JD Vance

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    Europe must now tell Trump that enough is enough – and cut all ties with the US | Alexander Hurst

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    How do you retain a space of democracy in a world that is reverting to violent conquest? By building a protective moat of federalism around it‘He keeps encouraging me … to choose between Europe and the US. That would be a strategic mistake for our country,” Keir Starmer said in response to Ed Davey’s question in the House of Commons last week, about whether a US move against Greenland would mean the end of Nato.What about Europe, though? As Danish and Greenlandic ministers prepared to face JD Vance in the White House, the question was would Europe finally choose between Europe and the US? Will its leaders have the courage to tell the full truth – that the US isn’t simply abandoning its allies and destroying the international order but is now in the position of active and hostile predation by force – and more importantly, to act on it? To offer Denmark moral and material backing, and Greenland a future of self-determination and membership, rather than subservience to US resource plunder?
    Donald Trump has already set the tone by saying the US will seize Greenland “one way or the other”, and no part of the triumvirate around him is trying to hide their imperial intentions any more. Not the nepotists and grifters amassing ever greater private fortunes. Not the white supremacist ideologues drawing inspiration from Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer! to post “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage”, via official US government social media accounts. Not the techno-nihilists salivating to mine every bit of Greenland’s mineral resources and rule their own neofeudal city states on its coast.
    When Trump says that the only constraint on his exercise of power is “my own morality”, that means there is no constraint. Like Vladimir Putin, he will keep grabbing until someone imposes a limit on him.Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir, Generation Desperation, is published this month Continue reading… More

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      2026 is already pure chaos. Is that Trump’s electoral strategy? | Moustafa Bayoumi

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      Less than two weeks into the year, the US is stoking mayhem at home and abroad – with midterms coming in the autumnHave we ever seen a year in recent memory begin with as much deliberate turmoil as 2026 has? Less than two weeks into 2026, we have witnessed Donald Trump deploy US forces to depose and abduct the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, along with Cilia Flores, his wife and close political adviser. The US president then informed the world that the United States would “run” Venezuela for the time being, which he later explained could potentially last for several years.Trump has also threatened – and then seemingly made peace with – the president of Colombia; seized at least five oil tankers in the Caribbean (actions that UN experts label illegal armed aggression); promised US military strikes targeting cartels in Mexico against the wishes of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum; and frightened the people of Cuba with the prospect that Marco Rubio could be their next president. Continue reading… More

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      Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’

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      The president has vowed to kill off ‘woke’ in his second term in office, and the venerable cultural institution a few blocks from the White House is in his sightsOn 30 May last year, Kim Sajet was working in her office in the grandly porticoed National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. The gallery is one of the most important branches of the Smithsonian Institution, the complex of national museums that, for almost 200 years, has told the story of the nation. The director’s suite, large enough to host a small party, has a grandeur befitting the museum’s role as the keeper of portraits of the United States’ most significant historical figures. Sajet was working beneath the gaze of artworks from the collection, including a striking 1952 painting of Mary Mills, a military-uniformed, African American nurse, and a bronze head of jazz and blues singer Ethel Waters.It seemed like an ordinary Friday. Until, that is, an anxious colleague came in to tell Sajet that the president of the United States had personally denounced her on social media. “Upon the request and recommendation of many people I am herby [sic] terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” Donald Trump had posted on Truth Social. According to the post, Sajet was “a highly partisan person” and a “strong supporter” of diversity and inclusion programmes, which by an executive order on his inauguration day, 20 January, he had eradicated from federal agencies. “Her replacement will be named shortly,” continued the message. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Continue reading… More

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      If Donald Trump thinks Greenland should be his, how long before he sets his sights on Scotland? | Zoe Williams

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      By the expansionist logic of the president and his advisers, the US is entitled to annex just about anywhere‘We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Donald Trump told the Atlantic on 5 January, with the hand-wavy follow-up, “We need it for defence.” His adviser Stephen Miller was more aggressive still in an interview with CNN, saying: “The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? … The US is the power of Nato … obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.” His wife, Katie Miller, posted an image on X of a map of the country papered over with the US flag, with the caption “soon”. It’s hard to orientate sensibly towards things that happen on X these days: if she had posted a Grok-generated image of Greenland in a bikini, would that be more or less concerning?Still, we’re right to be concerned. There is no comfort to be had from old-era ideas such as: “Maybe they’re just sabre-rattling about Greenland to distract from the matter of Venezuela”, or “surely the foundational principles of Nato, a defensive alliance, will prevent the US from any act of aggression towards its own allies?”Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading… More

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      Democrats can win back the White House in 2028. Here’s how | Colin Seeberger

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      Democrats should go on the offense against Republicans, but they should also lay out a vision for renewing the promise of a middle-class life By January 2029, Donald Trump will be capping off a nearly 14-year stretch at the helm of American politics. While he will no longer serve as president of the United States, his shadow over the future of American politics will continue to loom large across both sides of the aisle. Following Trump’s popular-vote victory in the 2024 election, the Democratic party has been forced to wrestle with what went wrong and how they can regain the support of an American majority to win back the White House. To win back Americans’ trust, Democrats have to prioritize affordability, broaden their cultural appeal, and reconnect with disaffected voters beyond their base.Trump’s political success has long been defined by his willingness to take on elite institutions and buck convention, putting distance between himself and weaknesses in the Republican brand while simultaneously undermining advantages in the Democratic brand. He’s ignored the wrath of editorial boards and economists while offering policy ideas and messaging that speaks to what voters think.Colin Seeberger is a senior adviser for communications at the Center for American Progress Continue reading… More

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      Elon Musk is moving back into politics. Can’t he take up a new hobby instead? | Arwa Mahdawi

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      It didn’t go very well for him last time, but the tech billionaire seems to have abandoned his plans for a third party and has renewed his bromance with the president “You know, I’ve generally found that when I get involved in politics, it ends up badly,” Elon Musk mused on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast in November.Oh, we know, Elon, we most definitely know. The world is still reeling from the tech billionaire’s little experiment in politicking last year. Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) slashed federal jobs, dismantled foreign aid programmes and left a trail of chaos in its wake. It’s not clear whether any taxpayer money was saved, but experts are warning a lot of lives will be lost. By one calculation, there could be about 14 million excess deaths across the globe by 2030 if the US fails to restore aid funding. Thanks, Elon! Continue reading… More