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      Sweat review – chilling vision of a divided, alienated America

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      Although principally set in 2000, Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer-winning 2015 play anticipated Donald Trump’s presidency with its portrayal of a divided, frustrated and disfranchised community in the deindustrialising city of Reading, Pennsylvania. With Trump campaigning for a second term, the Royal Exchange’s revival is timely. Jade Lewis’s production ultimately presents a chilling vision of how job insecurity can destroy one’s sense of self and lead to the poisonous othering stoked by Trump.The stage design by Good Teeth studio has huge slabs suspended from the rafters, powerfully suggesting an industrial landscape hoisted away overnight. This in effect is what happens to the play’s steelworkers who, amid a dispute with management over pay cuts, are locked out of their plant, with their machines and jobs destined for Mexico as a result of the contentious North American Free Trade Agreement whose renegotiation was a Trump campaign pledge.This conflict is heightened by a familial dimension akin to Human Resources, the 1999 film by the late Laurent Cantet in which a management trainee is embroiled in job cuts that affect his father on the shop floor. Nottage’s play centres on African American Cynthia (Carla Henry) who works at the factory with her son Chris (Abdul Sessay) and has finally crossed the floor to become a supervisor only to encounter resentment, some of it racially fuelled, from her friends. Suspicious of her new colleagues (“I wonder if they gave me this job on purpose. Pin a target on me”), Cynthia is also alienated by her former neighbours at the machines.View image in fullscreenSimilarly targeted is Colombian American Oscar (Marcello Cruz) who works at the local bar and crosses the picket line to pick up factory shifts. He is labelled a traitor by workers whose union has long been a closed shop to him and the story, framed by the aftermath of a violent climax, has a lucid sense that blustering calls for solidarity usually conceal exceptions. Nottage gave the play an epigraph from Langston Hughes’ Let America Be America Again, in which the poet declares the country “never was America to me”.With its sparse, barely stocked bar-room design, Lewis’s production perfectly conveys the play’s desolation – embodied by Cynthia’s ex, the drug-addicted Brucie (Chris Jack), one of the bar’s regulars – but missing is the atmospheric, authentic sense of place that marked Lynette Linton’s blistering 2018 staging at the Donmar Warehouse. It’s not just in the occasionally wavering accents or oddly pristine costumes but in the bonds between the characters, which need to be more fully established for the play’s second half to detonate. While the cast convey the bodily toll of work, a visceral sense of physicality is missing in their confrontations. Further use of the revolve stage, which heightens some scenes, might have prevented the energy seeping from other exchanges.If it never finds the right rhythm, there are powerful performances, especially from Henry as the weary yet steadfast Cynthia, Pooky Quesnel as her rancorous friend Tracey and Cruz as the observant Oscar who captures the lived-in tone of Hughes’ poem, which evades Maga fantasy nostalgia in its call to simply “make America again”.
      At the Royal Exchange, Manchester, until 25 May More

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      Trump trades New York worries for hit of adulation from his Maga faithful

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      At a remote rural airport in Michigan, an outsized plane touched down as music from Tom Cruise’s film Top Gun boomed from loudspeakers. Late afternoon sunshine gleamed off five giant golden letters on the plane’s side – “TRUMP” – and its Rolls Royce engines. A crowd bedecked in red roared as the plane rolled to a standstill behind a blue “TRUMP” lectern.A door opened and men in dark glasses and dark suits from what Donald Trump would call “central casting” made their way down the stairs. “Trump! Trump!” the audience chanted, raising hundreds of camera phones in eager anticipation. Great Balls of Fire, Macho Man and YMCA blared. Finally, the former and would-be future president emerged, clapping and fist pumping to the sound of whoops and cheers and Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA.How different the warm embrace from Trump’s recent experience as a defendant on criminal trial in a chilly, dingy courtroom in New York. On those days, threatened with prison, he looks old, vulnerable and small. Back on the election campaign trail, it is all about hypermasculine energy and bigness – big plane, big crowds, big promises and big lies.Trump had spent Tuesday in the now grimly familiar routine of the courtroom, where he is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to the adult film performer Stormy Daniels. But the the court does not sit on Wednesday, freeing him to get a fresh shot of adulation from his fan base.The 77-year-old headed to two of the most crucial battleground states, holding rallies first in Waukesha, Wisconsin, then in Freeland, Michigan, where the rolling farmland, farmhouses and silos are a world away from the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Instead of a gag order that he has violated, resulting in a fine, Trump was at liberty to let rip with a stream of consciousness both profane (“bullshit”, “shit”) and divorced from fact.And instead of a sombre-faced jury deciding his fate, there were diehard supporters – mostly white retirees – sporting Make America great again regalia: “God, guns and Trump”; “Women for Trump”; “I stand with Trump”; “Trump was right”; and “Fuck Biden”. (High winds sent some Maga caps dancing across the grass and rocked lifesize cardboard cutouts of Trump rocking back and forth.)“He had our economy good and he’s for America, he’s for the people,” said Karen Mantyla, 65, wearing a T-shirt that said “I’m still a Trump girl – I make no apologies”, with an image of spectacles and a hair ribbon. “He believes in God and he’s my guy.”Mantyla, like many here, dismisses the New York trial as a politically motivated witch hunt. “It’s a farce,” she added “It’s just to stop him becoming president. Why is he the only person who’s being persecuted for nothing?”Supporters held signs that said, “Trump 2024”; “Fire Biden”; and “You’re fired!”. In a speech lasting just over an hour, his red tie and teleprompters tossed by the wind, the Republican presidential nominee made an argument familiar to anyone who has heard his rants outside the courtroom each day.Trump said: “As you know, I have come here today from New York City, where I’m being forced to sit for days on end in a kangaroo courtroom with a corrupt and conflicted judge enduring a Biden sideshow trial at the hands of a Marxist district attorney, Soros-backed, who’s taking orders from the Biden administration.”There is zero evidence that Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is taking orders from the White House; indeed, some commentators believe this is the weakest of four cases against Trump and could work to his political benefit. But unlike at the trial, candidate Trump can make outlandish statements without repercussions.View image in fullscreenHe went on to argue that, had he lost the Republican primary election, he would not now be facing prosecution and could be relaxing somewhere “beautiful” instead. “But you know what, I’d much rather be with you,” he assured the audience, who hollered their approval.He claimed that the New York trial has driven his poll numbers higher than ever “because people get it. It’s a scam and they get it.” He went on to recycle a now familiar line comparing himself to the gangster Al Capone. “Joe Biden wants to jail his political opponents like they do in third-world countries and banana republics,” Trump said. “There’s only one problem: every one of these cases is bullshit.”Trump also used the speech to press his case against Biden on inflation, promise to bring car industry jobs to Michigan at the expense of China, condemn “leftwing gender ideology” regarding men’s access to women’s bathrooms and sports, and repeat his lie that the 2020 election was stolen. He called on his base to make sure that his win in 2024 is “too big to rig”.The ex-president also fearmongered, asserting that Michigan is being “torn up to pieces by migrant crime” and that prisons and mental institutions all over the world are being emptied into the US “because we’re a dumping ground”. He promised the biggest ever domestic mass deportation of undocumented immigrants – a notion that thrilled this gathering. “When I return to the White House, we will stop the plunder, rape, slaughter and destruction of the American suburbs, cities and towns.”He swerved past the protests against Israel’s war in Gaza currently convulsing university campuses, although earlier in Wisconsin he said it “was a beautiful thing to watch” New York police officers raiding a Columbia University building occupied by pro-Palestinian students, calling the protesters “raging lunatics and Hamas sympathisers”.Trump repeatedly denounced Biden as the worst president in American history who is going down to defeat in a landslide. He made clear that his animus towards Biden is now highly personal because he blames his election rival for the indictments ranged against him.“What a crowd!” he said, evidently relishing the break from legal proceedings and the unqualified support from those who have bought his narrative. Among them was Renee Salzeider, a retired federal government employee wearing a Stars and Stripes cowboy hat and red Rockmount western shirt. “I think it’s bullshit,” she said.Bob Horny, 70, a retired builder, commented: “It’s just a big farce to get him out of the campaign trail and to keep him in the courts. Every one of them guys is guilty for years and years. Biden’s got a … well, I won’t even go there.”Asked if he would be troubled by court testimony that Trump paid hush money to a porn star, Horny replied: “No, I wouldn’t. They’re talking 30 years ago, 20 years, whatever it was. None of this stuff is pertinent to this country. He’s a good, strong leader. He’s a faithful man. He’s a hard worker. His kids work. And that’s basically it.”The rally ended, a musical soundtrack swelled once more and Trump performed an unintentionally comical on-stage dance, briefly taking off his Maga hat. He savoured the final waves of adoration from the faithful before boarding his plane, all too aware that the strange double life of Donald Trump is soon to resume in the Manhattan criminal courthouse. More

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      Activists march for immigrant rights in Wisconsin: ‘We’re making this country strong’

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      Led by a mariachi band, hundreds of demonstrators on Wednesday morning marched across Milwaukee to the Fiserv Forum – the home of the Milwaukee Bucks and, in July, the venue of the Republican national convention.The rally, organized by the immigrant and workers’ rights group Voces de la Frontera, is an annual event, but in 2024 it holds particular weight. The focus of the rally extended beyond immigration, to fear of authoritarianism under Republican candidate Donald Trump and critique of Joe Biden’s handling of the US role in Israel and Gaza.This year, May Day also fell on the same day as a Trump campaign event in Waukesha, which organizers seized on to denounce Trump’s immigration policy and call on Biden to use his executive authority to adopt protections for undocumented workers.“We reject [Trump’s] political platform, which promises dictatorship, deportations and separation of families,” Voces de la Frontera executive director Christine Neumann-Ortiz told the crowd Wednesday, to applause.As the 2024 presidential campaign season ramps up, Trump has increasingly stoked anti-immigrant sentiment, railing on anecdotal examples of what he calls “migrant crime” and casting the Biden administration’s border policy as insufficiently harsh. In an interview with Time magazine published 30 April, Trump proposed mass deportations, facilitated in part by the US military, during his possible second term in office and claimed that undocumented immigrants are not civilians.For Omar Flores, the co-chair of the Coalition to March on the RNC, the Wednesday rally was an occasion to draw attention to the RNC on 15 July.“A sense that people are getting in Milwaukee is that they’re a little afraid of the RNC coming here,” said Flores, who grew up in Kenosha and said he worries about political repression and rightwing vigilante violence under a second Trump term. “I know it’s scary, but we still have to march.”The Republican party has pushed for the Secret Service to move protesters away from the arena in July, and Flores said the Coalition to March on the RNC is working with the American Civil Liberties Union to ensure access.As the Republican party seizes on immigration and the border to rally support before the 2024 elections, Biden has also shifted to the right on the issue, endorsing a measure to restrict asylum-seeking and referring to an immigrant as the pejorative “illegal” during his State of the Union address. Speakers at the event offered different perspectives on how to respond to Biden’s posture on immigration and Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which Voces de la Frontera has repeatedly denounced as a “genocide”.Dr Roa Qato, a Palestinian-American OB-GYN with a practice in Milwaukee and a featured speaker at the rally said she would rather vote third party than for Biden. “It sends the message that if you don’t listen to us, we’re following through – we’re not voting for you, your empty promises are not going to work,” she said.Neumann-Ortiz said Voces de la Frontera’s political arm, which endorsed the “uninstructed” protest vote in Wisconsin’s presidential primary and forms the largest Latino voter network in the swing state, will nonetheless support Biden.“[Trump] is someone who tried to legally and through violent action undermine a democratic election, and this is someone who will follow through with their threats on mass military deportation,” said Neumann-Ortiz.“I think we’re just being very clear with President Biden and his advisers, that we can do what we can do, but if you are not listening, and you don’t take seriously the opposition that is coming from the Palestinian rights movement, from the immigrant rights movement … you’re gonna lose.”For other attendees, the May Day rally offered an opportunity to remind politicians and the broader Wisconsin community about the contributions of immigrants to their home state – documented or not.Sonia Torres, a machine operator at a furniture manufacturing company in De Pere, said that with the help of Voces de la Frontera organizers, she was able to receive temporary protected status amid a workplace dispute.“I want people to realize that we have rights,” said Torres in Spanish. “Companies only view us as a part of the budget, as a means of making money – but we need to realize we have rights.”In recent months, commentators and politicians on the right have seized on the town of Whitewater, Wisconsin, which has seen a recent influx of immigrants, to stoke anxieties about immigration. Whitewater officials have asked for federal resources to accommodate the influx of an estimated 800-1,000 new residents in the last two years but have rejected politicization of their shifting population.“Señor Donald Trump, listen, this message is just for you,” Jorge Islas-Martinez, an interpreter and bilingual educator from Whitewater told the crowd.“We are not the people that you think that we are. We are here to work and we’re changing and making this [country] strong.” More

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      Arizona senate passes bill to repeal 1864 abortion ban; Harris says Trump’s insistence he doesn’t back national ban is ‘gaslighting’ – as it happened

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      Donald Trump may say that he does not plan to push for a national abortion ban, but Kamala Harris told voters in Florida that they should not believe him.“As much harm as he has already caused, a second Trump term would be even worse,” the vice-president said.“Donald Trump’s friends in the United States Congress are trying to pass a national ban and, understand, a national ban would outlaw abortion in every single state, even in states like New York and California. And now Trump wants us to believe he will not sign a national ban. Well, I say enough with the gaslighting.”Here’s more on just what Trump has said about a national ban:A showdown is set to take place next week between Republican House speaker Mike Johnson and far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is leading a charge to remove Johnson as the chamber’s leader over his collaboration with Democrats. But, unlike the last time something like this happened, Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion to vacate, and there are already signs that rank-and-file lawmakers will follow along. As for Greene, she only has two other Republicans on board with her ouster attempt – not exactly resounding numbers. We’ll see if anything changes in the days to come. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris traveled to Florida to tell voters in a state Joe Biden is hoping to win in November that Donald Trump is to blame for the strict abortion ban that went into effect today. And in swing state Arizona, the state senate finally approved a repeal of its stringent law against abortion that dates back to the 19th century. The Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, is expected to sign the bill.Here’s what else went on today:
      Florida Democrats have had a tough go of it in recent years, but they hope a measure to expand abortion access that will be on the ballot in November will turn their fortunes around.
      Johnson issued a brief response to Greene’s push to remove him as speaker, warning that it was “wrong for the country”.
      The aftershocks from a violent night on college campuses continue to reverberate, with the University of California, Los Angeles, canceling classes following an attack by counter-protesters on a pro-Palestinian encampment. Follow our live blog for more.
      Louisiana might not get another majority-Black congressional district after all, further complicating Democrats’ hopes of retaking the House majority in November.
      Biden ordered the cancellation of billions of dollars in debt accrued by students who attended a private college system accused of fraud.
      The Associated Press notes that voting in the senate on the bill to repeal Arizona’s strict abortion restrictions is ongoing, but the legislation has the votes to pass, with the requisite two Republicans supporting it alongside 14 Democrats.However, Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights groups, warns that the fight to keep the procedure available is far from over:Here’s more on the abortion battle in the south-west swing state that could prove crucial to Joe Biden’s or Donald Trump’s chances of winning the White House:Arizona’s state senate has passed legislation to repeal a ban on almost all abortions in the state that dates back to 1864, the Associated Press reports.The measure, which the house approved last week, now goes to Democratic governor Katie Hobbs, who said she will sign it.Despite their struggles in Florida in recent years, Democrats hope the presence on the November ballot of a measure to broaden access to abortion could sway voters they will need to win the state for Joe Biden. Last month, the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe took a close look at their plans:Democrats in Florida are teaming up with operatives from Joe Biden’s re-election campaign in an all-out assault on Republicans’ extremist positions on abortion, believing it will bring victory in presidential and US Senate races in November.They fired an opening salvo on Tuesday, tearing into Donald Trump’s “boasting” about overturning federal abortion protections a day earlier, and assailing the incumbent Republican senator Rick Scott for supporting Florida’s six-week ban that takes effect next month.Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor and former candidate for the party’s presidential nomination who signed the ban into law, also found himself under fire.“The word is accountability,” Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic party, told an online launch meeting attended by Jasmine Burney-Clark, state director of the Biden-Harris campaign, and Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani, a former regional senior director of Planned Parenthood.“We are here because Donald Trump bragged about overturning Roe v Wade. Then we got here in Florida because we had an individual who wanted to run for president and wanted to take our state into extremism, the Republican legislature who voted for it, and Rick Scott … who said on the national stage he will push for a national abortion ban.“It’s incumbent on all of us, the party, the candidates, the campaigns, to make sure that we are making that very distinct link.”Here’s the moment when Kamala Harris warned Florida voters against believing Donald Trump’s insistence that he would not support federal limits on abortion:As she closed out her speech, Harris compared and contrasted a second Donald Trump term with four more years of Joe Biden, and repeated the president’s promise to sign legislation restoring the protections in Roe v Wade, should Congress approve it.“The great Maya Angelou once said, ‘When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time.’ And Donald Trump has told us who he is. So here’s what a second Trump term looks like: more bans, more suffering, less freedom,” Harris said.“But we are not going to let that happen because you see, we trust women. We trust women to know what is in their own best interest. And women trust all of us to fight to protect their most fundamental freedom.”No Democratic president has won Florida’s electoral votes since Barack Obama in 2012, and at the state level, the GOP controls the governor’s mansion and the legislature. The state’s Democrats have generally struggled in recent years, though there have been some signs of a comeback.“This November, up and down the ballot, reproductive freedom is on the ballot. And you, the leaders, you the people, have the power to protect it with your vote. Donald Trump may think he can take Florida for granted. It is your power that will send Joe Biden and me back to the White House,” Harris said.“And when Congress passes the law that restores the reproductive freedoms of Roe, our president, Joe Biden, will sign it.”Donald Trump may say that he does not plan to push for a national abortion ban, but Kamala Harris told voters in Florida that they should not believe him.“As much harm as he has already caused, a second Trump term would be even worse,” the vice-president said.“Donald Trump’s friends in the United States Congress are trying to pass a national ban and, understand, a national ban would outlaw abortion in every single state, even in states like New York and California. And now Trump wants us to believe he will not sign a national ban. Well, I say enough with the gaslighting.”Here’s more on just what Trump has said about a national ban:Donald Trump recently said abortion policy should be left to the states, and declined to endorse a national ban on the procedure that some Republicans have called for.Harris took him to task: “Trump says he wants to leave abortion up to the states, he says, up to the states. All right. So here’s how that works out. Today, one in three women of reproductive age live in a state with a Trump abortion ban – many with no exception for rape or incest.”She then explained why she cared so much about this issue, relating a story from when she was growing up:
      As many of you know, I started my career as a prosecutor specializing in crimes against women and children. What many of you may not know is why? So, when I was in high school I learned that my best friend was being molested by her stepfather. And I said to her, well, you’ve got to come and live with us. I call my mother. And my mother said of course she does. And so she did.
      So, the idea that someone who survives a crime of violence to their body of violation of their body would not have the authority to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That’s immoral. That’s immoral.
      And one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do.
      Harris then pivoted to the meat of her argument to Florida voters: that Donald Trump was to blame for the abortion ban that just went into effect in the state, as well as others like it nationwide.“Across our nation, we witnessed a full on assault, state by state, on reproductive freedom, and understand who is to blame: former president Donald Trump did this,” Harris said.“Donald Trump hand-picked three members of the United States supreme court because he intended for them to overturn Roe, and as he intended, they did.”Harris harkened back to her grilling, as a senator on the judiciary committee, of two of Trump’s supreme court nominees, saying it was clear after their confirmation that the days of nationwide abortion access were numbered:
      And it happened just as Donald Trump intended. Now, present day because of Donald Trump, more than 20 states have abortion bans, more than 20 Trump abortion bans. And today, this very day at the stroke of midnight, another Trump abortion ban went into effect here in Florida. As of this morning, four million women in this state woke up with fewer reproductive freedoms than they had last night. This is the new reality under a Trump abortion ban.
      Kamala Harris has taken the stage in Jacksonville, Florida, where she likened abortion access to a “fundamental freedom”.“This is a fight for freedom, the fundamental freedom to make decisions about one’s own body and not have their government tell them what they’re supposed to do,” the vice-president said.“As we know, almost two years ago, the highest court in our land, the court of Thurgood and RBG, took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America, from the women of America. And now, in states across our nation, extremists have proposed and passed laws that criminalize doctors, punish women – laws that threatened doctors and nurses with prison time, even for life, simply for providing reproductive care.”Florida’s six-week abortion ban doesn’t just mark the end of most patients’ access to the procedure in the state, but also in the rest of the south-eastern United States. The Guardian’s Carter Sherman reported from a clinic trying to squeeze in appointments before it went into effect about how reproductive health access in Florida was about to change:A six-week abortion ban went into effect on Wednesday in Florida, cutting off access to the procedure before many people know they are pregnant and leveling the south-eastern United States’ last stronghold for abortion rights.The ban went into force weeks after Florida’s state supreme court issued a decision clearing the way for it to take effect. Strict bans now blanket all of the American deep south, increasing the strain on the country’s remaining clinics. The closest clinic for most Floridians past six weeks of pregnancy is now several states away in North Carolina, which outlaws abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.Last year, Florida abortion providers performed more than 84,000 abortions, state data found – including more than 9,000 for out-of-state patients, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion restrictions. Roughly 60 % of Florida abortions occur after six weeks of pregnancy.On Tuesday, the last day before the ban took effect, an abortion clinic in Gainesville, Florida, was trying to squeeze in as many patients as possible. The clinic had added hours throughout April, but the rush was compounded by the fact that, in addition to the impending ban, Florida requires people to have an in-person consultation at an abortion clinic at least 24 hours before they get the procedure or take abortion pills. A patient could have arrived on Tuesday exactly six weeks into her pregnancy, but have been too late to get an abortion given that the ban came into effect on Wednesday.Georgia’s Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is doubling down on her attempts to oust House speaker Mike Johnson.In an address today, Greene said:
      We have to have a Republican majority in January and under Mike Johnson’s leadership, we’re not going to have one …
      Hakeem Jeffries has endorsed Mike Johnson because he knows Mike Johnson’s leadership is going to hand the House majority to Democrats in January. It will make our voters not vote for him …
      Joe Biden has announced the approval of $6.1bn in student debt cancellation for 317,000 borrowers who attended the Art Institutes, a private college system that was closed last year amid fraud claims.In a statement released on Wednesday, Biden said:
      This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies …
      While my predecessor looked the other way when colleges defrauded students and borrowers, I promised to take this on directly to provide borrowers with the relief they need and deserve … And in total, we have approved debt cancellation for nearly 4.6 million Americans through various actions.
      Today’s announcement builds on all we’ve done to fix broken student loan programs and bring higher education more in reach.
      Arizona Democrats are expected to make a final push to repeal the state’s near-total abortion ban, which dates back to 1864.The Guardian and agencies report:Fourteen Democrats in the state senate are hoping to pick up at least two Republican votes to win final approval for a bill repealing the ban, which narrowly cleared the Arizona house last week and is expected to be signed by the Democratic governor.The near-total ban, which predates Arizona’s statehood, permits abortions only to save the patient’s life – and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. The law had been on the books since 1864, but had been blocked since the US supreme court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.In a ruling last month, however, the Arizona supreme court suggested that following the US supreme court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v Wade, doctors could be prosecuted under the civil war-era law. Under the law, anyone who assists in an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison.Read the full story here:A showdown is set to take place next week between Republican House speaker Mike Johnson and far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is leading a charge to remove him as the chamber’s leader over his collaboration with Democrats. But, unlike the last time something like this happened, Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion to vacate, and there are already signs that rank-and-file lawmakers will follow along. As for Greene, she only has two others on board with her ouster attempt – not exactly resounding numbers. We’ll see if anything changes in the days to come. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is set to speak at 2.45pm in Jacksonville, Florida, and blame Donald Trump for the state’s strict abortion ban, which went into effect today. We plan to cover that live.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Johnson issued a brief response to Greene’s push to remove him as speaker, warning that it was “wrong for the country”.
      The aftershocks from a violent night on college campuses continue to reverberate, with the University of California, Los Angeles, canceling classes following an attack by counter-protesters on a pro-Palestinian encampment. Follow our live blog for more.
      Louisiana might not get another majority-Black congressional district after all, further complicating Democrats’ hopes of retaking the House majority in November.
      Earlier this morning, Joe Biden hammered Donald Trump as Florida’s strict abortion ban went into effect, saying the former president “ripped away the rights and freedom of women in America”.“There is one person responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump. Trump brags about overturning Roe v Wade, making extreme bans like Florida’s possible, saying his plan is working ‘brilliantly’. He thinks it’s brilliant that more than 4 million women in Florida, and more than one in three women in America, can’t get access to the care they need,” the president said in a statement released through his re-election campaign.“Trump is worried the voters will hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he created. He’s right. Trump ripped away the rights and freedom of women in America. This November, voters are going to teach him a valuable lesson: don’t mess with the women of America.” More

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      Mike Johnson denies collaborating with Democrats to defeat attempt to remove him – as it happened

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      At a press conference today, Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson denied making a deal with Democrats to defeat a far-right attempt to remove him as the chamber’s leader:Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is behind the attempt to remove Johnson as speaker, accused him of a “slimy back room deal” with House Democrats after their leaders earlier today said they would not support Greene’s motion to vacate.Democrats may have just saved Republican speaker Mike Johnson from an attempt by rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him from his post as the chamber’s leader. House Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion, should she put it up for a vote, prompting Greene to accuse Johnson of making a “slimy back room deal” with the opposition (though it was unclear if her effort ever had much support). Johnson, for his part, denied any collaboration with Democrats, whose position was an about-face from the one they took last year, when they were more than happy to lend their votes to the GOP insurgents who ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair. Johnson was meanwhile busy decrying anti-Israel protesters on college campuses, while announcing a wave of investigations, including a hearing next month with officials from three major universities, and scrutiny of federal research funding.Here’s what else happened today:
      The Biden administration is reportedly set to approve classifying marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, but advocates say it will not resolve the many conflicts between state and federal laws over the substance.
      Donald Trump was fined $9,000 for violating a gag order imposed by the judge in his trial in New York on charges related to falsifying business documents.
      Trump also gave an interview to Time, where he outlined the extreme rightwing agenda he would pursue, if he returned to the White House.
      Defense secretary Lloyd Austin was not immune to the protest wave, as a sign-wielding demonstrator interrupted his testimony to Congress.
      Why are anti-Israel protesters on college campuses wearing masks? The answer is here.
      The Senate’s Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer applauded reports that the Biden administration would approve moving marijuana to a less-dangerous category of drug, but said he would continue to advocate for removing it from the restrictive Controlled Substances Act.“While this rescheduling announcement is a historic step forward, I remain strongly committed to continuing to work on legislation like the SAFER Banking Act as well as the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which federally deschedules cannabis by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act,” said Schumer. The SAFER Banking Act is a stalled bill that would allow cannabis businesses access to banking services.“Congress must do everything we can to end the federal prohibition on cannabis and address longstanding harms caused by the War on Drugs.”The Biden administration is expected to reclassify marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, the Associated Press reports, but cannabis policy advocates warn the decision will not resolve the many conflicts between the federal government and states that have decriminalized its use.Citing sources, the AP reports that the Drug Enforcement Administration has approved moving marijuana to schedule III from schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act in response to a request made by Joe Biden in 2022 to review how the drug is regulated. The decision does not mean that marijuana is legal for recreational use nationwide, but will signal that the federal government regards it as less dangerous that other schedule I drugs, such as heroin and ecstasy.However, dozens of states have approved marijuana’s use for medical purposes, and a smaller group of states allow it to be sold and used recreationally. Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml), said the Biden administration’s impending decision, which still must be approved by the White House, will not resolve conflicts between these states’ laws and those of the federal government – which currently prohibits marijuana’s transportation across state lines, and greatly complicates the cannabis industry’s ability to access banking services.“The goal of any federal cannabis policy reform ought to be to address the existing, untenable divide between federal marijuana policy and the cannabis laws of the majority of US states,” Armentano said in a statement.“Rescheduling the cannabis plant to Schedule III fails to adequately address this conflict, as existing state legalization laws – both adult use and medical – will continue to be in conflict with federal regulations, thereby perpetuating the existing divide between state and federal marijuana policies.”The Biden administration’s decision was a long time coming. Here’s more on what it may mean:One defining feature of the campus protests against Israel and its invasion of Gaza has been the prevalence of masks and other face coverings among protesters. The Guardian’s Nick Robins-Early reports that there is a reason for that:As demonstrations over the war in Gaza have surged on campuses, around cities and in offices across the US in recent weeks, a visible tension has emerged between the desire for public protest and a fear of professional reprisals.On the Columbia University campus, where the latest spike in protests began on 17 April, demonstrators have worn masks and used blankets to block counter-protesters from filming students. Protesters at a tent encampment at the University of Michigan handed out masks upon entry, and students there refused to give reporters their full names in case the school took punitive action against them. At Harvard, the Palestine Solidarity Committee told the Guardian they had suspended doing press interviews out of regard for student safety.Concerns over retaliation and harassment have permeated the protests, as an intense and organized effort to bring down personal and professional repercussions on demonstrators has played out online. Counter-protesters and pro-Israel activist groups have attempted to post demonstrators’ faces and personal information to intimidate them, an act known as doxing, and demanded that pro-Palestinian protesters remove their masks at rallies. The professional threat is not theoretical: employers have terminated workers over their comments about the Israel-Gaza war, and CEOs have demanded universities name protesters so as to blacklist them.Mike Johnson and his Republican colleagues repeatedly criticized Columbia University’s administrators for not cracking down on student protesters. But plenty of other campuses are calling in the police, including one on California’s far northern coast. The Guardian’s Dani Anguiano reports what happened:Police cracked down on a pro-Palestine demonstration at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, early on Tuesday morning, clearing two buildings that protesters had occupied since last week, arresting dozens of people and detaining at least one journalist.The public university on California’s far north coast said in a statement early Tuesday that an operation by law enforcement, which included police from across the state, had “restored order” to the campus.“This is a difficult day, it breaks my heart to see it, and truly nobody wanted to see things come to this,” Tom Jackson Jr, the Cal Poly Humboldt president, said in a statement.Like other universities across the country, Cal Poly Humboldt was the site of major protests over the war in Gaza and the mounting civilian death toll. Students said they planned to hold a sit-in, but barricaded themselves in a university building using furniture, tents, chains and zip-ties as police arrived on campus.Returning to the podium, speaker Mike Johnson said that after visiting Columbia University last week, he challenged Joe Biden to do the same.“After we left the campus, I made a call to senior policy advisers in the White House. The president was on the road, as I was, and we did not connect immediately, but I’ve encouraged him to go and see it for himself,” said Johnson, who is by no means an ally of Biden’s, though they occasionally find common ground.Here’s more on Johnson’s appearance at Columbia, where he attracted criticism for alleging that Hamas “backed” the protesters:As chair of the House energy and commerce committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers oversees federal research grants that universities receive, and said she would scrutinize universities hit by anti-Israel protests.“We will be increasing our oversight of institutions that have received public funding and cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act,” McMorris Rodgers said.The Washington congresswoman continued:
      Imagine being a Jewish American, knowing that part of your hard-earned paycheck is going to fund antisemitic professors’ research while they threaten students and actively indoctrinate and radicalize the next generation.
      Virginia Foxx, chair of the House education committee, said she will invite officials from the University of California, Los Angeles, University of Michigan and Yale University to appear for testimony on 23 May.“As Republican leaders, we have a clear message for mealy mouthed spineless college leaders. Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish students. American universities are officially put on notice that we have come to take our universities back,” said Foxx, who represents North Carolina.Officials from the three colleges will testify “on their handling of the these most recent outrages”, Foxx said, referring to the student protests.Mike Johnson kept up his hardline rhetoric against anti-Israel protesters on college campuses, singling out demonstrators at Columbia University as “terrorist sympathizers” and vowing the House will investigate the protests nationwide.Referring to the New York City-based university’s administrators, Johnson said, “What do they need to see before they stand up to these terrorist sympathizers? And that is exactly what they are.”He blamed the Columbia demonstrators for inspiring similar protests nationwide:
      What’s worse, though, is that Columbia’s choice to ignore the safety of their Jewish students and appease antisemites has inspired even more hateful protests to pop up across the country.
      Without getting into specifics, he announced that House committees would open investigations into the protests:
      We will not allow antisemitism to thrive on campus, and we will hold these universities accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students on campus. And that’s why today, we’re here to announce a House-wide effort to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses. Nearly every committee here has a role to play in these efforts to stop the madness that has ensued.
      Speaker Mike Johnson and other top House Republicans are expected to in a few minutes announce their plans for a “crackdown on antisemitism” at universities nationwide, amid pro-Israel protests that have prompted school administrators to call in the police and suspend students.Johnson has been aggressive in condemning these disruptions. He visited Columbia University last week – the site of one of the most intense protests – and alleged that Hamas “backed” the demonstrations, a remark that was criticized as baseless.We’ll let you know what he has to say about the House’s next steps.Democrats may have just saved Republican speaker Mike Johnson from an attempt by rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him from his post as the chamber’s leader. House Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion, should she put it up for a vote, prompting Greene to accuse Johnson of making a “slimy back room deal” with the opposition (though it was unclear if her effort ever had much support). Johnson, for his part, denied any collaboration with Democrats, whose position was an about-face from the one they took last year, when they were more than happy to lend their votes to the GOP insurgents who ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair. Johnson is meanwhile busy preparing for a press conference we expect to begin in a few minutes, where he will announce a “crackdown on antisemitism” at college campuses, amid a wave of protests that have drawn condemnation from the White house.Here’s what else is happening today:
      Donald Trump was fined $9,000 for violating a gag order imposed by the judge in his trial in New York on charges related to falsifying business documents.
      Trump also gave an interview to Time, where he outlined the extreme rightwing agenda he would pursue if returned to the White House.
      Defense secretary Lloyd Austin was not immune to the protest wave, as a sign-wielding demonstrator interrupted his testimony to Congress.
      Are you worried about Donald Trump returning to power? Are you counting the days until voters eject Joe Biden from the White House?Or do you just want to know which candidate is more likely to win?On Thursday 2 May from 8-9.15pm GMT, the Guardian’s Tania Branigan, David Smith, Mehdi Hasan and Tara Setmayer will hold a live event where viewers will get the inside track on the people, the ideas and the events that might shape the US election campaign.Book tickets here.Donald Trump told Time much about what he would have planned for a second term in the White House, which adds up to a far more extreme agenda than what he promised when elected in 2016.Here’s a summary of it all, from the interview:
      What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.
      Time also managed to break a bit of news about Trump’s intentions beyond 2028. If elected in November, the constitution only allows him to serve one term, and he told the magazine that he has no plans “to overturn or ignore the constitution’s prohibition on a third term”.Trump also signaled his support for the possibility that states hostile to abortion rights would attempt to monitor pregnant women.In the interview with Time, Trump was asked if he believes “states should monitor women’s pregnancies so they can know if they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban?”.Trump replied, in part: “I think they might do that. Again, you’ll have to speak to the individual states.”Trump was then asked if he was personally comfortable with people being prosecuted for receiving abortions after a state-implemented ban.He said:
      The states are going to say. It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.
      And by the way, Texas is going to be different than Ohio. And Ohio is going to be different than Michigan. I see what’s happening.
      Read the full interview here.Donald Trump has said that he is considering pardons for every person accused of attacking the US Capitol on 6 January if elected president in 2024, according to a new interview.Trump told Time that he refers to those involved in the 2021 insurrection as “J-6 patriots”. When asked if he “would consider pardoning every one of them”, Trump said: “Yes, absolutely.”Trump characterized those persecuted for their involvement in 6 January as being victims to a two-tier justice system.Trump said:
      It’s a two-tier system. Because when I look at Portland, when I look at Minneapolis, where they took over police precincts and everything else, and went after federal buildings, when I look at other situations that were violent, and where people were killed, nothing happened to them. Nothing happened to them. I think it’s a two-tier system of justice. I think it’s a very, very sad thing. And whether you like it or not, nobody died other than Ashli [Babbitt].
      A pro-Palestine protester disrupted a US armed forces committee hearing where defence secretary Lloyd Austin was providing testimony.As seen in video of the incident, Austin was speaking when a protester carrying a “let Gaza live” sign, stood up and said: “How can you talk about US leadership when you’re supporting genocide in Gaza?”The protester added: “It is illegal. It is immoral. It is disgusting. The whole world is watching what we are doing in Gaza right now … Secretary general, you are supporting a genocide.”The protester was removed by security. More

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      Clownfall: don’t be taken in by the trick of a great dictator | Letters

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      I thank Adrian Chiles for drawing attention to Adolf Hitler’s chilling quote from the 1920s: “It makes no difference whatever whether they laugh at us or revile us … whether they represent us as clowns or criminals; the main thing is that they mention us, that they concern themselves with us again and again…” (Everyone laughed at Hitler in the 1920s. A century on, are we making the same mistake?, 24 April).As a very young child, I lived through the second world war in Dublin; while Ireland was neutral, the war was nonetheless very present to us there. Like Chiles, all my life I have wondered how millions of people could have been taken in by a figure such as Hitler, with terrible consequences.And while there may be significant differences between Hitler and a certain figure south of the Canadian border, it’s not hard to see the ploy that was advocated in the quote that so chilled Chiles being employed by the latter – and successfully, to judge by much media coverage.David BlackwellEastern Passage, Nova Scotia, Canada Adrian Chiles’s column was excellent. As a liberal American, I take the danger that is Donald Trump very seriously. I, and most of my circle of contacts and friends, understand that half the electorate in the US will vote for Trump, irrespective of anything he does or any court proceeding. We find this very frightening.I would like to think that some, if not most, liberal voters have thought this through, particularly after the 2020 election and its aftermath. It’s vital that some journalists finally have chosen to puncture the fragile facade that is the reliability of American democracy.Gary RintelmannMequon, Wisconsin, US I have to agree that political leaders who are laughed at, such as Hitler, still have the potential to rise into power and produce destructive outcomes. I have read many books on Hitler and 20th-century history. While there was a unique set of circumstances that helped propel him into power, his narcissistic belief in himself and a fanatical determination to fulfil his imagined destiny are basic human traits (found mostly in men) and will always be present in the human race until one of them finally wipes all of us from this planet.Ed StrosserEast Elmhurst, New York, USView image in fullscreen More

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      Miami Grand Prix organizers stop plans for Trump fundraiser in luxury suite

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      Officials with the Miami Grand Prix recently halted a Donald Trump presidential campaign fundraiser being planned for the upcoming Formula One race, sending a cease-and-desist letter to its organizer.A Miami Grand Prix representative notified Steven Witkoff, a close friend of Trump, that Witkoff would not be allowed to use a suite at the race to fundraise for the former president, the Washington Post first reported.Witkoff allegedly plotted to host a political fundraiser at the Paddock Club rooftop suite, charging potential attendees $250,000 a ticket to attend.The Paddock suite facilities at the F1 race are fairly exclusive, providing guests with better views of the racetrack and other perks, according to the F1 experiences website.In a letter to Witkoff obtained by the Post, Miami Grand Prix organizers said: “It has come to our attention that you may be using your Paddock Club Rooftop Suite for a political purpose, namely raising money for a federal election at $250,000 a ticket, which clearly violates the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix suite license agreement … If this is true, we regret to inform you that your suite license will be revoked, you will not be allowed to attend the race at any time, and we will refund you in full.”The Guardian could not immediately reach a representative of the Miami Grand Prix.The event had previously been advertised in a newsletter for the Shell Bay Club in Florida, an exclusive golf club Witkoff’s real estate company helped develop.According to the advertisement viewed by the Post, an invitation to the cancelled political fundraiser included a helicopter trip and other amenities. Multiple people called Miami Grand Prix officials and asked about the event.It’s unclear if Trump was going to make an appearance at the fundraiser. Trump is expected to attend the Miami Grand Prix, which is on 5 May, Newsweek reported. Secret Service agents reportedly contacted race officials to coordinate Trump’s attendance, the Post reported.Witkoff is a longtime associate of Trump. He recently testified on the former president’s behalf during a New York financial fraud case, in which Trump, his eldest sons and associates were ordered to pay over $350m plus pre-judgment interest.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIn a phone call with the Post, Witkoff denied any wrongdoing, claiming: “This is something fake, for sure.” He did not elaborate further.The fiasco at the Miami Grand Prix is not the first time officials affiliated with a popular racing series have rejected political associations.Organizers with the Indy 500 race rejected a request from one car to feature pictures of Trump and the independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, WIBC reported. More

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      Kristi Noem ‘had a shot’ at Trump VP slot before dog-killing boast, sources say

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      Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, “had a shot” at being named Donald Trump’s presidential running mate – but blew it by boasting about shooting her dog to death, a Trump insider reportedly said.“She was already unlikely to be picked as VP but had a shot,” the New York Post quoted an unnamed Trump ally as saying.“After this, it’s just impossible.”Noem’s story of deciding to kill Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer she deemed useless for hunting and a danger to chickens, is contained in her forthcoming book.No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward, will be published next month. Last week, the Guardian obtained a copy and reported the startling tale of Noem and Cricket the dog, who Noem says she “hated”.More startlingly still, Noem also describes killing – with two shotgun blasts – an unnamed, un-castrated male goat, which she deemed too smelly and unruly.On the page, Noem defends her actions as indicative of the kinds of unpleasant things people have to do on farms and in politics, too. Since the story became public, she has doubled down, saying her family recently put down three horses and claiming she was legally obliged to kill Cricket because she killed a neighbour’s chickens.According to a Guardian review, South Dakota law suggests Noem may have committed a class two misdemeanour by allowing Cricket to kill the chickens – and also may have contravened the law by killing the dog on her own property, after the attack on the chickens.A spokesperson for Noem did not comment on that contention.Having entered Congress in the hard-right Tea Party wave of 2010 and becoming governor of South Dakota in 2019, Noem has been widely seen to be a possible vice-presidential pick for Trump.In the wake of revelations about how she killed Cricket and the unnamed goat, the latter animal with two shots separated by a walk back to Noem’s truck for more shells, most pundits have pronounced such hopes to be dead.The Trump ally who spoke to the New York Post – while the former president sat on trial in the city, in his hush-money case over payments to an adult film star – said: “Trump isn’t a dog person necessarily but I think he understands that you can’t choose a puppy killer as your pick, for blatantly obvious reasons.”The Post said another source from within the former president’s camp said that though Trump “likes Kristi a lot” he was “disappointed when hearing the ‘dog’ story”.“It certainly has not enhanced her chances, but no decision has been made concerning any of the VP candidates,” the source reportedly said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionOther outlets reported similar disquiet.“The median reaction when we checked around Trump world was ‘WTF’,” said Semafor, “although some noted her chances were considered slim already.”Dog-killing aside, Noem’s other potential liabilities include links to a Texas cosmetic dentist and views on abortion bans – opposing exceptions for rape or incest – to the right even of Trump.“Governor Noem just keeps proving over and over that she’s a lightweight,” Semafor quoted a source “close to the Trump campaign” as saying.The Hill quoted an unnamed Trump ally as saying the story of Cricket and the goat guaranteed Noem would not be the VP pick.“Anytime you have to respond more than once to a story, it’s not good,” the source reportedly said.With Cricket and the unnamed goat in mind, the same source said that when it came to assessing Noem’s chances of a place on Trump’s ticket, “She’s DOA.” More