heard from the Washington state senator Mona Das, a Democrat, and the Suquamish Tribe council member Windy Anderson.On Saturday morning, a professional photographer took their headshots. By Sunday, their bags were full of such books as Lead from the Outside by Stacey Abrams and Run for Something by Amanda Litman.Each day the women sat along long wooden tables, sharing meals together. There were spontaneous discussions on Indigenous language revitalization and blood quantum. In the evenings they stayed together in nearby lodges.In the following months, they will have at least three additional training sessions, including one on public speaking in July.Lafaitele Faitalia, 38, who is Tongan and Samoan, is considering a run for the Washington state house. The training taught her about bringing her authentic self, she said, while at the same time it helped her understand Pacs and the daunting prospect of fundraising.“If you’re not exposed to the political systems in the US; if you don’t know what that looks like, [or about] navigating these systems, but you want to make change and you want to run for office, it’s going to be intimidating,” said Faitalia, who is a chief in Samoa and serves on Washington state’s commission on Asian Pacific American affairs.Lisa Young, 59, who is Tlingit and Navajo, has spent 15 years working as a finance director for city government, but is now considering a campaign for city council in her small home town of Redmond, Oregon. She said she wants to give a voice to its small Native population, along with its other minorities, as well as immigrants.“[Being] here allowed me to re-energize and say I can be that person of service even though I know there’s going to be barriers,” she said. “I think these women strengthened me a little bit. Enough to say, OK, I’m less afraid today than I was before.”Claudia Kauffman, vice-president and co-founder of Native Action Network, is very familiar with what it’s like running for political office as a Native woman. In 2007, she was sworn in as the first Native woman elected to the Washington state senate.But, she said, it was a moment more than 25 years ago, when she was working for the Indigenous activist Bernie Whitebear, that helped to spur her to run. They were at the state capitol in Olympia, meeting with lawmakers to try to get funding for afterschool programming for Native children.“They’re just people just like you and me,” he told her.She remembers thinking, “If they’re just people, then why not me?”Now, through this advocacy boot camp, she is trying to have a similar impact on these Native women, no matter what type of position they may be seeking.“Our job, our duty, is to cultivate future leaders, the next generation of leaders that we have within our community that we know are strong and resilient and committed,” she said.By the third day of the training, when organizers asked the group whether they were inspired to run for office, six women raised their hands, with two others saying they wanted to explore getting seats on boards and commissions.Perhaps just as important was how quickly the women had become each other’s steadfast supporters.On that final day of the bootcamp, when Perez described losing the race, within seconds participants responded with messages of support.One encouraged her to go bigger if her tribal community wasn’t receptive to her. Another said she had connections at the tribe, and offered to help. Then a third told her: “You’re not alone.”TopicsNative AmericansIndigenous peoplesUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

Up, up and away: will rising prices blow Democrats’ midterms hopes off course?Inflation hit 8.5% in March as a mix of post-pandemic demand, price gouging and the Ukraine war dragged down Biden’s ratings In the days leading up to the release of the US labor department’s latest inflation report, the White House tried to deflate expectations. White House officials said they expected the March inflation rate to be “extraordinarily elevated” because of rising gas prices, driven largely by war in Ukraine.Unfortunately for Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, they were proven right. The inflation report, released on Tuesday, showed US prices increased by 8.5% between March 2021 and March 2022 – the highest level of US inflation since 1981.US inflation climbed to 8.5% in March, highest rate since 1981Read moreThe White House tried to downplay concerns last year by arguing price increases were caused by the coronavirus pandemic and would prove “transitory”. Now, more than a year after vaccines became widely available, Democrats are grappling with how to help families struggling under the weight of inflation. Centrists and progressives alike warn that unless Democrats come up with an effective plan, Republicans could be on the way to a historic victory this November.Democrats’ prospects in the midterm elections were already considered lackluster at best. The president’s party usually loses seats, particularly the House, in midterm years. Democrats have very little margin for error, given slim majorities. Biden’s approval rating, in the low 40s for months, is not helping matters.Republicans are clearly aware of the opportunity they have. On Tuesday, hours after the inflation report was released, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said the “atmosphere for Republicans is better than it was in 1994” – when the party flipped eight Senate seats and gained a net of 54 House seats.“From an atmospheric point of view, it’s a perfect storm of problems for Democrats because it’s an entirely Democratic government,” McConnell said.Voters’ concerns over inflation are certainly contributing to Democrats’ electoral woes. A CNBC poll this month showed 48% of Americans chose inflation as the number one or two issue facing the country, making it the most common answer among respondents.“This issue is top-of-mind for voters,” said Kelly Dietrich, chief executive of the National Democratic Training Committee, which trains candidates. “I think it’s going to stay top of mind because it directly affects them every day. And successful candidates need to address it directly.”The White House has tried to deflect criticism over inflation by blaming high gas prices on Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. Speaking in Menlo, Iowa, on Tuesday, Biden noted that more than half of the March inflation was caused by the rise in gas prices.“Even as we work with Congress, I’m not going to wait to take action to help American families,” Biden said. “I’m doing everything within my power, by executive orders, to bring down the prices and address the Putin price hike.”Biden has indeed taken steps to curb gas prices. He announced on Tuesday that his administration would approve an emergency waiver to expand use of biofuels, and he has pledged to release a million barrels a day from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, for the next six months.But the price increases the country has seen extend well beyond gasoline, and economists warn that inflation will probably remain elevated in the coming months.Austan Goolsbee, an economics professor at the University of Chicago who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under Barack Obama, said: “There are two questions. One is, is this peak inflation? But even if it is peak inflation and the numbers are coming down, what are they going to come down to?”Goolsbee noted that so-called “core inflation”, which excludes the more volatile prices of gas and food, rose by just 0.3% last month. That increase was less than most economists expected, providing some hope of inflation cooling off in the near future.“That was a welcome surprise, but I don’t think anybody should kid themselves,” Goolsbee said. “There’s a long way to go before prices, inflation would be anywhere considered back to normal.”For Democrats, that likelihood means their approach has had to change. Instead of claiming price increases will prove temporary, Democrats are acknowledging the reality of tightened budgets and trying to make a case for how they can help.“The good news is the entire Democratic party is very focused on inflation,” said Gabe Horwitz, senior vice-president of the economic program at Third Way, a center-left thinktank. “We are well past this time last year, when there was a question over whether it was going to be transitory or not. It’s here, it’s real, it looks like it’s going to stay at least for a little while.”As Democrats look ahead to November, strategists are urging candidates to pitch an economic vision that will both improve working Americans’ finances and mobilize voters.“First and foremost, American families need help,” Dietrich said. “Secondly, to get them more help Democrats need more wins to improve our standing to continue these policies.”But enacting those policies has proven difficult. The Build Back Better Act, a $1.9tn package that included provisions to lower healthcare and childcare costs, stalled in the Senate due to opposition from Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat.The West Virginia senator has been outspoken about his frustrations over high inflation, criticizing fellow Democrats who call for more spending as prices rise.“Here is the truth: we cannot spend our way to a balanced, healthy economy and continue adding to our $30tn national debt,” Manchin said on Tuesday, in response to the latest inflation report.Manchin’s stance has outraged progressives, who insist high inflation underscores the urgent need to pass Build Back Better and provide assistance to families.“Americans are being price-gouged. Inflation is hitting their bottom line, and the number one job of any politician is to raise the standard of living of their constituents,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive group Our Revolution.Looking ahead to the midterms, Geevarghese added: “It’s already going to be very difficult to win, I think. And then you’ve got the obstructionists who are making it harder for the president and our party to prevail.”Horwitz said he remained optimistic that Democrats will be able to pass some version of Build Back Better that will lower costs for families. Manchin has indicated he would be open to a proposal if it did not add to the federal deficit. That would require Democrats to further trim spending but could give them a victory to sell to voters.“You can do both,” Horvitz said. “You can have a plan that raises a significant amount of money by changing the tax code, and you can use some of that money to pay down debt and deficits. And you can use some of that money for programs that alleviate inflation and help consumers.“It is not a slam dunk, but it is something that could happen. We’re going to know more in the next two months about how likely that is.”TopicsUS politicsUS midterm elections 2022InflationDemocratsJoe BidenJoe ManchinanalysisReuse this content More

‘The GOP needs to look like America’: ex-congressman Will Hurd’s manifesto for the right In new book, Republican and former undercover CIA officer rejects political extremesIt was a plot twist worthy of Homeland.Will Hurd got home one night and told his fiancee that he was in fact an undercover officer in the CIA. And there was more. They would have to move to Pakistan.Republicans’ ugly attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson show lurch to far rightRead moreThey never married.“You know, it probably had a chilling effect on our relationship, especially when you confirm, ‘Hey babe, I actually work in the CIA and we’re going to Islamabad. Pack your bags. Great!’” Hurd recalls in a phone interview from Washington.Now 44, the former Republican congressman is still a bachelor. “I dated a woman for a while when I was in Congress but being on the road, putting a hundred and so thousand miles on your car every year and having close to three-quarters of a million airline miles a year, is not conducive to a relationship unless they’re riding with you.”Hurd joined the CIA in 2000. After the September 11 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, he spent eight years on the frontlines of the “war on terror” including Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. He then helped build a cybersecurity firm before entering politics and winning election in the highly competitive 23rd congressional district of Texas.For two terms he was one of two Black Republicans in the US House of Representatives; for his third term, he was the only one. When in 2019 he decided to walk away, it felt to some like a light going out – proof that former president Donald Trump’s regressively nativist version of the Republican party had prevailed.Hurd channeled his energies into technology companies working on national security. He has also just written a book, American Reboot, partly a manifesto for fixing America’s ailing democracy and beating China, partly a memoir delving back into his childhood in San Antonio, Texas.Like former president Barack Obama, Hurd is the son a Black father and white mother. He writes that it was neither fashionable nor widely accepted to be an interracial couple in early 1970s south Texas. He elaborates by phone: “I don’t know of another interracial couple in San Antonio around the time that my parents were married.“I was a mama’s boy growing up in and it was only in later life that my mom would reveal stories to us about how people would look at her weird because she had these dark babies. We never saw that or necessarily understood that when we were growing up so the things that I faced were similar things that my peers and friends faced.”Hurd endured racism as a teenager. He writes how “shopkeepers wouldn’t want a young Black kid in their place of business so they’d call me the N-word and tell me to get out. Non-Black fathers of girls I dated tried to persuade their daughters not to date me because of my race.”Much has been written about Obama’s gift for “code-switching” between Black and white spaces, campaigning in a Black barbershop one moment, appearing with his white great-uncle– a second world war veteran – the next. It was said to have given him an unusual ability to walk in someone else’s shoes.Hurd reflects on being mixed race: “I think it gives me an empathy and compassion for anybody who might be different in a room because I’m used to always being different. It’s to try to understand and appreciate somebody else’s perspective.”“When I was first running for Congress and crisscrossing the district, and going into communities that had never seen a Republican before, it wasn’t daunting for me because being different from the other people in the room was something I always had experience with.”“I’m not equating race and political affiliation; I’m just saying that because of the things that I had to deal with being am interracial kid, I was able to take those lessons and apply them in places. It made me more effective.”But speaking of political affiliation, why did Hurd choose the Republicans, a party associated with racist dog-whistling since before he was born, from Richard Nixon’s 1960s “southern strategy” to Ronald Reagan lauding “states’ rights” in Mississippi in 1980?Hurd’s response: “What I would say is that’s probably the minority of the party. And so why am I a Republican? It starts with my dad. My dad’s been a Republican all his life. He has always said he’s been a Republican since Lincoln freed us.”Then when Hurd went to study at Texas A&M University he befriended former president George HW Bush, was tutored by former defense secretary Robert Gates and got to know former Texas governor Rick Perry. “When I look at what I look at people that were influential and in my life, these were Republicans.”“Then when you start thinking about the principles and theories at the core, it is about freedom leads to opportunity, opportunity leads to growth, growth leads to progress – those foundational things. And when I criss cross the district or the country, that’s where most Republicans are.“Yes, there are some that don’t espouse those things but it is, in my opinion, not the majority of the party. But they’re enough that they color the entire party, which is why we have to be diligent in forcing those kind of voices out of the party.”It could be said the Republicans have just been through a lost decade. After nominee Mitt Romney lost the presidential election to Obama in 2012, an “autopsy report” concluded the party needed to diversify or die and broaden appeal to young voters, women and minorities.Along came Trump, who turned the autopsy upside down and cast aside racist dog whistles in favor of megaphones. He duly lost the national popular vote but got lucky in the electoral college and became president – a sugar high for Republicans in the moment but recipe for long term heart disease.Part one of Hurd’s book is entitled “The GOP needs to look like America”. He writes: “The party can’t have in it assholes, racists, misogynists and homophobes. For our party to more accurately reflect a broader America, we will need to appeal to the middle, not the edges.”He adds by phone: “When you look at some of the original polling after Trump won, people said they didn’t necessarily like his ideas, but they thought he was going to be different. But he ultimately didn’t follow through on some of the things outlined in the autopsy and guess what? We lost all three: the House, Senate and the White House.”In November’s midterm elections, however, polls suggest that Republicans will regain the House and possibly the Senate. Won’t the party feel its embrace of Trump has been vindicated? “I don’t know the answer because I can say that Donald Trump has a very strong, solid base but his influence down the ballot is waning.”Hurd was never on the Trump train. When in October 2016 an Access Hollywood tape revealed the Republican nominee saying “grab ‘em by the pussy”, Hurd denounced the remarks “utterly sickening and repulsive” and urged him to “step aside for a true conservative”. In the election, Hurd voted for independent candidate Evan McMullin, with whom he had served in the CIA.When Trump, early in his presidency, drew moral equivalence between white nationalists and civil rights protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, Hurd called on him to apologize. He comments now: “Has he said racist things? Yes.”Yet despite outrage after outrage, even an insurrection, most Republicans have bowed the knee over the past five years. Some still refuse to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election lest they incur his wrath. Asked if he wishes that more would take a stand, Hurd declines to criticize his old colleagues.“Look, I wish for the Republican party to be successful among communities that we’re not very successful with now,” he says. “In the long term we need to be a party that’s based on values and our audio and video need to match, meaning our words and our actions need to reflect that.”To try again from a more positive welcome, does Hurd welcome the defiance of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, two Republicans sitting on the House committee investigating January 6? “Liz and Adam are trying to help the party get beyond the 2020 election.Mitt Romney warns of ‘extraordinary challenge’ in preserving democracyRead more“The 2020 election was not stolen. It was lost. We need more people to understand that because if we’re able to get beyond that, then we can start talking about some of these issues that this country needs to deal with.”Hurd could have remained in the trenches with the handful of anti-Trump rebels. But he decided it was time to go. “I always believe that these positions, if you’re doing well, you have a shelf life. I said back in 2009 when I first ran, it was six, seven or eight years. These seats, these positions were not designed to be in for ever.“Being a career politician is not what is going to be helpful for our country. I thought it was the opportunity for me to do other things. I enjoyed talking technology in a policy setting’ now I love talking policy in a technology setting. Your ability to have an impact is not connected with a position that you hold.”For good measure, he insists: “Donald Trump had no influence on what I did or didn’t do in Congress and he doesn’t have any influence on what I do after Congress.”Hurd’s book argues that elected officials appeal to the extremes rather than the middle partly because of the design of congressional districts. He accuses both sides of fear mongering rather than trying to inspire. Joe Biden might have seemed like the right man to deliver bipartisan healing after the trauma of the Trump years. But Hurd has been disappointed.“The promise of that has not unfolded. The Democratic party is so afraid of their far left that it’s influencing their actions. The 2020 election told us: don’t be a jerk and don’t be a socialist. The fact that Joe Biden won and had zero coattails – the Democratic House and Senate lost seats – is a sign to say, ‘Hey, we don’t want that kind of rhetoric [from Trump] but we also don’t want the terrible ideas that the Democratic party is pushing.’“But guess what? Democrats haven’t learned that lesson and so in 2022 you’re going to see Republicans take the House and likely the Senate. It’s not, as the far left likes to say, because they haven’t done a lot. No, it’s because the country doesn’t want to see the things that they’re talking about actually happen.”Hurd even manages to turn Republicans’ disingenuous attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the supreme court, into an excuse to bash Democrats. “It was Democrats who took away the joy because, instead of talking about the historic nature of her nomination – she is the second most popular judicial candidate in history – it was the left that wanted to talk about some senators asking crazy questions. That’s not news.”What does he make of the current political manipulation of the teaching of race in schools? “Slavery happened. Jim Crow happened. These things have impacts; we should be talking about them. But you also shouldn’t be segregating kids based on their eye colour or hair colour to tell that lesson. All those things can be true at the same time.”American Reboot has triggered a wave of media speculation that Hurd is considering a run for president in 2024. He has the electoral pedigree and national security credentials. And as Republicans’ first Black presidential nominee, he would personify a resounding statement that the party had shrugged off Trump and learned from that decade-old autopsy report after all. He does not rule it out.“Look, it’s nice that you write a really good book and everybody thinks you’re running for office,” he says. “For me, if I can serve my country again, I’ll evaluate it but right now the best way to serve my country is to put some of these ideas out there and say, hey, we don’t have to accept the way we’re currently doing things and there’s a better way.”TopicsRepublicansUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

Calls for US to issue visa bans for UK lawyers enabling Russian oligarchsAnti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder says ‘whole class of British lawyers’ making money out of lawsuits against journalists, dissidents and whistleblowers The anti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder is calling on the US to issue visa bans against British lawyers who he has accused of “enabling” Russian oligarchs.The US-born financier, an outspoken and longtime critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, has said that installing such a ban would strike at the heart of what he described as a persistent problem of oligarchs using the UK legal system against journalists and whistleblowers, tying them up in expensive lawsuits.Browder suggested sanctions could ultimately be targeted at any legal and financial experts who it could be shown have helped oligarchs hide their assets, but said his initial proposed blacklist was focused on British lawyers involved in libel cases.Russia warns US of repercussions if it sends more arms to Ukraine – reportsRead moreBrowder described “this whole class of British lawyers” instructed by Russians and those with links to Russia to bring “lawsuits against journalists, dissidents and whistleblowers, myself included, and they make money”.“There’s this industry,” Browder said. “It will be pretty hard to legislate away the idea that a plaintiff can hire a lawyer to sue for libel, because how do you define what’s good and what’s bad? But if you identify a lawyer who has been doing this on a regular basis – going after people – the United States does not have to give them a visa to come to this country.”The activist has proven to have influence on Capitol Hill. In a recent statement, US senator Ben Cardin called Browder a “hero” to “many” in the Senate, for his work in passage of the Magnitsky Act, an Obama-era bipartisan bill named after Browder’s former tax lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody in Russia in 2009.The act was designed to allow the US to punish officials linked to Magnitsky’s death, but also authorises the US to sanction human rights offenders and ban them from entering the country.Browder said he was seeking the support of senators and members of Congress to write a letter to the US Department of State with a list of names of specific lawyers, whose visas he felt ought to be taken away. He did not name the lawyers who might appear on the list.Browder also argued that targeting oligarch-enablers such as lawyers and accountants would be an effective way of finding their money, at least half of which he said ultimately finds its way to Putin’s coffers, as part of the Kremlin’s pact with the oligarchs.“There’s going to be a whole lot of smart law enforcement work looking at sanctions evasion now. These people have been running circles around us in the past,” Browder said. “They have set up the most robust asset protection mechanisms with trustees, holding companies, nominees and proxies offshore.”Finding the oligarchs’ money, he said, would be an “almost impossible task”. He said he would like to add an amendment to sanctions law to hold lawyers, accountants, bankers and other financial advisers liable – including possible prison time – if they are found to have created structures to evade sanctions.“Very quickly the whole system would become very transparent,” he said.Browder’s remarks follow his recent testimony before the Helsinki Commission, an independent body that consists of nine members of the US House, nine senators, and one member of the US state, defence and commerce departments. The commission is meant to help formulate policy in connection to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the hearing was focused on western “enablers” of Putin’s regime.Among Browder’s recommendations in his testimony was for the US to create a list of law firms, PR firms and investigative firms involved in “enabling dictatorships and oligarchs to persecute journalists” and prohibiting the US government from doing business with those firms; canceling the visas of “foreign enablers”, enforcing rules in which lawyers and public relations firms are meant to disclose their work for foreign governments; and creating new laws to protect journalists from so-called SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) suits that are meant to intimidate the press.TopicsUS newsUS politicsVladimir PutinRussiaUkrainenewsReuse this content More

What does Republicans’ break from the presidential debate commission mean?The US presidential debate has been thrown into doubt – and the move is proof of the RNC’s eagerness to do Trump’s bidding One of the marquee moments of any US presidential election – the televised debate – has been thrown into doubt by the Republican party’s decision on Thursday to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates.The Republican National Committee (RNC) grumbled that the group that has run the debates since 1988 is biased and refuses to enact reforms. It promised to “find newer, better debate platforms” in future.The long-threatened move was proof of the RNC’s continued eagerness to do the bidding of former president Donald Trump, who has endlessly complained about the timing and formats of debates and the choice of moderators.But in a week that also saw the Democratic National Committee resolve that Iowa and New Hampshire are no longer guaranteed to go first in the party’s presidential nominating process, it was also a reminder that seemingly immutable traditions are fragile.The Commission on Presidential Debates was founded in 1987 as a non-profit sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans to codify debates as a permanent part of presidential elections.But it has faced criticism from various quarters. Republicans in particular have complained that it favours Democrats since the Barack Obama v Mitt Romney debates of a decade ago.Trump, as ever, took the grievance to a new level and refused to take part in what was meant to be the second of three debates with Joe Biden in 2020 after the commission made it virtual in the wake of the then president’s coronavirus infection.“He’s got a long-running dispute with the commission,” said Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan. “He thinks the composition is a bunch of Never Trumpers and the deck has been stacked against him and they haven’t given him a fair shake.“In some ways it’s a negotiating ploy if this particular commission’s not involved. I think there’s still likely to be some debates but there’s going to be negotiation for timing and location and who the moderator is. So, if he’s the candidate again, it may give him more leverage.”The RNC is chaired by Ronna McDaniel, a Trump loyalist who has proven determined to enforce his will. Earlier this year the RNC censured Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, two Republicans who broke with Trump to sit on the House of Representatives select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.Should Trump be the party’s nominee in the 2024 presidential election, McDaniel would no doubt push hard for debates that suit his whims – a potentially tough and complicated negotiation with TV networks, social media companies, thinktanks or other entities.Kall continued: “The Commission on Presidential Debates have been doing it for the last several decades but they weren’t the first one; they won’t be the last one. I don’t think anyone will shed a tear if whatever debates we have in the next cycle are not sponsored by the commission.“But it’ll be kind of the wild west and everyone will want to be involved in a debate. They get tens of millions of viewers. There’s very few events these days, given how bifurcated we are, that command the respect of debates. We have basically the Super Bowl, presidential debates, the inaugural address, the State of the Union – it’s very rare.”The value of debates has been questioned in this highly partisan, fragmented media age. This month Republican Herschel Walker and Democrat John Fetterman skipped primary debates in Georgia and Pennsylvania, respectively.Now the Commission on Presidential Debates may have passed its sell-by date. Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said: “I’m only surprised it took this long. It’s all about Trump, really, but there’s another segment of people who’ve looked at that and the whole system is stale and it’s run by the same people that have been running it for decades.“That’s what I’m kind of torn about. I certainly don’t agree with Trump’s reasoning for doing it but I do think the system needs shaking up. This won’t do it because they’re just trying to avoid tough questions and they won’t want neutral anchors and reporters asking questions. They’re going to want partisans. They want the hosts of Fox’s morning show.”Presidential debates were first made famous by John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960 but were then not held again until 1976. Sabato added: “We actually had 16 years there with no presidential debates until they were restarted because both candidates needed them in 1976.“We thought for a while that it was so well established that candidates couldn’t avoid debates; they’d have to participate. Well, just goes to show, nothing’s permanent. It doesn’t hurt anybody to say no. All they have to do is tell their partisans, ‘This thing is stacked against us. You know how those awful media people are.’”TopicsRepublicansUS politicsUS elections 2024Donald TrumpanalysisReuse this content More

Will Trump’s ‘reckless’ endorsements be a referendum on his political power?Some say his bets on extreme candidates are risky, as losses could threaten his role as king and kingmaker in the Republican party He has long held that the true measure of a man is his TV ratings. So perhaps it came as no surprise when Donald Trump endorsed a celebrity doctor for a US Senate seat in Pennsylvania.“They liked him for a long time,” Trump said of Mehmet Oz at a rally in Pennsylvania last week. “That’s like a poll. You know, when you’re in television for 18 years, that’s like a poll. That means people like you.”Trump stunned his own party by his decision to back Oz, who is struggling in the real polls and far from certain to win the Republican primary.It was one among dozens of risky bets placed by Trump on extreme candidates. The upcoming primaries – votes in states and districts to decide which Republicans will take on Democrats in November’s midterm elections – are shaping up to be a referendum on his dominance of the party.Next month could be pivotal. Defeat for Oz by David McCormick in Pennsylvania on 17 May, followed by defeat for Trump-backed David Perdue against incumbent governor Brian Kemp in Georgia a week later, could deal a huge blow to Trump’s status as party kingmaker.Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said: “Donald Trump is like a reckless gambler that’s gone into a casino and put his stack of money on one number. Right now the roulette wheel is turning and, if he’s wrong on a number of these, you’re going to see increasing defiance.“It’s almost certain that the growing sentiment among Republican leadership that Trump’s day has come and gone will be reinforced this year. He’s put his political capital on the line in so many races. A more seasoned politician would have been a little more judicious, a little more careful on these close races.”A string of primary losses for Trump’s picks could also puncture the aura of inevitability around him as party standard bearer in the race for the White House in 2024, encouraging potential rivals such as Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida.Jacobs added: “There are definitely some Republicans looking at the presidential nomination who are ready to take on Trump, particularly if they see him as weakening. That is the orientation of a lot of the Republican leaders. They would like to see Trump quietly drift off into the past. Like so much about Trump, he’s refusing to go along and wants to still be a player.”Never before has a US president left office only to continue barnstorming the country with campaign rallies and insert himself so aggressively into congressional elections. Why Trump is so willing to jeopardise his brand – and how he would respond to being given a bloody nose by Republican voters – remains a matter of conjecture.One evident motive is to install loyalists who pass the litmus test of supporting his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Joe Biden. Trump is laying the groundwork for purveyors of “the big lie” to take control of election machinery across the country.Allan Lichtman, a distinguished professor of history at American University in Washington, said: “He’s interested in shaping the party, endorsing those who he thinks support him and his approach to politics, and he’s also trying to put into place in some key swing states like Michigan, Arizona and Georgia folks that he thinks can help him steal the next election if he runs.”There are also financial incentives. Trump’s Save America group, responsible for countless fundraising events and emails, netted a massive $124m between November 2020 and March 2022 while spending only about $14m, or about 11%, to support midterm candidates, according to an analysis by the Reuters news agency.Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said: “This has become a business for Trump. As his other businesses either get sold or dry up or are subject to lawsuits or criminal investigation, he’s still continuing to raise a lot of money and he gets to support his lifestyle through all of these activities.”She added: “Second, he’s trying to build local bases of support in swing states. If he does decide to run, these are all people who will be part of county and state political organisations. They’ll be people who are going to vote in those primaries in the Republican party, so the more contacts he makes at the local level, the better positioned he will be.”A procession of Republican aspirants have beaten a path to Trump’s luxury Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in the hope of joining the anointed ones. They run the gamut from shoo-ins to too-close-to-call to genuine underdogs.On Friday evening, Trump announced his endorsement of JD Vance, author of the memoir Hillbilly Elegy, for a fiercely competitive Senate primary in Ohio. “Like some others, JD Vance may have said some not so great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades,” the ex-president explained.He is also all-in for Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and vice-presidential nominee, who is far from guaranteed to win a vacant House seat in her home state. “Sarah shocked many when she endorsed me very early in 2016, and we won big,” Trump stated. “Now, it’s my turn!”But perhaps the climactic primary battle will come in Wyoming in August when congresswoman Liz Cheney, who has come to personify the party’s anti-Trump resistance, is challenged for a House seat by pro-Trump Harriet Hageman. Cheney has huge name recognition in the state and is raising vast sums of money.Some of Trump’s endorsements have already backfired. In the Pennsylvania Senate race – potentially critical to determining which party controls the chamber – he initially backed Sean Parnell, only for the candidate to drop out amid spousal abuse allegations.Trump’s subsequent decision to support Oz, reportedly encouraged by Trump’s wife, Melania, and Fox News host Sean Hannity, carries liabilities of its own. The host of the syndicated The Dr Oz Show is described by critics as a snake oil salesman. In 2014 he admitted to Congress that some of the products promoted on his show lacked “scientific muster”.Another setback occurred in Alabama, where Trump retracted his endorsement of congressman Mo Brooks in a Senate race, claiming that Brooks “made a horrible mistake” when he told supporters to put the 2020 election behind them. Most observers suspect the real reason was that polls show Brooks heading for defeat.Trump’s win-loss record is sure to be studied hard by pundits. Yet if past is prologue, it would not be hard to imagine him dismissing defeats in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wyoming and elsewhere as the fault of weak candidates or rigged elections, while claiming primary victories as his own.Frank Luntz, a pollster and political consultant, said, “I don’t think it’s risky for him because he doesn’t acknowledge losing: if they win, they win because of him; if they lose, they lost because of their own failure.”He added: “He’s not as popular today as he was a year ago. The sheen is not as bright but he’s still the most impactful Republican by far and his endorsement does mean something. I understand why candidates really want it, but they have to think about it: what gets you the nomination in Pennsylvania will cost you the election.”Kamala Harris again earns over twice as much as Joe Biden, tax returns showRead moreTrump has been written off countless times before. But at February’s Conservative Political Action Conference, he received more votes in a straw poll for the 2024 nomination than all other Republicans combined.So would a sprinkling of primary defeats truly break the fever?Reed Galen, cofounder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, said: “Some people will say that; more people might even want to believe it. The chattering class of both parties in Washington DC, starting with [Senator Mitch] McConnell on the Republican side, will read those tea leaves that way.“But it doesn’t make it true because, ultimately, Trump making an endorsement of someone versus Trump being on the ballot – the majority of those primary voters are going to come back to him if he decides to run again.”DeSantis and other would-be contenders should therefore not leap to conclusions, Galen added.“I would tend to agree with the idea that there would be a weakness perceived by potential challengers in 2024,” Galen said. “It may embolden them. I do not believe that equation adds up to them beating him in a primary.”TopicsDonald TrumpUS politicsRepublicansfeaturesReuse this content More

Kamala Harris again earns over twice as much as Joe Biden, tax returns showThe vice-president and her husband reported a gross income of $1.7m while the Bidens made $611,000 Kamala Harris and her husband earned more than twice as much as Joe Biden and his wife did last year, according to copies of their income tax returns released on Friday.Harris and the so-called second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, reported a federal adjusted gross income of about $1.7m in 2021, which was about the same they claimed to have earned the prior year. More