Donald Trump

Subterms

    More stories

    • 200 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Same-sex marriage bill clears key Senate hurdle as Republicans on brink of House majority – live

      by

      The Senate voted to move forward with the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right of same sex couples to marry. Twelve Republicans voted with Democrats to move the bill forward, and a final vote could come this week. The bill, which already passed the Democratic-controlled house with the votes of 47 Republicans, gained momentum after Justice Clarence Thomas suggested, after the overturning of Roe v Wade, that the right to same sex marriage could come under threat. The Respect for Marriage Act will “make our country a better, fairer place to live,” said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who also mentioned that his daughter and her wife are expecting a baby next year.Yesterday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has voiced support for a Senate bill which would protect same-sex marriage, saying LGBTQ+ individuals are entitled to rights even while affirming its belief that same-sex relationships are a sin.“The doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints related between a man and a woman is well-known and will remain unchanged.” the church said in a statement on Tuesday.“We are grateful for the continuing efforts of those who work to ensure the Respect for Marriage Act includes appropriate religious freedom protections while respecting the law and preserving the rights of our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters.”The Senate is set to vote on Wednesday on the Respect for Marriage Act, which will repeal a Clinton-era law that defines marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. The bill also prohibits states from denying out-of-state marriage licenses and benefits on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.While the church has a long history of opposing same-sex relationships – it spent $20m trying to pass proposition 8 in California, a 2008 measure which banned same-sex marriage in the state – it has taken a more relaxed view of same-sex marriage in recent years.In 2016, the church said that it welcomed members who identified as LGBTQ+, though it reiterated its stance that marriage is between a man and a woman.In 2019, the church repealed a 2015 rule that banned baptisms for children of gay parents and said gay marriage is a sin worth expulsion from the church. At the time, the church said same-sex relationships were still a “serious transgression”.“As we work together to preserve the principles and practices of religious freedom together with the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, much can be accomplished to heal relationships and foster greater understanding,” the church said on Tuesday.In a statement, Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, said: “We are heartened to see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints support the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act. Despite differences we may have, we can always discover common ground on laws that support the strengthening of all families.”Read more: Mormon church voices support for Senate bill to protect gay marriageRead moreThe Senate voted to move forward with the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right of same sex couples to marry. Twelve Republicans voted with Democrats to move the bill forward, and a final vote could come this week. The bill, which already passed the Democratic-controlled house with the votes of 47 Republicans, gained momentum after Justice Clarence Thomas suggested, after the overturning of Roe v Wade, that the right to same sex marriage could come under threat. The Respect for Marriage Act will “make our country a better, fairer place to live,” said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who also mentioned that his daughter and her wife are expecting a baby next year.With Republicans poised to gain control of the House, speculation is swirling that the current Democratic speaker Nancy Pelosi will use the opportunity to leave her leadership position in the party.She had previously said she would step down as party leader at the end of this year, although lately hasn’t said whether she will stick to that commitment. Punchbowl News now reports that Pelosi has told California’s congressional delegation she will soon make a decision about her future in the party. Besides political considerations, Pelosi is also dealing with the aftermath of the attack on her husband Paul Pelosi, and said that will factor in her calculations.Besides staying in her leadership post – albeit with the Democrats likely in the minority – The New York Times reported yesterday 82-year-old Pelosi could also choose to leave leadership and play something of an informal advisory role to House Democrats.Mike Pence has continued his campaign of mild-mannered condemnation of Donald Trump, this time in an interview with the Associated Press.Close readers of this blog will note that Pence was on Fox News this morning, where he signaled little enthusiasm for Trump’s return to the campaign trail. If you’re wondering why the former vice-president is doing so many interviews, it’s because he just released a book about his time serving as Trump’s deputy, and also is thought to be considering his own presidential run.Anyway, back to the interview with the AP. In it, Pence reiterates his feeling that the Republicans can find a better nominee than Trump:Former Vice President Mike Pence, in an @AP interview, shared his reaction to Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection bid.”I have a genuine sense that the American people are looking for new leadership,” he said. pic.twitter.com/c9Yqy8f8dr— The Associated Press (@AP) November 16, 2022
      He also reflects on his experience during the January 6 attack, when Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol while Pence was inside:Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized President Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.”The president’s words were reckless, and they endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol building,” he said. #TheAPInterview pic.twitter.com/kAGQiit0Fm— The Associated Press (@AP) November 16, 2022
      An Illinois man who pled guilty to assaulting a police officer and a journalist during the January 6 insurrection is now facing felony murder charges after allegedly killing a woman in a wrong-way crash, the Associated Press reports.Shane Jason Woods was to be sentenced on 13 January of next year after pleading guilty to ramming a Capitol police officer into a bicycle barricade and tackling a reporter during the assault by Donald Trump’s supporters nearly two years ago.On 8 November, prosecutors allege Woods drove his pickup truck onto the wrong lane of an Illinois interstate and crashed into oncoming traffic, killing a 35-year-old woman from North Carolina. Here’s more from the AP:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Woods has been indicted on felony counts of first-degree murder, aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and aggravated fleeing and eluding a peace officer and is being held in Sangamon County Jail, according to a press release from the county’s state’s attorney’s office. Woods’ bond is set at $2 million, but the county filed a petition to deny bail.
      “The evidence will show the Defendant made numerous statements before and after the fatal collision on Interstate 55 which establish his intent to enter upon the highway for the purpose of striking another vehicle,” the petition said.
      The sentence for first-degree murder in Illinois is 20 years to life in state prison.
      It was not immediately clear who is representing Woods in the case. Dwight Crawley, Woods’ defense attorney for the U.S. Capitol riot case, did not immediately return a call requesting comment.Kevin McCarthy granted Donald Trump a boon in the weeks after the January 6 insurrection, standing beside him at his Mar-a-Lago club in a visit that made clear Trump still had the support of Republicans in Congress.One might think McCarthy would be quick to endorse him, now that Trump is running for the White House again. NBC News reports that is apparently not the case:House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy did not respond when asked by @scottwongDC if he was prepared to endorse former President Trump. Listen: pic.twitter.com/NtI6byNUKz— Kyle Stewart (@KyleAlexStewart) November 16, 2022
      Another former Donald Trump official has made his displeasure with the ex-president’s run for office known.While he doesn’t mention him by name, Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state from 2018 until the end of Trump’s term and is thought to be considering his own campaign for the White House, tweeted this out today:We need more seriousness, less noise, and leaders who are looking forward, not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood.— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) November 16, 2022
      Pompeo’s use of the word “victimhood” is telling. In his announcement speech last night, Trump at one point said, “I’m a victim”:”I’m a victim. I will tell you. I’m a victim” — Trump pic.twitter.com/ietvHhTG2c— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 16, 2022
      Rick Scott has reacted to his loss after failing to unseat Mitch McConnell as the Republican leader in the Senate.“Today marks the beginning of a new era in the Senate Republican Conference,” the Florida lawmakers says in a statement that mostly sticks to boilerplate rhetoric common the GOP. “Although the results of today’s elections weren’t what we hoped for, this is far from the end of our fight to Make Washington Work,” he said, before turning his attention to Joe Biden and his “reckless government spending and the devastating inflation Democrats have caused.”“I could not be more grateful for the support I’ve received from many of my colleagues and from Americans across our great country. I never thought for a moment that this fight would be easy, but I’m optimistic that, together, Republicans can rescue America with the principles that unite us against the dangerous path Democrats have set it on,” Scott concludes.Could Donald Trump actually win the Republican nomination in 2024? The prevailing wisdom, today at least, is probably not. Our columnist Lloyd Green, however, warns anyone reveling in Trump’s difficulties not to be so sure…“For the moment, Ron DeSantis has the wind at his back. He is a sitting governor who won re-election by nearly 20 points. Along the way, he absorbed Trump’s message and adopted parts of his mien – without being labeled unhinged.“Yet even if DeSantis emerges as the nominee, victory could be pyrrhic. If past is prelude, Trump could label his own defeat the product of a rigged system and invite his loyalists to sit out the general election. After he lost the Iowa caucus in 2016, he did just that. He blamed his second-place finish there on what he called cheating by Ted Cruz.“‘You know, at the end of the day I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,’ DeSantis insisted as the clock ticked down to Trump’s announcement. The governor is expected to announce his candidacy early next year. Others may well join the fray.“Whether the Department of Justice indicts Trump is the great unanswered question. Hours before the announcement, Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, took the witness stand in the criminal case against the company.“The game is on.”Trump is back but his chances look bleak – at least for now | Lloyd GreenRead moreThe House rules committee heard testimony today about the prospect of sitting a delegate from the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma – a US government promise unfulfilled for nearly 200 years.The principle chief of the 440,000-member Cherokee Nation, Chuck Hoskin, was among those to testify. He is behind the attempt to seat Kimberly Teehee, a former adviser to Barack Obama.As described by the Associated Press, “the tribe’s right to a delegate is detailed in the Treaty of New Echota, signed in 1835, which provided the legal basis for the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from its ancestral homelands east of the Mississippi river and led to the Trail of Tears, but it has never been exercised. A separate treaty in 1866 affirmed this right.”As described by the National Parks Service, the Trail of Tears involved “the forced westward migration of American Indian tribes from the south and south-east”, resulting in “4,000 Cherokee deaths on the way to present-day Oklahoma”.In Congress today, Hoskin said: “The Cherokee Nation has in fact adhered to our obligations under these treaties. I’m here to ask the United States to do the same.”The AP continues: “Hoskin also suggested Teehee could be seated this year by way of either a resolution or change in statute. The committee chairman, the Massachusetts Democrat James McGovern, and other members supported the idea. McGovern said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This can and should be done as quickly as possible. The history of this country is a history of broken promise after broken promise to Native American communities. This cannot be another broken promise.“McGovern said he has been contacted by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Delaware Nation, both of which have treaties with the US government that call for representation in Congress. McGovern also noted there are two other federally recognized bands of Cherokee Indians that argue they should be considered successors to the 1835 treaty: the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians based in North Carolina.“Members of the committee seemed to be in agreement that any delegate from the Cherokee Nation would be similar to delegates from the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands. These delegates are assigned to committees and can submit amendments to bills, but cannot vote for final passage of bills. Puerto Rico is represented by a non-voting resident commissioner who is elected every four years.”Mitch McConnell has as expected beaten a challenge for the leadership of the Republican party in the Senate, the Washington Post reports.As the Post puts it, the Kentucky senator “turned back a challenge from Senator Rick Scott of Florida, after the party failed to pick up seats in the chamber in the midterm elections [last week].“Some senators sought unsuccessfully to delay the vote to give them more time to assess the GOP’s dismal performance. McConnell has led Senate Republicans since 2007. Scott helmed the campaign committee tasked with electing more Republicans.”What the Post pleasingly calls “machinations” among Senate Republicans echo those in the House, where yesterday Kevin McCarthy survived a challenge to be the Republican nominee for speaker, should as is overwhelmingly likely the GOP take control of that chamber.McCarthy will have a lot more to do in that instance, needing 218 votes but facing a restive far-right wing of an increasingly far-right party, some of whom, such as Matt Gaetz of Florida, have said they won’t support him whatever concessions he offers.Of course, this is politics so that could change in a moment. One thing not changing for the moment is McConnell’s grip on Senate Republicans. He won Wednesday’s vote 37-10.As Punchbowl News put it this morning, before the Scott vote, “the 80-year-old McConnell is on the verge of breaking the late Democratic Montana senator Mike Mansfield’s record for the longest-serving party leader in Senate history..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}McConnell will reach that milestone in January. McConnell is acutely aware of this record – and his place in Senate history. Yet McConnell and his allies hoped he would be doing it as majority leader, especially with a very favorable Senate map heading into this cycle.”By January McConnell and the rest of us will know if he will operate for the next two years in a 50-50 Senate, controlled by Kamala Harris as vice-president, or a 51-49 Senate in Democrats’ favour. The Georgia runoff between the Trump-backed Republican Herschel Walker and the Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock, will take place on 6 December.Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail, although it is most certainly not 2015. The former president’s announcement last night is being greeted with skepticism by several Republicans, some of whom worked with him, while his daughter Ivanka Trump has opted to stay out of politics this time around. In Washington, Republicans are waiting to learn if they won control of the House, while the Senate is teeing up a vote on a bill to ensure same-sex marriages continue.Here’s what else is happening today:
      Georgia’s Senate race is a “toss-up,” the University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato says. The contest between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker goes to voters on 6 December.
      The 14th amendment bars Trump from holding office again because of his actions on January 6, a Democratic congressman argues.
      The New York Post roasted Trump’s campaign announcement, in another sign the Murdochs may be abandoning the ex-president.
      How exactly would the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) work? Slate has the answers in this illuminating piece.The bill is a two-pronged attempt to preserve existing same-sex marriages and allow new couples of the same gender to continue to marry, even if the supreme court overturns Obergefell v Hodges. The proposal first does that by getting rid of a federal law targeting same-sex couples, according to Slate:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}What the RFMA does not do is “codify” Obergefell, as many media outlets have inaccurately reported. So it’s worth delving into the details to understand precisely how this landmark legislation operates. Keep in mind that its central provisions will only become relevant if the Supreme Court overturns its marriage equality decisions. The RFMA will benefit same-sex couples if, and only if, SCOTUS overrules the right to equal marriage.
      Start with the easy part: The RFMA repeals the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law that bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. It replaces DOMA with a requirement that the federal government recognize any marriage that was “valid in the place where entered into.” So if a same-sex couple obtains a valid marriage license from any state, the federal government must recognize their union.The second part of the bill requires states to recognize same-sex marriage licenses even if they – in a post-Obergefell world – decide not to issue them:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Turn now to the second prong of the bill: Its requirement that every state recognize a valid same-sex marriage. It’s this provision that has upset some progressives, because it does not go as far as Obergefell. In that decision, the Supreme Court directed every state to license same-sex marriages—that is, to issue a marriage certificate to same-sex couples. The RFMA does not codify this component of Obergefell. Instead, it directs every state to recognize every same-sex marriage that “is valid in the State where the marriage was entered into.”
      So the RFMA does not force Texas to issue a marriage certificate to a same-sex couple. But it does force Texas to recognize a marriage certificate issued to a same-sex couple by New Mexico. In a post-Obergefell world, a same-sex couple in Texas could drive to New Mexico, obtain a certificate, and force Texas to respect their marriage like any other.This legislation doesn’t just address same-sex couples, but also interracial marriages, which were prohibited in parts of the United States before a 1967 supreme court decision. The RFMA would ensure those continue to be allowed as well:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Finally, the bill applies equally to same-sex marriages and interracial marriages. Since no states have expressed interest in reviving anti-miscegenation laws, this component is also largely symbolic. But it does protect interracial couples if the Supreme Court were to overturn Loving v. Virginia, which was rooted in the same constitutional principles as Obergefell.The Senate is expected to vote today on the Respect for Marriage Act codifying the right of same-sex couples to marry, after the legislation appeared to receive enough Republican support to overcome a filibuster.The bill already passed the Democratic-controlled house with the votes of 47 Republicans, but it’s been an open question whether enough GOP lawmakers would vote for the measure in the Senate. Axios reports that North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis is optimistic about its passage:GOP Sen. Thom Tillis on Respect for Marriage Act cloture vote this afternoon: “I feel that we have the votes to pass.” https://t.co/2jLgoM2nnq— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) November 16, 2022
      The ability for same-sex couples to marry was created by the 2015 supreme court case Obergefell v Hodges. In June, rightwing justice Clarence Thomas suggested that precedent could be revisited by the court, which is now firmly in the grips of conservative justices. That lead to the push to enact a law that would ensure people of the same gender are allowed to marry, even if Obergefell is overturned.Donald Trump’s presidential announcement may have fueled talk of 2024, but keep in mind that the 2022 election season isn’t over yet.Ballots are still being counted in House races, while Georgia still needs to vote in the runoff for its Senate seat. The election won’t decide the control of the chamber – that’s already guaranteed to Democrats – but the 6 December polls will give Joe Biden’s allies an opportunity to boost their margins in the Senate, should Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock win another term. If he’s ousted by Republican challenger Herschel Walker, the GOP will have an even better shot at taking back control in 2024, when several Democratic senators considered vulnerable are up for reelection.University of Virginia polling guru Larry Sabato has released a new analysis of the race, moving it into the “toss-up” column from its previous “leans Republican” rating given before last week’s elections. Beyond just helping Democrats with their task of keeping the chamber in 2024, Sabato notes that having an extra seat will allow them to run the Senate more smoothly, since they’ll have an outright majority, rather than a 50-50 split with Vice-President Kamala Harris breaking ties. That has implications for committee business, as well as approving judges and other executive nominees – which will likely become even more of a priority for the Senate’s Democratic leadership if the GOP takes the House.If you want to read more of Sabato’s thoughts, the link is here. More

    • 150 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump re-enters the battleground for the presidency: Politics Weekly America – podcast

      by

      More ways to listen

      Apple Podcasts

      Google Podcasts

      Spotify

      RSS Feed

      Download

      Share on Facebook

      Share on Twitter

      Share via Email

      Donald Trump has announced his third run for president, and not all Republicans are happy about it. Not only have there been a string of midterm losses by candidates he handpicked and supported – but in the background, federal and state authorities are investigating Trump’s personal, political and financial conduct.
      This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the political columnist Jonathan Martin of Politico and unpacks how the Republican party can finally break away from Trump’s legacy

      How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

      Archive: CNN and Sky News More

    • 213 Shares149 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump’s eternal quest for attention has led to the announcement of a presidential bid | Rebecca Solnit

      by

      Trump’s eternal quest for attention has led to the announcement of a presidential bidRebecca SolnitPundits who prophesied Trump will ride high seemingly forgot that the wheel that turns up, also turns down – and the midterms proved it The incredible shrinking Trump announced, in the most predictable news of the year, that he’s running for president again. In his eternal quest for attention, he had to be dissuaded from doing it before the recent election, so he wouldn’t do what he most aspires to do, which is to steal attention from everyone else, including the candidates in the party he may or may not still head but definitely disrupted. He would like lots more attention from you and me and everyone else, and he would also like some qualified immunity from all the criming he did during his last presidency. By the way, he stole a lot of classified documents and tried to steal an election and there should be lots of legal consequences for both of those more newsworthy things, though I wouldn’t bet on that. I’d much rather talk about everyone and anyone else, but within the parameters of this assignment I will have to talk about them talking about Trump. There was a whole fear-intoxicated storm of regular people worrying about Trump running again as soon as he’d lost in 2020, their apparent assumption being that nothing much would change in the political landscape and his standing in it over the next four years – even though he’d just lost by seven million votes, a remarkable achievement for a sitting president. Paid pundits who believe they can prophesy the future also tend to believe it will look just like the present, only more so – hello, “red wave,” which turned out to be a bunch of people in red Maga hats waving bye. Trump announces 2024 run nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riotRead moreThe road we’re on is not linear; you’re probably dizzy like me from the hairpin turns and the precipices. People fall off it all the time into the abyss below, as one does when driving a straight line on a curving road. The pundits apparently assumed that Trump’s once-strong standing was permanent, but while true-believer Maga folks keep buying what Trump is selling, a lot of other people who tried out what was on offer have moved on, including Rupert Murdoch. Meanwhile, by demanding Republican politicians demonstrate loyalty to himself and his Big Lie, Trump has managed to splinter a political party once renowned for its internal discipline. “We underperformed among independents and moderates,” said former senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, “because their impression of many of the people in our party and leadership roles is that they are involved in chaos and negativity and excessive attacks.” The Washington Post yesterday referred to what’s going on in the Grand Old Party as a “full scale brawl,” though I thought the brawl/frat party was 2017-2021, and this is the bickering and the hangover. There is only one unchangeable fact in politics and life in general and you could fold in evolutionary biology and economics and the leftovers in your refrigerator: things change. Medieval philosophers were fond of the image of the wheel of fortune, which was an allegory of fickle fate before it was a game show: those who rode the wheel up eventually ride the wheel down. They do. I give you tech’s latest whiz kid, crypto-mogul Sam Bankman-Fried (who just reportedly changed his own net worth from $10 billion to $0 while also losing many billions of other people’s money in investments he managed). Let me offer as well the shrunken valuation of Tesla, Meta (aka Facebook), Amazon (first corporation to lose a trillion in value), Alphabet (aka Google), Microsoft, and all the rest. It’s time for Democrats to move past Trump | Samuel MoynRead moreThings change, but apparently a lot of tech companies did business as though low interest rates were eternal and then, surprise, they went up and stocks went down. People invested in cryptocurrency as though it was only going to go up, and then speaking of surprising, the wheel turned, and a lot of them rode all the way down into the mire. When they get there, they can say hi to Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of Theranos, now awaiting her prison sentence, and former Trump campaign heads Paul Manafort, serving seven and a half years, and Steve Bannon, appealing his four-month sentence. Wheels turn. At least the Dutch tulip bubble left people with tulips. By the way, climate is much more important than all of this and all of them. The same day that Trump begged for attention to his unsurprising ambitions in Florida, Allen H Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer announced in a New York City courtroom that the Trumps bought him a cake (“a small cake,” he insisted) when his plea deal for fraud was finalized earlier this year. The same day Trump and Weisselberg made their announcements, Kevin D Williamson announced in a New York Times editorial that Trump could win in 2024. The piece featured the kind of loopy illogic white male conservatives writing for the New York Times specialize in: “Because American politics has been so dominated by an entertainer, the most inevitable thing in the world is a sequel” it began. Trump had his go at a second season and lost by seven million votes. Stewing in his own bile and venom in his soon-to-be-devoured-by-sea-level-rise Florida folly is the sequel. Being blamed for the midterms’ blue wave is the sequel. Backing Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker and Blake Masters for the senate and a bunch of Big Lie candidates for secretary of state, who also lost, is the sequel. Having Fox News recently feature a chyron that says, “Democrats see Trump as easiest to beat” is the sequel. So bring it on, desperate grasp for a third season. It’s not like this is some perennially beloved game show, like Wheel of Fortune though there are still chances it’s “America’s biggest loser.”
      Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses
      TopicsUS newsOpinionUS politicsDonald TrumpRepublicanscommentReuse this content More

    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Wednesday briefing: Trump announces his third presidential bid – but can he win?

      by

      Wednesday briefing: Trump announces his third presidential bid – but can he win?In today’s newsletter: The former president wants to make American great again … again. Here’s what he said, how it was received and what the arguments are for and against – gulp – Trump 2024

      Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition
      Good morning. To many observers in the Republican party, Donald Trump was the single biggest drag on their hugely disappointing performance in last week’s US midterm elections. Trump has listened, weighed the available evidence, undertaken a searching examination of his own role in the debacle, and – you are not going to believe this – concluded that he disagrees. Instead, he told an enthusiastic audience at Mar-a-Lago overnight, “in order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.”Persuaded of his own magnificence though Trump is, there are many good reasons to think that his return is extremely bad news for the Republican party. And yet. With the help of the Guardian US reporting team, today’s newsletter will run you through what the former president said, how it was received and what the arguments are for and against – gulp – Trump 2024. That’s after the headlines.Five big stories
      Russia | Joe Biden has said that a missile that landed in Poland killing two people on Tuesday was “unlikely” to have been fired from Russia due to its trajectory. Amid alarm over at the implications of any attack on Nato territory, Moscow has denied responsibility, while Poland would only say that the missiles appeared to be “Russian-made”.
      Cop27 | Fear of countries backsliding on their commitments to tackle the climate crisis dominated the Cop27 UN climate talks in Egypt on Tuesday, as the first tentative drafts started to emerge of key potential decisions. Documents and proposals seen by the Guardian showed some countries attempting to unpick agreements and water down commitments.
      Housing | The death of Awaab Ishak, an “engaging, lively, endearing” two-year-old, was a result of chronic mould in his family’s social housing flat in Rochdale, an inquest said. The coroner said Awaab’s tragic death should be a “defining moment” for the housing sector.
      G20 | Rishi Sunak will extend Britain’s hand to China for the first time in almost five years, asking for closer relations on energy and the economy in a meeting with president Xi Jinping on Tuesday. The move risks a backlash from Conservative MPs who have had sanctions imposed upon them by Beijing.
      Egypt | Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian democracy activist in jail in Egypt, has said in a letter to his family that he has ended his six-month hunger strike.
      In depth: ‘It feels very strange to be back here again’Trump’s advisers had hoped his speech might be limited to 45 minutes: in the event, he continued for more than an hour. David Smith sent a voice note from the Mar-a-Lago ballroom shortly after he finished. Trump’s confirmation of his intention to run “prompted an eruption of cheers and whistles from several hundred guests under the crystal chandeliers,” he said, but “apart from that I think the general consensus here is that it was a pretty low energy speech … unusually for anyone who’s been to one of his rallies, it was at times quite boring.”There were some characteristically wild moments, like his vow that drug dealers will “receive the death penalty for their heinous acts”. But overall, David said, “I did not see much at Mar-a-Lago tonight that is going to rattle Joe Biden or potential Republican rivals in the primary.” You can read David’s sketch, in which he compares Trump to “an ageing champ returning to centre court only to find he’s holding a wooden racket,” here.It feels “very strange to be back here again”, said Guardian US political correspondent Lauren Gambino. After disappointing midterm results, “there are all these questions about what the future of the party should look like, and he’s just really pulling them back to 2020”.Here are some arguments for and against Trump’s chances of winning the Republican nomination.Why Trump’s not the force he was1 He was a drag on Republicans in the midtermsIf ideological or ethical concerns have never been enough to wean the GOP off Trump, cold electoral arithmetic might be. The party has now failed in three elections in a row with him as its figurehead. In a midterm year which by any historic guide should have been a success for the “out” party, Republicans failed to capture the Senate and will only squeak the narrowest of victories in the House of Representatives.Trump ignored those disappointments, instead celebrating: “Nancy Pelosi has been fired. Isn’t that nice?” But whatever he says, it looks as if his influence was a crucial reason for the failure. In this analysis for the Washington Post, Philip Wallach, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, writes that in competitive races, candidates with Trump endorsements fared around seven percentage points worse than those he didn’t support.2 He’s lost important support in the media and party establishmentUntil recently, Trump could count on the near-unanimous backing of the conservative media in the US. Now, as Adam Gabbatt writes in his analysis of rightwing media coverage, there have been signs that Rupert Murdoch’s empire may have turned on the former president, who was branded “Trumpty Dumpty” by the New York Post and called “the Republican party’s biggest loser” by the Wall Street Journal.On Fox News last night, Adam writes, “it seemed that not everyone was ready to let Trump go”. But there were still nuances to the coverage which would once have been unimaginable.“Fox News has been tied so closely to Trump for so long that an immediate ditching was always unlikely – but there were some small signs through the evening that perhaps they’re pulling away,” Adam said in a voice note. He pointed to an interview with possible rival Mike Pence, a “quite subdued” appearance from longtime supporter Sean Hannity, and the decision to cut away from Trump’s speech to analysis even as it continued.“I think in previous years if Trump had a big announcement to make at 9 o’clock, that’s, like, three hours of Fox News coverage sorted – just Trump, Trump, Trump. It wasn’t that.”It’s not just the media: for one example of how the party establishment feels more able to take on Trump, see this story from Monday on Politico, which notes that the influential Club for Growth – once a reliable Trump cheerleader – has pushed out polling data showing him trailing rival Ron DeSantis in key primary states. Even his daughter Ivanka says she will not be part of the 2024 campaign.3 He has a viable rival on the far rightDeSantis (below) was one of the Republican party’s few big winners on election night, beating his Democratic rival by almost 20 points in the race to be governor of Florida. DeSantis is a threat to Trump precisely because he hews pretty closely to his extreme ideology without the former president’s baggage or unpredictability – and a YouGov poll shows him with a seven-point lead among Republican voters nationally.Trump’s nickname for the man he views as the only serious threat to his domination of the Republican party, Ron DeSanctimonious, is pretty funny – but Republican voters may ask themselves if they wouldn’t prefer a more “normal” politician who, at 44, also presents a helpful generational contrast with 79-year-old Joe Biden. For more on the Trump-DeSantis rivalry, see this piece from yesterday by Chris McGreal. And Martin Pengelly has a guide to the other likely candidates.Why he might be the candidate anyway1 He wasn’t the Republicans’ only problem in the midtermsWhile Trump was undoubtedly an issue for Republican candidates, there are sound arguments that the party’s difficulties were not limited to his influence. In the American Conservative, the successful Trump-endorsed Senate candidate in Ohio, JD Vance, argues that blaming the former president ignores the Democrats’ advantage in “small-dollar fundraising” and calls Republican efforts “paltry by comparison”. While the overall fundraising picture is complex, Axios reported that in the 10 most competitive Senate races, Republicans were outraised by $75m among small-dollar donors.It may be hard to wholly separate fundraising from Trump’s influence as rallying force for Democrats. But Vance argues that the best way to solve the problem is to “build a turnout machine” and that the party has “one major asset … to rally these voters: President Donald Trump”. (Unsurprisingly, Trump agrees: he has blamed the GOP establishment, the electoral system, the candidates themselves and reportedly, for her alleged role in leading him to support doomed Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, his wife, Melania.)2 He can still win the nomination without being very popularA presidential election is another question – but in the contest for the Republican nomination, Trump can prevail with the highly motivated minority of Republican voters who still prefer him to any other candidate. Republican pollsters estimate that proportion of GOP primary voters at between one-third and 40%. In 2016, Trump won the Republican primary with about 45% of the vote overall, and many states with less than that. Until DeSantis or anyone else proves they can defeat him with voters, he remains a very serious candidate for the nomination.3 He’s been underestimated beforeIt would be foolish to write off the extensive evidence that Trump’s star is on the wane – but past experience suggests that it would be equally unwise to write him off so early. Meanwhile, there is no sign that the Republican party is thinking hard about what a successful political message that repudiates Trumpism would look like.One plausible theory is that despite his many disadvantages, his supporters are less interested in winning elections than in maintaining their love affair with the politician who tells them they’re right about everything. “It’s tempting to see the strength of the Maga forces ebbing at last, the calendar leaf turning over on the Trump era,” Tom Scocca wrote for the New York Times this week. “But how do you declare defeat for a movement that is built around refusing to accept defeat?”Extremely onlineFor a raucous summary of how Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter has gone so far, look no further than this exhaustive thread from @christapeterso. Features Mario giving the finger, and Musk on the future of the company: “We all need to be more hardcore.”What else we’ve been reading
      Once you’ve read Dan Hancox’s account of “proper binmen” memes, you’ll see the past and the present differently. Beautifully written, subtle and featuring a three-paragraph rendition of the sweep of the “baby boomer nostalgia industrial complex” that could hardly be bettered. Archie
      India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has presented himself as a committed environmentalist who wants his country to embrace renewable energy, all while unveiling plans to increase coal production to 1bn tonnes a year. Hannah Ellis-Petersen dives into India’s energy conundrum. Nimo
      Ageing gamers like me have much to learn from Keith Stuart’s guide to surviving an online ecosystem ruled by trigger-happy teens. As with most things for the over-30s, it comes down to not running, spending a lot of money on equipment and hiding as much as possible. Archie
      David Squires’ cartoon on the death of Qatar World Cup worker Rupchandra Rumba by “natural causes”, building on the reporting of Pete Pattisson, makes the brutal conditions faced by those who made the tournament possible inescapable. And read Pattisson’s piece on what he’s learned in reporting on migrant workers’ plight. Archie
      In this hilarious and honest Q&A, Liam Pape spoke to the comedian Sara Pascoe about the best and worst advice she’s ever received, her relationship with feminism and her new show Success Story. Nimo
      SportWorld Cup | Gay Qataris have been promised safety from torture in exchange for helping authorities track down other LGBTQ+ people, a prominent Qatari campaigner told the Guardian. Dr Nasser Mohamed said foreign gay fans would not face prosecution during the tournament but warned that gay Qataris faced a very different reality.Football | England’s Lionesses could not find a 17th victory of the year but signed off on an unbeaten 2022 with a 1-1 draw against Norway, who equalised late on despite the sending off of Anja Sønstevold.Cricket | Simon Burnton’s review of the T20 World Cup reflects on the tournament’s thrilling unpredictability – the Netherlands v South Africa for best match? – and asks the hard questions of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.The front pagesOur Guardian print edition leads with “Russian barrage strikes Ukraine amid claims missiles hit Poland”. The front-page picture is Awaab Ishak, not even two, who died from mould in the family flat. Of that, the Daily Express says “Tragic death of boy from mould shames Britain”. The Times has “Russians blamed for fatal strike on Poland” while the Daily Mirror says “Russian bombs hit Poland” under the banner “Tyrant’s war on Ukraine” with a picture of Vladimir Putin. “Putin’s war spills into Poland” – that’s the i, while the Daily Telegraph has “Russian missile strikes Poland”. The Metro says “Putin’s war escalates – ‘Russian missiles’ hit Poland”. In the Financial Times, it’s “Sunak urges bosses to curb their pay and look after staff”. The culture wars are back on in the Daily Mail: “Universities are told to ‘decolonise’ maths and computing”. And the footballer Ronaldo has told the Sun that “I keep our baby Angel’s ashes. I talk to him all the time”.Today in FocusReclaiming Kherson: what Russia’s retreat reveals about the fight for UkraineUkrainians have reacted with jubilation after retaking Kherson city and the region around it. But what did living under Russian occupation do to the area and its people – and is this really the beginning of the end of the war?Cartoon of the day | Martin RowsonThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all badCorals that were planted in 2017 at Fitzroy Island on the Great Barrier Reef have spawned for the first time. They were planted as part of a pilot programme testing the benefits of offshore “coral nurseries” – the hopes were that the corals that were grown from fragments that had survived mass bleaching would be resilient to heatwaves in the future. The spawning has been described as a “beautiful milestone” in the journey to recovering Australia’s corals. So far the Reef Restoration Foundation has established 33 coral nurseries to help the health of the reef on a small localised scale.Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every SundayBored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
      Quick crossword
      Cryptic crossword
      TopicsDonald TrumpFirst EditionRepublicansUS politicsUS midterm elections 2022Ron DeSantisnewslettersReuse this content More

    • 125 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump’s speech was full of exaggerated and false talking points

      by

      AnalysisTrump’s speech was full of exaggerated and false talking pointsJoan E GreveThe former president consistently painted a misleading image of his years in office, recalling nonexistent global peace, secure borders and a strong economy Donald Trump’s announcement that he will run for president again in 2024 was met with joy, dismay and mockery across the political spectrum.Making the widely anticipated announcement at his Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night, Trump delivered remarks that would feel quite familiar to anyone who has watched one of his many campaign rallies. Looking back on America as he left the presidency in early 2021, Trump painted a rosy and often misleading picture of a nation that had established secure borders, a strong economy and global peace.Trump announces 2024 run nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riotRead moreTrump largely ignored the global pandemic that defined his final year as president and killed more than 400,000 Americans before he stepped down. He made the bizarre claim that the country had gone decades without a war while he was president, even though the war in Afghanistan was still unfolding at the end of his term. And Trump delivered the baseless declaration that the US-Mexican border had been “erased” since Joe Biden was sworn in.Trump used these consistently exaggerated and frequently false talking points to make his case for a third presidential bid.“Two years ago, we were a great nation, and soon we will be a great nation again,” Trump said. “In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.”00:52The announcement was celebrated by Trump’s most loyal allies, who have continued to stand by him even after he incited a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.“If President Trump continues this tone and delivers this message on a consistent basis, he will be hard to beat,” said Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator of South Carolina. “His speech tonight, contrasting his policies and results against the Biden administration, charts a winning path for him in the primaries and general election.”But Republicans’ disappointing performance in the midterm elections last week may contradict Graham’s confident assessment of Trump’s prospects. Despite widespread expectations that Republicans would easily recapture the House majority, control of the lower chamber remained officially up for grabs as Trump delivered his speech on Tuesday night. In the Senate, Democrats have already secured two more years of majority power, and they may even pick up a seat depending on the results of the Georgia runoff next month.Speaking to a friendly crowd on Tuesday, Trump boasted an endorsement success rate in the midterms of 232 wins and only 22 losses, ignoring the fact that the 22 losses came in some of the consequential elections of the year. Trump’s Senate picks like Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania and Don Bolduc of New Hampshire lost races that could have helped Republicans win back the majority. Those who embraced Trump’s lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election, such as gubernatorial candidates Kari Lake of Arizona and Don Mastriano of Pennsylvania, performed particularly badly last Tuesday.“I think it’s basically the third election in a row that Donald Trump has cost us the race, and it’s like three strikes, you’re out,” Larry Hogan, the outgoing Republican governor of Maryland and a frequent Trump critic, told CNN on Sunday.Never one to accept responsibility for (or even acknowledge) defeat, Trump instead suggested that Republican candidates lost because Americans are simply not yet feeling the sting of near record-high inflation and economic uncertainty.Time will tell whether that downbeat message will resonate with voters, but Democrats have wasted no time in reminding Americans of what they may not have appreciated about Trump’s presidency. The Tuesday speech brought a flood of anti-Trump fundraising emails from Democratic candidates and groups, and the sitting president himself joined in on the pile-on. Even before Trump had concluded his remarks, Joe Biden shared a video on Twitter noting that his predecessor saw an overall decline in jobs and attempted to overturn the Affordable Care Act.“Donald Trump failed America,” Biden said in the tweet.A senior Biden White House official also mocked the Mar-a-Lago speech as boring, a criticism that was echoed by a former member of Trump’s own administration.“This is one of the most low-energy, uninspiring speeches I’ve ever heard from Trump,” said Sarah Matthews, who left the White House after the January 6 insurrection. “Even the crowd seems bored. Not exactly what you want when announcing a presidential run.”This is one of the most low-energy, uninspiring speeches I’ve ever heard from Trump. Even the crowd seems bored. Not exactly what you want when announcing a presidential run.— Sarah Matthews (@SarahAMatthews1) November 16, 2022
      Trump’s decision to announce so early, just one week after the last election cycle concluded, means that his critics will have more time to dissect his record and campaign appearances. But for Trump himself, the early announcement could come with some benefits.Trump, who has been quick to denounce any investigation of him as a witch hunt, now faces legal threats on multiple fronts, and he will likely use his newly announced candidacy to bolster his questionable claims of political persecution.Trump’s early announcement is also an apparent attempt to clear the field for the Republican nomination, as one 2024 contender in particular appears to be gaining momentum. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has received glowing coverage from right-leaning media outlets since winning re-election by nearly 20 points last week, and there are early signs that Republican voters are taking notice.According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll taken in the days after polls closed, 33% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they would support DeSantis if the 2024 primary were held today, up from 26% just before election day.But the same poll reflected Trump’s enduring sway with Republican voters, as 47% of respondents said they would support the former president if the primary were held now. After Trump confirmed he would attempt to recapture the White House in 2024, some of his loudest critics begrudgingly acknowledged he is likely to win the Republican nomination again.Despite the challenge ahead, those same critics voiced confidence that Americans would again go to the polls in large numbers to deliver Trump a second defeat.“He’s back. He’ll win the GOP primary,” said Rick Wilson, a former Republican strategist and cofounder of the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project. “Only 721 days til election day 2024. We beat him before, together. We can beat him again, together.”TopicsDonald TrumpRepublicansUS politicsanalysisReuse this content More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump plays the ousted autocrat struggling to recapture past glory

      by

      AnalysisTrump plays the ousted autocrat struggling to recapture past gloryDavid Smith in Palm Beach, Florida Ex-president appears over the hill at 2024 announcement to an enthusiastic – but dwindling – group of loyalistsFrom plastering his name on buildings to hiring his own children, from salivating over military parades to savaging the media, from befriending fellow strongmen to defying the will of the people, Donald Trump has done much to invite comparisons with autocrats.On Tuesday he continued to play that role to perfection. Only now he was the ousted dictator, drained of power and surrounded by a dwindling band of loyalists in his last redoubt, the opulent Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. As a rule, the grander the palace, the weaker the man.Rightwing media’s coverage of Trump’s presidential bid shows they just can’t turn awayRead moreTo raucous cheers and shrill whistles, the 45th president of the United States announced his intention to become the 47th “in order to make America great and glorious again”. Never before has someone launched a run for the White House in the shadow of so many scandals and criminal investigations. And never before – perhaps! – has Trump been so vulnerable within the Republican party.If he hoped that this hour-long speech would silence the doubters and regain the patronage of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, he will surely be disappointed. The Trump who took the stage seemed an ageing champ returning to centre court only to find he’s holding a wooden racket.In an attempt to appear “presidential” – something that America previously spent four years waiting for in vain – he delivered the kind of low energy performance for which he used to mock Jeb Bush (thus Jeb Bush Jr wrote on Twitter: “WOW! What a low energy speech by the Donald. Time for new leaders! #WEAK #SleepyDonnie”).Here was the spectacle of a man who is over the hill, chasing past glories and raging against the dying of the right. “Just as I promised in 2016, I am your voice,” he told guests, but it did not seem to strike the same chord as six years ago.David Axelrod, a former strategist for Barack Obama, tweeted: “Weird performance. Either he was advised to tone it down or he’s just depressed about all the pounding he’s taken in the past week for the GOP’s performance.”Trump’s long-trailed declaration came just a week after many of his endorsed candidates flopped in the midterm elections, following similar rebukes in 2018 and 2020. Millions of people sent a message that they are sick of the lies, the hate and the conspiracy theories. Whatever he was selling in the midterms, people were no longer buying.Naturally, he did not accept this premise, claiming that he had notched 232 wins and suffered only 21 losses and not been given due credit. “I’m not going to use the term fake news; we’re going to keep it very elegant,” he said. Claiming prematurely that Republicans had just regained a majority in the House of Representatives, he added gleefully: “Nancy Pelosi has been fired!” The crowd of several hundred guests erupted.Trump also embarked on a meandering speculation that “the citizens of our country haven’t realised the full gravity of the pain our nation is going through, and the total effect of the suffering is just starting to take hold”.But, come 2024, they may and act accordingly. The speech felt unlikely to persuade Murdoch’s media outlets or Republican donors now openly flirting with Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who offers a cleaner, crisper form of Trumpism.Trump steered clear of his “Ron DeSanctimonius” moniker this time but repeated his 2016 claim that America’s malaise calls for an outsider, not a politician (he spoke of “the festering rot of corruption in Washington DC”, prompting crowd chants of “Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp!”). The difference, this time, is that the US knows what four years of Trump in the Oval Office means – two impeachments and an experiment in American carnage.A primary between Trump, DeSantis and possibly Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo and others threatens to be a Republican Lord of the Flies. Trump would start with the disadvantage of multiple federal, state and congressional investigations hanging over him. Maybe he thinks, probably erroneously, that becoming a presidential candidate will shield him from the justice department.Mar-a-Lago itself is allegedly a crime scene: it was here, on the plush 20-acre estate, that Trump stored hundreds of classified documents that should have been given to the National Archives (he has claimed that he could declassify them just by thinking about it).Trump declared Mar-a-Lago his permanent residence in 2019 and has reportedly turned into an unlikely DJ there, with his signature tune being the Village People’s YMCA. As a backdrop to Tuesday’s announcement, it nodded to Trump’s perceived status as a “blue-collar billionaire” – if I can live the American dream, you can too.Oh how Donald Trump has fallen | Cas MuddeRead moreHe delivered his address surrounded by 33 US national flags and elaborate Corinthian-style columns, beneath a ceiling of 16 crystal chandeliers and elaborate gold leaf decoration. The walls boasted mounted faux candelabra and giant Versailles-style mirrors. Giant TV screens proclaimed in white on blue: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! TEXT TRUMP TO 88022. DONALDJTRUMP.COM.”There were chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” and shouts of “We love you!” from hundreds of invited guests sitting or standing on the marble floor – some of them Maga diehards with the suits and red hats to prove it, some the Florida nouveau riche with the tans and jewels to prove it. At least four men wore leather jackets emblazoned with “Bikers for Trump”.Beforehand, Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy, had prowled the room looking for reporters to berate about his fantastical conspiracy theories about voting machines. Loudspeakers boomed the Trump golden oldies, just as they do at his rallies: Johnny Cash, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, the Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, Frank Sinatra (“And now, the end is near/ And so I face the final curtain”).Then, bizarrely, came a deafening roar of Do You Hear the People Sing? from the musical Les Misérables and the more tried and trusted “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood.Once Trump had confirmed his candidacy he warmed up a little, railing against Joe Biden for spurious reasons and reeling off some half-baked policies. Still not quite able to let go of 2020, despite the horrors of January 6 and the repudiation of election deniers last week, he declared: “To eliminate cheating, I will immediately demand voter ID, same day voting and only paper ballots.” This crowd loved it.The former first lady Melania Trump appeared smiling at the former president’s side at the end. But there was no sign of his son and Maga champion Donald Jr or daughter Ivanka, who issued a statement saying she is now staying out of politics. On the night of his great comeback, Trump, like King Lear, had been silently rebuked by his favorite, an absence that suggested: let it go.TopicsDonald TrumpThe US politics sketchRepublicansUS elections 2024US politicsanalysisReuse this content More

    • 225 Shares179 Views

      in US Politics

      We can’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Trumpism is far from over | Francine Prose

      by

      We can’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Trumpism is far from overFrancine ProseTo ‘move on’ from Trumpism, is to fall victim to the dangerous historical amnesia to which Americans seem so susceptible In the general relief that has followed the midterm elections, we’ve been hearing that Donald Trump is losing his grip on the Republican party and that his popularity with the electorate has waned. The evidence seems clear: most, if not all, of the candidates he backed in crucial political races were defeated, as were the far-right extremists and the 2020 election deniers.Trump announces 2024 run nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riotRead moreIt’s hard not to be cheered by the indications that the country hasn’t entirely lost its collective mind. But to “move on” from Trumpism, to view his regime as an aberration, a four-year mistake, is to fall victim to the dangerous historical amnesia to which Americans seem so susceptible.Even as we celebrate Trump’s failure to push Dr Oz to victory in Pennsylvania, we need to remember what our 45th president did, how effectively and recklessly he tapped into and unleashed our dark side, and the wellsprings of cruelty and hatred. We need to recall the broken-marionette twitches with which he mocked a disabled journalist and encouraged the crowd to laugh, his leading the chants demanding that Hillary Clinton be incarcerated – and his speech inciting his supporters to punish Mike Pence for refusing to decertify the 2020 election.Surely I’m not the only person who remembers the night when teams of immigration lawyers rushed to New York’s JFK airport because Trump had just called for all Muslims to be prohibited from entering the country, or the vicious nicknames he invented for his enemies and opponents, or his refusal to condemn the neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville. We are still mourning the thousands who died needlessly after Trump politicized a virus. We haven’t had time to forget how close his policies – and his spirit – have edged our democracy to the brink of extinction, and few of us feel certain that, even now, we are safe and in the clear.But just in case we’d forgotten any of that, just in case we’d persuaded ourselves that our Donald Trump problem is over, Trump’s announcement of his intention to run for president in 2024 brought it all back. The boasting and lying haven’t stopped. He claimed to have “taken decisive action” against Covid-19, to have more or less single-handedly defeated Isis, to have brokered a deal compelling Central America to take back deported gang members, and (despite the facts still fresh in our minds ) to have scored huge successes in helping elect candidates in the midterm elections.Who’s next? Republicans who might go up against Trump in 2024Read moreIt was painful to be reminded of the characteristically wild and inflammatory hyperbole (our cities, he claimed, are “cesspools of blood”), the vindictive attacks on the FBI and the Department of Justice, the winking reference to Barack Hussein Obama, and the racism and jingoism, the hatred of immigrants conveyed in his warnings about the “hundreds of millions” of criminal “savages” crossing our border for “a bad and sinister reason”. Once more, we heard his smarmy mocking of our concerns about the environment and the future of the planet, his derision of “the socialist disaster known as the green new deal”, his suggestion that we expand our mining for coal and drilling for fossil fuels.Meanwhile he seemed to have found some harsh new notes to sound. He suggested that drug dealers be summarily executed following the “quick trials” that work so well in China, that congressional term limits be abolished, that voting be made more difficult, that critical race theory and “gender insanity” be banned from the schools, that “parental rights” be upheld and that trans rights – which he characterized as “men playing women’s sports” – be weakened or abolished.It was all too familiar – and disturbing. When he spoke of reclaiming the “corridors of power”, it was hard not to think of the insurrectionists surging through the corridors of the US Capitol. And at moments it did feel as if he were reprising the tone and substance of the January 6 address – the appeal to take back our country – that sent his loyal followers on their destructive course. In a speech that lasted over an hour, less than a minute was spent promising to bring the country together; the rest of the time was devoted to inspiring an even greater divisiveness, a sharper awareness of difference, of the gap between “us” and “them”.But perhaps the most upsetting thing was Trump’s hammering insistence on the “fact” that America has been all but irreparably broken by the “radical left trying to destroy our country from within”. That was the theme that emerged most often as he spoke: our country is a “laughing stock”, a nation in “disarray” and “ruin” – a historical catastrophe from which he alone has been sent to save us.If we think we’ve heard it before, it’s because we have – long before Donald Trump entered the political arena. It’s the rhetoric of fascism and authoritarianism, the idea of a country that has been undermined, sabotaged and stabbed in the back, and that can only be rescued from certain destruction by the intercession of a dictator.
      Francine Prose is a former president of Pen American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
      TopicsUS newsOpinionUS politicsDonald TrumpcommentReuse this content More

    • 113 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Oh how Donald Trump has fallen | Cas Mudde

      by

      Oh how Donald Trump has fallenCas MuddeJust a few months ago, it was received wisdom that the Republican nomination was his for the taking. Now, that’s not the case He is running! In the least surprising news of the year, a low-energy Donald Trump announced that he is running for president again last night. The speech itself was also predictable, hitting the traditional authoritarian and nativist favorites. We heard about the “invasion” at the border and “radical Democrats” in the White House, all spiced up with the usual combination of self-complimenting anecdotes and self-serving lies that we have come to expect from the former president.Trump announces 2024 run nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riotRead moreWhat was much more interesting was the almost complete absence of prominent Republicans in Mar-a-Lago and even the lukewarm interest of the US media. At various channels, journalists were “analyzing” Trump’s run while the former president was giving his speech on mute in the background. Even Fox News’s Sean Hannity cut into the speech after a little over half an hour.How the mighty have fallen. Just a few months ago, it was received wisdom that the Republican nomination was his for the taking. After Tuesday’s uninspiring announcement, none of his competitors will feel intimidated. In fact, already before the announcement, Mike Pompeo, secretary of state under Trump, said the announcement would not change his own decision to run. Taking a clear swipe at his former boss, he said: “We need leaders that are looking forward, not staring in the rear-view mirror claiming victimhood.” Similar sentiments were expressed by other prominent Republicans, such as South Dakota senator John Thune.These responses are very much in line with the dominant Republican narrative on the midterm elections, ie that they were lost because of Trump. Calls for a “post-Trump” Republican party have come from all sides of the party and right-wing media system for days now. For the moment, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is the favorite to bring the Grand Old Party back to “normal”. To be clear, this “normal” party is both Trumpian and post-Trump, because most Republicans, both the politicians and the voters, agree with Mike Simpson, Republican representative from Idaho, who said: “I think his policies were good. I just don’t need all the drama with it.”The question is, however, can anyone beat Trump in the primaries? It is true that the star of the former president was already waning among the Republican faithful before the midterms. Just under half of Republican primary voters (48%) said they would support Trump in the 2024 primaries. And while DeSantis’s star was already rising before the midterms, he was still only at half of Trump’s support level (26%). Since then, anti-Trump conservative groups have been flooding the media with new polls that show that DeSantis has already overtaken Trump as the new favorite.Rightwing media’s coverage of Trump’s presidential bid shows it just can’t turn awayRead moreAs Florida governor, DeSantis has tried to stay out of the hair of his state’s most famous, and quick-tempered, inhabitant. Although he has picked up largely the same issues, his claim to fame as a culture warrior is more based on state policies than national speeches. As a local politician, DeSantis did not pose a threat to Trump’s ambitions. But as a competitor for the 2024 Republican nomination, this will change and, knowing Trump, he will go all out. In fact, he has already started using a nickname, “Ron De-Sanctimonious”, and both he and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, have made thinly-veiled threats.The key problem of the Republican party is that Trump does not care about “his” party. He does not even really care about being president again. Trump must run to stay out of jail. That is why all the media speculation about whether he has announced too early is silly. The former president is facing an onslaught of legal cases, on a broad variety of issues – mishandling of classified documents, insurrection, and tax fraud – for which he needs a lot of money and political coverage. As a mere citizen, even as a former president, he holds much less leverage than as a primary candidate, who may not be able to win the presidency for the Republican party but is probably still strong enough to lose it for them.It is paradoxical that the midterms, in which he didn’t run, did to Trump what the 2020 presidential elections, which he lost, could not do: make him into the one thing he despises the most: a loser. And although his ideas live on in the Republican party, he himself has been deemed toxic by that same party. This is particularly ironic, as Trump himself was never interested in the ideas, just in himself.
      Cas Mudde is a Guardian US columnist and the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor in the school of public and international affairs at the University of Georgia
      TopicsDonald TrumpOpinionUS politicscommentReuse this content More