Trump administration Archivi - Page 27 of 510 - politic-news.space

More stories

238 Shares159 Views
in US Politics
Troops on the streets, Ice thuggery – and prices still climbing: welcome to Trump’s ‘golden age’ | Steven Greenhouse
by Evelyn Reynolds 20 October 2025, 10:00
In his inauguration speech last January, Donald Trump bombastically declared: “The golden age of America begins right now.” Our braggadocious president has stuck to that theme ever since, telling the United National general assembly in late September: “This is indeed the golden age of America.”With the federal government shut down for more than two weeks, the nation more polarized than at any time since the civil war, political violence growing and the job market slowing, it doesn’t feel remotely like a golden age, unless one focuses on Trump’s Louis XIV-like effort to gild as many things as possible in the Oval Office.Decoration spree aside, it in no way feels like a golden age when Trump sends the national guard into Los Angeles and Chicago to fight “the enemy within” or when he says the governor of Illinois and mayor of Chicago should be in jail for opposing his plans to deploy troops to Chicago. I doubt that the 27 Chicago police officers who were accidentally teargassed by Ice agents think it’s a golden age and ditto for the growing number of US citizens Ice has arrested.Nor does the US seem like the shining city upon a hill when Ice agents slam a 79-year-old US citizen to the ground in Los Angeles. Nor when Trump’s Department of Homeland Security posts thuggish videos of stormtrooper-like Ice agents – videos that seem more like Germany in the 1930s than any golden vision of the US as it approaches its 250th birthday.Only a huckster would boast of a golden age when his public approval ratings are deep underwater. According to a CBS/YouGov poll in early October, 58% of the US public disapproves of Trump’s performance, while 42% approve. Another poll found that 62% of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.As part of his golden vision, Trump promised good times for working-class Americans, but 74% of the US public says the economy is in poor or fair condition and nearly two-thirds oppose his signature policy of tariffs and more tariffs. In a big thumbs down for Trump, 53% of the public says his policies are making the economy worse.Candidate Trump promised that prices would begin falling on his first day back as president, but prices have continued to climb since he returned to office, partly because of the tariffs he’s imposed. What’s more, Trump’s tariff mania has created so much economic uncertainty that job growth has slowed hugely under Trump compared with under Joe Biden. According to Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, there was “essentially no job growth” in September.Trump promised blue-collar Americans he would increase manufacturing and the number of factory jobs, but factory activity has declined for seven straight months, and factory employment has fallen since April, too. There’s nothing golden about any of that.Showing Americans’ increased pessimism under Trump, a Wall Street Journal-Norc poll found in September that the share of Americans who say they have a good chance of improving their standard of living has fallen to just 25%, a record low in surveys taken since 1987.The 10 million Americans who will lose health coverage because of Trump’s One Big (Not So) Beautiful Bill Act probably don’t consider this a golden age. Likewise with the 22 million Americans whose health insurance premiums will double on average, often soaring by thousands of dollars, unless Trump and congressional Republicans extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.Scientists complain that Trump is singlehandedly ending America’s golden age of scientific research with his deep, myopic cuts – cuts that could end US leadership in medicine and other vital fields of research. At the same time, Robert F Kennedy Jr is undermining trust in vaccines, with the US seeing the highest number of measles cases since Bill Clinton was in office and signed a law establishing free universal vaccinations for children.It seems like anything but a golden age for justice when the Department of Justice indicts the former FBI director James Comey and the New York state attorney general Letitia James after Trump in effect ordered prosecutors to get them (or get fired). Nor does one feel golden about the attorney general Pam Bondi not only stonewalling a Senate hearing (especially when asked about Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein), but insulting several senators – she called Adam Schiff of California a “failed lawyer”. In the same crude vein, a White House spokesperson slimed the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, calling him “an incompetent slob”. It doesn’t look like transparency or civility are part of Trump’s golden age.Trump can’t possibly feel golden about an August poll that found that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe he is corrupt, with 45% viewing him as “very corrupt”.When Trump spoke at the UN in September, the assembled diplomats must have thought it was a dark age for US diplomacy, not a golden one, when Trump berated them by saying: “Your countries are going to hell.” The next day, Britain’s Daily Mirror ran a front-page photo of Trump with the headline: “DERANGED – World’s Most Powerful Man-Baby.”In his inauguration speech, Trump said: “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.” But people from many countries are giving low marks to second-term Trump. When Pew asked residents of various countries whether they have confidence that Trump will do the right thing in world affairs, in Canada 77% of respondents said they had no confidence, while 22% had confidence. In Mexico, 91% had no confidence. In Germany 81% had no confidence, while 18% had confidence. In the UK, 62% had no confidence to 37% who had confidence.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSince Trump returned to office, many countries’ views of the US have soured substantially and not just because they’re livid about Trump’s tariff war. It’s harder than ever to view the US as a bulwark of democracy and freedom, considering that Trump has embraced Vladimir Putin, deployed troops to major cities, declared war on leading universities, dispatched masked agents to make mass arrests, and pushed to indict his political enemies. In Mexico, the favorability rating of the US has plummeted 32 percentage points since 2024, to just 29%, while in Canada, it has fallen 20 points to just 34% favorable. In Sweden, the US’s favorability rating is down 28 points to 19%, and in Germany it’s down 16 points, to 33%.I’m sure that many rightwing, “don’t tread on me” Americans don’t see this as a golden age. I can’t imagine they like seeing masked agents snatching people off the streets or Black Hawk helicopters descending on apartment buildings or Ice agents bashing in doors and windows. That’s not what freedom looks like.Even the country music star Zach Bryan – a navy veteran who calls himself “confused” politically – is complaining, with a new song saying Ice “is going to come bust down your door” and “the middle finger’s rising, and it won’t stop showing/ Got some bad news / The fading of the red, white and blue.”Trump, the salesman and showman, always feels the need to boast – to brag that things are the best ever under him. But his high disapproval ratings at home and abroad suggest many people think he is ushering in a dark age – an age of disinformation and division, of suppressing critics and indicting enemies, of taking one authoritarian, anti-democratic action after another.For a lucky few, it is a golden age. For the craftsmen hired to gild Trump’s Oval Office and his humongous new ballroom, it’s certainly a golden payday. As they grow ever richer, the country’s billionaires are no doubt basking in this new gilded age as Trump slashes their taxes, strips away regulations and steers deals to his buddies (like Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest person). And Trump no doubt thinks it is a golden age for himself as he grabs ever more power, dominates the headlines, enriches himself further and decorates the White House with ever more gold.But to millions of us it feels like the opposite of a golden age as Trump takes a wrecking ball to truth, democracy and the rule of law. In declaring that it is a golden age, Trump is like the fraudster who says: “I have some wonderful, shiny gold I’ll sell you for $4,000 an ounce.” But in truth it’s just worthless fool’s gold.No one should be fooled by Trump’s delusional boasts.
Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labor and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues More
238 Shares169 Views
in US Politics
No Kings protesters on their hopes for resistance movement against Trump: ‘If we lose momentum, we lose the fight’
by Evelyn Reynolds 20 October 2025, 09:00
Saturday’s No Kings protests brought millions to the streets across all 50 states in the latest demonstration against Donald Trump’s administration amid a government shutdown. But many protesters are already strategizing about what to do next.Some said continuing protests were a sign of vibrant civil resistance against the administration’s heavy-handed policies, which have challenged legal and constitutional norms in the US. They also discussed economic boycotts and strikes.Others were concerned it would take more Americans feeling direct impact to catalyze change. “I think we have to see the demise before it can turn around, sadly, but we’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Eric Stone, a 35-year-old from Oklahoma who attended the protest in Washington DC.Guardian reporters covered protests in Atlanta, Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles and asked attendees why they showed up, what they are hoping to see from the resistance movement, and whether the Democratic party was an effective opposition party. Here is what they said:Washington DCMary PhillipsA Native American originally from the Omaha tribe in Nebraska and Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico who now lives in Washington DCView image in fullscreen“I think there are brilliant minds who are here today who know what bad legislation, bad policies, can do to our entire country, and what the future looks like if we continue down, not able to stop what’s happening and proceeding. These are all people from different walks of life, different skills and and levels of masteries in their own disciplines.“I believe the [leaders] who are vocal are definitely making waves and doing what they’re supposed to do, but I think there are others who are still on the fence. [There are] key issues that we need them to be 100% towards democracy, and it feels like they’re not. It feels like they are sticking to the old rules. But we have all set a set of new rules right now and they need to look at what those rules are to make up their decisions in their backrooms. And then speak on the floor what those are, what we are fighting on the streets.“So No Kings, I think, is the pinnacle of what we’re so close to right now, having a king. Once martial law goes into place, we would be under that threat, and we don’t know what the end of it looks like really, other than changing the constitution, which I think is easier done than we thought ever could be. This movement may turn into more than No Kings. It may turn into saving lives, period – saving our life, saving our freedom to be United States citizens because anybody right now can be told you’re not a citizen any more.”Laura BuckwaldNo Kings protesterView image in fullscreen“People are waking up because right now, it’s affecting people immediately in their day-to-day lives. It’s affecting our health insurance. It’s affecting our ability to just live our lives as we choose to live them. The government is trying to tell us how to run our lives, and that’s just not acceptable in the United States. As far as leadership is concerned, we’ve been disappointed on the leaders that we should have, particularly in Congress, and we’re hoping that this gives them the courage to stand up. We’re proud of what they’re doing now right now, not opening up the government until we have proper healthcare covered. But they need to do a lot more doing that, so I hope they do.“Just yesterday, I got a notice from my health insurance company about my premiums going up – they’re almost doubling. They put straight out that they are not going to cover any healthcare that is for transition purposes, so our transgender Americans will not have coverage under the plan that I have. That is totally unacceptable. I teach young people and I’ve encountered trans youth, and they have told me that without this healthcare, it makes some of them want to commit suicide.“I think [what Republicans have done has] been despicable. They have cut so many programs just so that they can give tax breaks to rich people, make billionaires trillionaires … Our taxes aren’t going to go down. We’re not going to see any benefit from it and we’re going to have the same taxes, if not more, and we’re going to have less in benefits that we have paid for. This is a tyrannical regime in office right now and they need to resign. They can’t handle the job. They’re incompetent and they’re mean. They’re cruel to people in the United States and that is anti-American. It is un-Christian and it’s unacceptable.”Mike ReidA former Republican from Maryland who switched parties during Bill Clinton’s administration. He said he hasn’t voted for Trump in any electionsView image in fullscreenReid was holding up a sign of the founding fathers with “No Kings” on it.“It’s actually my wife’s idea, but these were the original No Kings gang and they’re the ones who first had said ‘no kings in America.’ And then on the back we have the original Bill of Rights, which has the part about freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion and the right of people to peaceably assemble. So we and the people here are standing up for what America is supposed to be … We’re the ones who represent what real America is. Those rightwingers and the White House and Congress – they are betraying everything this country was supposed to be about, and that’s why people, common people, have to stand up.“I think that some Democratic governors like Gavin Newsom [in] California and JB Pritzker in Illinois are doing very well. They’re standing up. And I mean, there is a limit to what they can do with the bloc, they’re totally out of power right now. But state government, Democratic state governors, some of them are standing up – not all unfortunately, but some of them.“I grew up in a Republican family. I was Republican up until about 20-some years ago, back when the party was about limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual rights. They have betrayed all of that. And the party that today calls themselves Republicans – they’re not Republicans, they’re fascists, and they’re betraying my great-great-grandfather who served in the Union army in the civil war.”Eric Stone, 35Identifies as an independent and said most of his family are Republican Trump supportersView image in fullscreen“My family is Maga; my family is Trump supporters. I grew up in a small town where they didn’t want a dictatorship. They didn’t want people who were disrespectful to women. They didn’t want people who were racist and all these hateful things. And yet here they are supporting and cheering on this man like they want him to be the second coming of God. And now that I’m out here protesting this, it’s like … everybody in that circle drank the Kool-Aid. “I got people losing their jobs [around me because of the shutdown]. They’re scared that they can’t pay their bills. They’re stressing … and they’re everyday people who work their jobs and work for this country to keep it running. And we’re going to tell them they shouldn’t be paid for, what for? “I support what they stand for. For the most part, you’re not going to agree with everybody on everything. However, I feel like Democrats, they don’t have, for a lack of better terms, the balls – they’re too weak, because we always end up in this situation. The Democrats just want to talk for long hours and go on TV and do these events, which is beautiful … It’s powerful. However, you have access to that building right there. We’re standing right next to the Capitol building. Go do something about it.”Shawn SkellyFormer assistant secretary of defense for readiness in the Biden-Harris administration (only the second-ever out trans person to hold a Senate-confirmed position) and the co-founder of Out in National Security. She was a speaker at the rallyView image in fullscreen“The United States military is made up of people from every background, from every part of the country, to include immigrants and to include LGBTQ people. [Trump officials have] decided that you can’t allow transgender service members to serve. [These members have] been in command of units flying aircraft. They are high-end engineers. They are small unit leaders. None of them have blown up or failed or been drummed out of service because of the fact that they’re transgender. Each and every one of our 2.1 million service members are American heroes in their own way. You can’t have people in that institution while you’re trying to make trans people the enemy and the reason for oppression in that way.“There should never be a shutdown, frankly, and that it’s lasted this long is the fault of the [Republican] party, the political party that has all the levers of power right now … and a very willing supreme court to let them do pretty much what they want to do, pending appeal. This is democracy in action right here. This is our constitution and our civil rights in action. It’s about ‘we the people’. As Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, it’s government of the people, by the people, for the people. This is America at its best.” Los Angeles, CaliforniaGinny Eschbach, 72Turned out on Saturday for her 42nd protest since Trump’s inauguration. She wore a SpongeBob SquarePants costume to be ‘whimsical’View image in fullscreen“I have felt that the movement needed a face for a long time, someone to rally the troops, who we respect and admire. But who is that? I do not know.” She suggested it might possibly be a figure like Barack Obama. “There’s all these groups and these protests all coalesce, but I’m afraid it’s too fragmented. There needs to be one movement.”“This is not a joke,” she said of Republicans’ resistance to negotiate with Democrats over the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies. “If they defund people’s health insurance by not continuing the subsidies, it’s gonna be a mess. Even if they got that through, our healthcare is being so eroded by cutting science funding. There’s already reports of rural hospitals closing down. This is just going to spread through the country. It’s going to be a nightmare.”Eschbach said she will definitely continue to protest – sometimes she will attend two to three a weekend. She is currently canvassing to help pass Proposition 50 in California, part of the plan to counter Texas’s gerrymandered maps. “I’ll just carry on,” she said. “I write postcards, I go to protests, I talk to people. I’ll do whatever I can.”Talia Guppy, 46Social worker in Los AngelesView image in fullscreenGuppy comes from a long tradition of social justice activism – her parents marched with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. “The least I can do is be out here,” she said.Among the leaders stepping forward, Guppy mentioned her state’s governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028. She credited the governor with going “head to head and toe to toe” with the president. “Sometimes we have to fight fire with fire,” she said. “We can’t always take the easy road.”Guppy said she has many friends who are federal workers and have told her they want Democrats to keep fighting to preserve access to affordable healthcare and to constrain the Trump administration. “I’ve been protesting since the first big raid on June 6,” she said, and vowed to continue. “We’ve been doing as much as we can anytime that we can because it has to continue. If we lose the momentum, then we lose the fight.”Taylor G, 55 No Kings protesterHe said some people have stepped up to try to check Trump – the unions, certain universities and among Los Angeles’s entertainment industry, including Jane Fonda. But he said he has been disappointed so far by the lack of response from the “dotcom” companies, such as Facebook and other tech giants. “All of those companies just seem to be going along with it because it’s good for their business,” he said. “People have to get way out of their comfort zones,” he added, suggesting the left-leaning movement needed more leaders willing to venture into less friendly territory and try to persuade people who may not be ideologically aligned with Democrats. “Even though we might not agree on everything, we could agree that what’s going on in the country is not good,” he said. He added that he has friends who have left the country because of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. He approved of the Democrats’ hardball approach to the government shutdown and would absolutely be willing to walk off the job. “I think that we need to do a lot more like what they do in Europe, a general strike, meaning everybody walks out, not just Democrats,” he said. Chicago, IllinoisOscar Gonzalez, 28From the west side of the cityView image in fullscreen“My parents are immigrants. I love them to death.  I want Chicago to be a safe city. I want America to be a great nation for everybody. No human’s illegal, so I’m here to embody that and show everybody that we have all the power to make change.“We need a Cesar Chavez, Malcolm X, Martin Luther [King], we need somebody to embody. Fred Hampton, you know, we’re in Chicago.”Abel Mebratu, 43From Rogers Park, a neighborhood in ChicagoView image in fullscreenMebratu was carrying a sign depicting Silverio Villegas-González, who was killed by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) last month. “[I’m here] giving a voice to a voiceless man that has been taken from us – unfairly and unlawfully – and his kids need justice. “I’m originally from Ethiopia and I consider myself a Chicagoan. We have values that we share and when our values are attacked, we come together. We’re led by our values and what we stand for and what we want to pass on for our next generation.” Lindsay Weinberg, 43No Kings protesterView image in fullscreenWeinberg held a sign referencing her great-grandmother, who died in the Holocaust.“It’s really personal to me when I hear people getting grabbed off the streets and taken away … I mean, many, many victims of the Holocaust don’t know what happened to their relatives, but I happen to know that [my great-grandmother’s] bones are in a mass grave … that’s important history for people to remember.“People are getting disappeared.  People are hiding. People are being murdered. People are being wounded.  People are experiencing trauma. It’s escalating.”Atlanta, GeorgiaGeoff Sumner, 68A retired military veteran from Stone Mountain, GeorgiaView image in fullscreen“There don’t seem to be any [leaders of the resistance] at the moment, so we’re it. Right now we got nobody. Where are they? [Chuck] Schumer-crats? Hakeem [Jeffries]? We got nobody.”Sumner doesn’t agree with what the Democrats are doing regarding the shutdown. “We don’t need to negotiate with fascists … You want our votes? Stop all this fascism. Stop all this arresting people in the street … It’s a hell of a lot more than healthcare, ain’t it?”“We gotta get the Trump regime out – all of them out. We gotta do it fast before they consolidate whatever they’re doing … How far should we go? That’s up to every individual. But I think people in America are in denial or they don’t know how bad it’s fixing to get.”Jake Riley, 44Project manager from AtlantaView image in fullscreen“I would say AOC, first of all, she would be a leader if I had to pick somebody. She would probably be up there. But as far as the protesters and on-the-ground people? I think it’s better if it’s more of a loose alliance of people. I don’t really think we have a leader structure.“After the rally, we have to get [everyone] running for every office imaginable. There’s lots of contests that go unchallenged.”Joshua Wilson, 22Multimedia producer from Lawrenceville, GeorgiaView image in fullscreen“I work with a lot of government officials at my job as clients. With the shutdown happening, I’ve been getting less work … and less work. Recently my boss politely told me, ‘Hey, you know, if you don’t want to come to work’ … I can just stay home on certain days because of it. I do think Democrats are doing the right thing, but granted it does affect me and affect me in a big way. So I’m willing to risk my paycheck for doing what’s right.“I feel like this [protest] is actually something. We should be joining organisations, reading up, getting educated and knowledgeable about the situation, or at least listening to outlets. You know, at least trying to join the community.” More
188 Shares169 Views
in US Politics
Trump news at a glance: ‘Illegal drug leader’ – threat of new tariffs against Colombia
by Evelyn Reynolds 20 October 2025, 02:26
Donald Trump has escalated tensions between Washington and one of its closest Latin American allies, declaring the US will slash assistance to Colombia and enact tariffs on its exports because its president, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production.Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” in a post on the Truth Social platform and warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”.Later on Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Colombia had “no fight against drugs” and “they are a drug-manufacturing machine” with “a lunatic” for a president. He said he would announce new tariffs on Monday.Here are the key US politics stories at a glance:Trump calls Petro a ‘drug dealer’ as US says it hit another boatDonald Trump accused the Colombian president of being an “illegal drug leader” and threatened to immediately cut US funding to Colombia as a Republican senator said the US would soon announce “major tariffs” on the country.In a post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Petro for encouraging the mass production of illegal drugs, saying the leftwing leader “does nothing to stop it, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the US”.It came as the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, confirmed US forces had attacked a vessel associated with a Colombian leftist rebel group, killing three “terrorists”, in its latest strike on an alleged drug boat.Petro rejected Trump’s accusations and described himself as “the main enemy” of drugs in Colombia.Read the full storyGeorge Santos says jail sentence disproportionate but ‘large slice of humble pie’Disgraced former US congressman George Santos said on Sunday that his prison sentence had been “disproportionate” but that he had been served “a very large slice of humble pie”, while lashing out at his critics in his first interview since Donald Trump commuted his sentence.Speaking to CNN, Santos said he was “all politicked out” and called for his former campaign staffer, Sam Miele, to also receive a commutation.“This isn’t about … glitter, stars and glam or going back to Congress,” he said. “This is a very personal journey and road for me ahead.”Read the full storyInside the Republican network behind big soda’s bid to pit Maga against MahaMajor US soft-drink and snack-food corporations are waging a coordinated campaign that aims to pit Donald Trump’s Maga faithful against Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again movement, a Guardian investigation in partnership with environmental watchdog Fieldnotes has found.Their goal is to stymie the Maha-led effort to curb Americans’ consumption of soda and ultra-processed foods.To carry out the plan, the companies have turned to a partially formalized network of for-hire pollsters, strategists and political financiers with deep ties to the national Republican party.Read the full storyPortlanders mock Trump for calling their city ‘war-ravaged’When Donald Trump said he was sending the national guard to Portland, Oregon to protect immigration officers, residents immediately responded with characteristic sarcasm mocking the president’s portrayal of a city in decline.When the US secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, visited the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) building where protesters had been gathering for weeks, she found a small crowd of demonstrators wearing inflatable animal costumes, not a city overrun by antifascist militants.The reality on the ground did not deter Trump from painting the city as unliveable.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:
A city council member in Florida is facing a backlash from national Indian American organizations, members of Congress and residents after posting a series of social media messages that insulted Indian people living in the US and called for them to be deported en masse.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged allies against appeasing Russia after returning from a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House in which the Ukrainian president failed to secure long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 18 October 2025. More
163 Shares129 Views
in US Politics
George Santos says prison sentence was ‘disproportionate’ but ‘large slice of humble pie’
by Evelyn Reynolds 19 October 2025, 20:23
Disgraced former US congressman George Santos said on Sunday that his prison sentence had been “disproportionate”, but that he had been served “a very large slice of humble pie”, while lashing out at his critics in his first interview since Donald Trump commuted his sentence.Speaking to Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union, Santos said he was “all politicked out”, and called for his former campaign staffer, Sam Miele, to also receive a commutation.“This isn’t about … glitter, stars and glam or going back to Congress,” he said. “This is a very personal journey and road for me ahead.”Trump announced on Friday that he had commuted the sentence for Santos, who was meant to serve more than seven years in federal prison in New Jersey after a whirlwind political career tainted by serial fabrications and fraudulent scheming.“I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said in a lengthy Truth Social post. “Good luck George, have a great life!”Santos, who pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, was less than three months into serving time before he was released. He said Trump’s decision to commute his sentence came as a surprise.“I had no expectations, I wasn’t even aware until I learned it off of the chyron of mainstream media inside of the prison myself,” he said. “Other inmates saw it and called me over.”Bash pressed Santos on whether he had received favorable treatment as a “loyal ally” of the president.“There’s a lot of people who were upset with President Biden who pardoned his entire family before he left office in an unprecedented move,” Santos quipped back. “Pardon me if I’m not paying too much attention to the pearl-clutching of the outrage of my critics.”Trump has issued several pardons and commutations during his second term so far, beginning with the “full, complete and unconditional” presidential pardons for about 1,500 people who were involved in the January 6 attack on Congress.In February, he pardoned former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption based crimes, including trying to sell a US Senate seat vacated by former President Barack Obama.As part of his plea deal, Santos had agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and $205,000 in forfeiture. When asked on State of the Union if he was planning on paying back the restitution, he said if it is “required of me by the law”.“I’ve been out of prison for two days. I agreed to come here to speak with you candidly and openly and not to obfuscate,” he said, visibly frustrated. “If it’s required of me by the law, yes. If it’s not, then no. I will do whatever the law requires me to do.”In a separate appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend earlier on Sunday, Santos said he no longer had to pay restitution and thanked Trump, praising him for having “such an amazing will for second chances”.Back on CNN, he went on to say he was confident that “if President Trump had pardoned Jesus Christ off the cross, he would have had critics. That’s just the reality of our country.” More
175 Shares199 Views
in US Politics
Trump calls Colombia president ‘illegal drug dealer’ as US says it hit another ship
by Evelyn Reynolds 19 October 2025, 18:16
Donald Trump on Sunday accused Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, of being an “illegal drug dealer” and threatened to immediately cut US funding to the country as the defense secretary confirmed in a social media post an attack on a vessel associated with a Colombian leftist rebel group.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that US forces had attacked another vessel, this time associated with a Colombian leftist rebel group. Hegseth, in a post on X, said “three terrorists were killed” in the operation which was “conducted in international waters”.“These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere,” Hegseth said. “The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are – they will be hunted, and killed.”In a post on Truth Social just hours earlier, Trump blamed the South American leftwing leader for encouraging the mass production of illegal drugs, saying he “does nothing to stop it, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the US”.“Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately,” Trump wrote, “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”.The remarks come after Petro said the US committed “murder” following a strike on an alleged drug boat in Colombian territorial waters in September.Posting on X on Saturday, Petro said: “US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” adding “we await explanations from the US government.”The threat to cut off aid marks the latest point of tension between the two nations, despite historically, Colombia being one of the United States’s closest allies in Latin America.The victim of the strike was identified by Petro as Alejandro Carranza, a Colombian fisherman from the coastal town of Santa Marta. He was allegedly killed when US forces fired at his boat on 15 September.“Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing,” Petro wrote. “The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure.”But Trump has continued to justify the necessity for these ongoing boat attacks, despite his administration offering little information about the vessels or the identities of those on board.On Thursday, the US moved to send two survivors of the most recent strike – the sixth since early September – overseas instead of seeking long-term military detention for them.“The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution,” Trump said.The strike targeted a semi-submersible vessel which the president said “was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics.” Two crew members were killed and experts said the decision to repatriate the survivors meant the US military would avoid complex legal questions surrounding the detention of suspected drug traffickers. This was the first recorded instance of there being survivors, an official told NBC.“It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route,” Trump posted in the aftermath of the attack.So far, at least 29 people have been killed in strikes the administration upholds are targeting drug traffickers, raising alarm among some legal experts and Democratic lawmakers, who question whether they adhere to the laws of war.Currently, the US is building up a prominent military presence in the Caribbean and bordering coastlines, one that includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 jets, and the authorization of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.Colombia is the recipient of the largest amount of US aid to any country in Latin America and former president Joe Biden designated the nation as a major non-Nato ally in 2022. While Congress allocated $377.5m for foreign assistance for the country in 2024 with similar projections for 2025, there were restrictions put in place out of concern for Petro’s policies and his efforts to counteract the drug trade.In September, the Trump administration asserted that Colombia was failing to cooperate in the drug war, adding them to a list of other nations for the first time in almost 30 years.More recently, they said they would revoke Petro’s visa while he was in New York for the UN general assembly after his “reckless” actions at a pro-Palestine protest. Petro had urged US soldiers to “disobey Trump’s order”, and “not point their rifles at humanity”.In reaction to Trump’s most recent accusations and funding cuts, Petro responded in a post on X saying: “I respect the history, culture, and people of the USA. They are not my enemies, nor do I feel them as such.”He added at the end: “The problem is with Trump, not with the USA.” More
188 Shares189 Views
in US Politics
What’s happening with Marjorie Taylor Greene? Why the Maga loyalist has won some Democratic fans
by Evelyn Reynolds 19 October 2025, 11:00
For years she was one of Donald Trump’s most loyal foot soldiers. Marjorie Taylor Greene trafficked in racist statements, indicated support for executing Democrats and even floated conspiracy theories about Jewish space lasers. Beneath a red “Make America great again” cap she became an instantly recognisable face of the Maga movement.Yet in recent months the Georgia congresswoman has surprised friend and foe alike. On issues ranging from healthcare to Gaza to the Jeffrey Epstein files, she has broken ranks with Republicans and won unlikely fans among Democrats. The streak of independence has stirred speculation about her motives – and future ambitions.Notably, Greene has stopped short of directly criticising Trump himself and has so far avoided incurring the president’s wrath. But her willingness to dissent from the party line is all the more remarkable under a president who notoriously prizes loyalty and punishes critics.“I was wrong about Marjorie Taylor Greene,” was the headline of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article last week by political columnist Patricia Murphy, who wrote: “Even if you don’t agree with Greene on everything – or even most things – you have to admire her willingness in this moment to say what is true, even when other Republicans refuse to. Maybe it’s career suicide, or maybe it’s leadership.”Greene long revelled in her role as a far-right provocateur. She led prison visits to rioters arrested after the January 6 insurrection, called for Joe Biden’s impeachment and, at last year’s State of the Union address, confronted Biden while wearing a Maga hat and heckled him during his speech.But since Trump’s return to office, the 51-year-old has increasingly gone rogue on both domestic and foreign policy. She criticised White House plans to send “billions of dollars” worth of weapons to Ukraine and broke from the Republican party’s longstanding support for Israel by describing its war in Gaza as a “genocide”.She was one of just four Republicans to sign on to a discharge petition to release files related to the sex offender Epstein, repeatedly dismissed by Trump as a “hoax”. Speaking at a press conference with the Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, she insisted: “The truth needs to come out. And the government holds the truth.”Greene has been among the most outspoken critics of the stance of the House speaker, Mike Johnson, during the federal government shutdown, arguing that Republicans should be in Washington rather than on indefinite recess and it is they who have the power to end the standoff.She is also siding with Democrats in their drive to continue the pandemic-era temporary expansion of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies to help Americans pay for upcoming insurance rate hikes.In a lengthy screed on social media, Greene wrote: “I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district.“No I’m not towing [sic] the party line on this, or playing loyalty games. I’m a Republican and won’t vote for illegals to have any tax payer funded healthcare or benefits. I’m AMERICA ONLY!!! I’m carving my own lane.”It is a battle over the meaning of Maga. Greene denies that she is turning against her own party. She told the Hill website this week: “I am 100% the same person today as I was when I ran for Congress.” Indeed, her voting record in Congress is still closely aligned with Trump. But she claims to be staying true to her populist roots by siding with her constituents against the elites.Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, said: “Marjorie Taylor Greene is a very complex person and she’s a complex politician and it looks like she’s making interesting choices. Overall she is still very much a Maga-identified Trump-supporting Republican.“That is what is giving her latitude to be able to deviate from the party line and to deviate from the Trump line when she thinks it is advantageous to do so. One of the things that’s interesting about how she’s doing it is that she invokes basically a delegate-style representation when she does this.”The Guardian put Greene’s political instincts to the test in a series of interviews with voters and found concern about steep premium increases in health insurance if the subsidies lapse.Pete Van Horn, a retiree who is a Republican, said: “We’ve worked all our lives and them prices keep going up. That’s not right. We should get a break somewhere.”Pat Hayman, a retired schoolteacher from Calhoun, Georgia, said of Greene: “She comes on a little hard but I basically agree with it. You know the healthcare system needs overhauling. I’m on Medicare and Blue Cross-Blue Shield, and we’re fine with that. But young couples? To me, it’s a business more so than taking care of [them].”Michael Ross, an electrician from Floyd county, Georgia, laughed: “I think Marjorie Taylor Greene is hilarious. I’ll probably vote for her again. I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know what she thinks but I like to see shit stirred up.”He added: “I like her stirring the pot. Is she crazy? She might be crazy. I don’t know. She’s got more information than I got. Like I said: I like to see the pot stirred.”To some observers, Greene’s position is not so surprising. They note that Republicans have never been as dedicated to small government as the mythology of Ronald Reagan implies. Greene, they argue, is in line with the modern Republican party’s economic populism, including Trump’s own thinking.Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center thinktank in Washington, said: ‘There are certainly many smaller government conservatives but she’s far from being a lone wolf here.“In the question of support for working-class and middle-class Americans through government action, she probably speaks for a very large segment of Republicans, and a large group of people who would be Maga as opposed to old guard Republicans.”Others suggest that Greene might have more personal motives for speaking out. She reportedly began to explore the possibility of running for Georgia governor or senator next year, only to be knocked back by the White House on the basis of polling that showed her divisiveness would put statewide seats in jeopardy.Jeff Timmer, executive director of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, believes that Greene’s newfound willingness to speak out “can be attributed more to a woman scorned than the evolution of human goodness in Marjorie Taylor Greene”.He said: “They didn’t want her to run; she’s getting a pound of flesh. ‘You wanted to put your thumb on me and thought I’d just play the loyal soldier? Well, I’m going to defy you on some key things like the Epstein files or healthcare and Medicaid.”Yet Greene has been careful to continue expressing support for Trump. She has avoided – so far at least – an insult-laden rebuke on social media that could spell the beginning of the end of her career, as for so many Republicans during the president’s first term.Her stance could embolden other Republicans to carefully test the boundaries of dissent. The Maine senator Susan Collins has criticised the administration’s handling of the shutdown and taken aim at the budget director, Russ Vought, for permanently laying off thousands of federal workers.The Texas senator Ted Cruz recently compared comments from the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr – who hinted at punitive measures against broadcasters – to “mafia tactics”.Beyond Capitol Hill, Oklahoma’s governor, Kevin Stitt, told the New York Times that he opposed Trump’s move to send Texas national guard troops to Illinois as a violation of “states’ rights”. And Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, used X to register his own protest, condemning the administration’s cancellation of North America’s biggest solar project.Gillespie of Emory University commented: “What Marjorie Taylor Greene presents is a challenge to the narrative that Republicans are a monolith at this point. Yes, Trump has consolidated power. The ideology in Maga, in the Republican coalition, has certainly shifted in a rightward direction and we have watched politicians adjust to that.“But the Republican party still has some heterogeneity even as it is conservative and so you are going to see people deviate from the party. The question is: when and under what conditions do Republicans completely deviate from the Trump agenda and oppose the Trump administration in a way that lasts for more than a week or two?”@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Titlepiece;src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive{margin-left:160px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive{margin-left:240px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{max-width:620px}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{max-width:100%}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{margin-left:0}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{max-width:620px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{max-width:860px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{max-width:1100px}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width));position:relative;left:50%;right:50%;margin-left:calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width))!important;margin-right:calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width))!important}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{transform:translate(-20px);width:calc(100% + 60px)}}@media (max-width: 71.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{margin-left:0;margin-right:0}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{transform:translate(0);width:auto}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{max-width:1260px}}.content__main-column–interactive p,.content__main-column–interactive ul{max-width:620px}.content__main-column–interactive:before{position:absolute;top:0;height:calc(100% + 15px);min-height:100px;content:””}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{border-left:1px solid #dcdcdc;z-index:-1;left:-10px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{border-left:1px solid #dcdcdc;left:-11px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-bottom:12px;padding-top:12px}.content__main-column–interactive p+.element-atom{padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;margin-top:12px;margin-bottom:12px}.content__main-column–interactive .element-inline{max-width:620px}@media (min-width: 61.25em){figure[data-spacefinder-role=inline].element{max-width:620px}}:root{–dateline: #606060;–headerBorder: #dcdcdc;–captionText: #999;–captionBackground: hsla(0, 0%, 7%, .72);–feature: #c70000;–new-pillar-colour: var(–primary-pillar, var(–feature))}.content__main-column–interactive .element.element-atom,.element.element-atom{padding:0}#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body >div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive >div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#feature-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p{padding-top:14px}#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body >div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,.content–interactive >div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#comment-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,[data-gu-name=body] hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#feature-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:111px;line-height:92px;float:left;text-transform:uppercase;box-sizing:border-box;margin-right:8px;vertical-align:text-top;color:var(–drop-cap, var(–new-pillar-colour))}#article-body >div hr+p,.content–interactive >div hr+p,#comment-body hr+p,[data-gu-name=body] hr+p,#feature-body hr+p{padding-top:0}#article-body >div [data-gu-name=pullquote],.content–interactive >div [data-gu-name=pullquote],#comment-body [data-gu-name=pullquote],[data-gu-name=body] [data-gu-name=pullquote],#feature-body [data-gu-name=pullquote]{max-width:620px}#maincontent .element.element–showcase.element-showcase figcaption,#feature-article-container .element.element–showcase.element-showcase figcaption,#standard-article-container .element.element–showcase.element-showcase figcaption,#comment-article-container .element.element–showcase.element-showcase figcaption{position:static!important;width:100%;max-width:620px}.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px))}@media (max-width: 71.24em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{max-width:978px}.element.element–immersive.element-immersive figcaption{padding-inline:10px}}@media (max-width: 71.24em) and (min-width: 30em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive figcaption{padding-inline:20px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em) and (max-width: 61.24em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{max-width:738px}}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{margin-left:-10px!important;margin-right:0!important;left:0}}@media (max-width: 46.24em) and (min-width: 30em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{margin-left:-20px!important}.element.element–immersive.element-immersive figcaption{padding-inline:20px}}.furniture-wrapper{position:relative}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper{display:grid;grid-column-gap:20px;grid-row-gap:0px;grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end meta-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(5,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start] .75fr [standfirst-end meta-start] auto [meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #headline >div:first-child,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] >div:first-child,.furniture-wrapper .headline >div:first-child{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper #meta,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]{position:relative;padding-top:2px;margin-right:0}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst .content__standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst .content__standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] .content__standfirst{margin-bottom:4px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst ul li,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst ul li,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] ul li{font-size:20px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst li a,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst li a,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] li a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] a{border-bottom:none;background-image:none!important;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder, #dcdcdc)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorder);padding-bottom:0}}@media (min-width: 61.25em) and (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:unset}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper figure{margin:0 0 0 -10px}.furniture-wrapper figure[data-spacefinder-role=inline].element{max-width:630px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(2,1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(7,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] 80px [title-end headline-start] auto [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] auto [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{content:””;width:540px;position:absolute;top:0;background-color:var(–headerBorder);height:1px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p{border-top:unset}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before{content:””;width:1px;background-color:var(–headerBorder);height:100%;position:absolute;top:0;left:.5px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(3,1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(8,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] .75fr [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{width:620px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before{left:-.5px}}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels >div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels >div{padding-top:2px}.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1{font-weight:600;max-width:620px;font-size:32px}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1{max-width:540px;font-size:50px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines]{margin-right:0}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines]{display:none}}.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4 svg,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines] svg{stroke:var(–headerBorder)}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper #meta,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]{margin-right:0}}.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social ul li a span,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__comment,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social ul li a span,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__comment{border-color:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper #meta .content__meta-container_dcr >div >gu-island,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .content__meta-container_dcr >div >gu-island{display:none}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{margin-left:-10px;padding-left:10px;position:relative}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{padding-top:2px}}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p{font-weight:400;font-size:20px;padding-bottom:14px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{position:relative;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:2px;grid-area:portrait}.furniture-wrapper #main-media div div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] div div{width:100%;margin-inline:0}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{margin-bottom:0}}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));margin-left:-10px}}@media (max-width: 46.24em) and (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{margin-left:-20px}}.furniture-wrapper figcaption{position:absolute;bottom:0;padding:4px 10px 12px;background-color:var(–captionBackground);color:var(–captionText);max-width:unset;width:100%;margin-bottom:0;min-height:46px}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span{color:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span svg{fill:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span:nth-of-type(1){display:none}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span:nth-of-type(2){display:block;max-width:90%}@media (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper figcaption{padding:4px 20px 12px}}.furniture-wrapper figcaption.hidden{opacity:0}.furniture-wrapper #caption-button{display:block;position:absolute;bottom:10px;right:8px;z-index:30;background-color:var(–captionBackground);border:none;border-radius:50%;padding:6px 5px 5px}.furniture-wrapper #caption-button svg{transform:scale(.85)}@media (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper #caption-button{right:10px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{top:-12px!important;height:calc(100% + 24px)!important}}.content__main-column–interactive h2{max-width:620px}:root{–new-pillar-colour: var( –darkmode-pillar, var(–darkModeFeature) ) !important;–headerBorderColor: #606060;–darkModeFeature: #ff5943}nav+section{display:none}nav+aside{display:none}aside+section{display:none}.furniture-wrapper{background-color:var(–darkBackground);margin:0 -10px;padding:0 10px 4px}@media (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper{margin:0 -20px;padding:0 20px 8px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper{padding:0 20px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper:before{content:””;width:calc((100vw – 1298px)/2);height:100%;position:absolute;left:calc((100vw – 1298px)/-2);background-color:var(–darkBackground);border-right:1px solid var(–headerBorderColor)}.furniture-wrapper:after{content:””;width:calc((100vw – 1298px)/2);height:100%;position:absolute;right:calc((100vw – 1298px)/-2);background-color:var(–darkBackground)}}.furniture-wrapper .article-header,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] span{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper #headline >div:first-child,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] >div:first-child,.furniture-wrapper .headline >div:first-child{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorderColor)}}.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1{font-weight:700;color:#dcdcdc}.furniture-wrapper #headline figure,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] figure,.furniture-wrapper .headline figure{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:2px}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{background-color:var(–headerBorderColor)}}.furniture-wrapper #meta details,.furniture-wrapper #meta summary,.furniture-wrapper #meta summary span,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] details,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] summary,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] summary span{color:#dcdcdc}.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social a,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social button,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social button{border-color:var(–headerBorderColor);color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social a svg,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social button svg,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social a svg,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social button svg{fill:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social button:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social button:hover{color:var(–darkBackground);background-color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social a:hover svg,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social button:hover svg,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social a:hover svg,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social button:hover svg{fill:var(–darkBackground)}.furniture-wrapper #meta div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] div{color:#dcdcdc}.furniture-wrapper #meta a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}.furniture-wrapper #meta a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] a:hover{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature);text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst li a,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst a,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst li a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] li a{border-bottom:none;color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature);background-image:none!important;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder, #dcdcdc)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst a:hover,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] li a:hover{border-bottom:none;text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p{color:#dcdcdc}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorderColor)}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:unset}}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst ul li,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst ul li,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] ul li{color:#dcdcdc}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before{background-color:var(–headerBorderColor)}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper:before{content:””;height:100%;top:0;position:absolute;background-color:var(–darkBackground);border-right:1px solid var(–headerBorderColor);left:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 738px) / -2);width:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 738px) / 2)}.furniture-wrapper:after{content:””;height:100%;top:0;position:absolute;background-color:var(–darkBackground);border-left:1px solid var(–headerBorderColor);right:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 738px) / -2);width:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 738px) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper:before{content:””;width:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 978px) / 2);left:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 978px) / -2)}.furniture-wrapper:after{content:””;width:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 978px) / 2);right:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 978px) / -2)}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper:before{content:””;width:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 1138px) / 2);left:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 1138px) / -2)}.furniture-wrapper:after{content:””;width:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 1138px) / 2);right:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 1138px) / -2)}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper:before{content:””;width:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 1298px) / 2);left:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 1298px) / -2)}.furniture-wrapper:after{content:””;width:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 1298px) / 2);right:calc((100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px) – 1298px) / -2)}}.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4 svg,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines] svg{stroke:var(–headerBorderColor)}.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social ul li a span,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__comment,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social ul li a span,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__comment{border-color:var(–headerBorderColor)}.article .article__body h2,article.content–interactive [data-gu-name=body] h2{font-weight:200}.article .article__body h2:has(strong),article.content–interactive [data-gu-name=body] h2:has(strong){font-weight:700}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Titlepiece;src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}:root:has(.ios,.android){–darkBackground: #1a1a1a;–feature: #c70000;–darkmodeFeature: #ff5943;–new-pillar-colour: var(–primary-pillar, var(–feature))}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:root:has(.ios,.android){–new-pillar-colour: var(–darkmode-pillar, var(–darkmodeFeature))}}body.ios #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter{color:var(–secondary-pillar, #000)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__header,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__header,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__header,body.android #feature-article-container .article__header,body.android #standard-article-container .article__header,body.android #comment-article-container .article__header{height:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper{padding:4px 10px 0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels{font-weight:700;font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;color:var(–new-pillar-colour);text-transform:capitalize}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline{font-size:32px;font-weight:700;padding-bottom:12px;color:#121212!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image{position:relative;margin:14px 0 0 -10px;width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a{background-color:transparent;width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst{padding-top:4px;padding-bottom:24px;margin-right:-10px}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)!important;background-image:none!important;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder, #dcdcdc);border-bottom:none}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta{margin:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc{padding:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg{stroke:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button{display:flex;padding:5px;justify-content:center;align-items:center;width:28px;height:28px;right:14px}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body{padding:0 12px}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.android #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.android #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.android #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive){margin:0;width:calc(100vw – 24px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption{padding:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px))}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a{color:var(–primary-pillar);background-image:none;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper{background-color:#1a1a1a}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline{background-color:unset;color:var(–headerBorder)!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p{color:var(–headerBorder)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg{stroke:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption{color:var(–dateline)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container #article-body >div,body.ios #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.ios #feature-article-container #feature-body,body.ios #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-body,body.ios #standard-article-container #article-body >div,body.ios #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.ios #standard-article-container #feature-body,body.ios #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-body,body.ios #comment-article-container #article-body >div,body.ios #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.ios #comment-article-container #feature-body,body.ios #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-body,body.android #feature-article-container #article-body >div,body.android #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.android #feature-article-container #feature-body,body.android #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.android #feature-article-container #comment-body,body.android #standard-article-container #article-body >div,body.android #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.android #standard-article-container #feature-body,body.android #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.android #standard-article-container #comment-body,body.android #comment-article-container #article-body >div,body.android #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.android #comment-article-container #feature-body,body.android #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.android #comment-article-container #comment-body{background-color:var(–darkBackground)!important}body.ios #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, #ffffff)}}body.ios.garnett–type-comment #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android.garnett–type-comment #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst{padding-top:24px;margin-top:0}.prose h2{font-size:24px}body.ios #feature-article-container #caption-button,body.ios #standard-article-container #caption-button,body.ios #comment-article-container #caption-button{padding:6px 5px 0}body.android #feature-article-container #caption-button,body.android #standard-article-container #caption-button,body.android #comment-article-container #caption-button{padding:4px 4px 0}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:root:root:not([data-color-scheme=light]){–follow-text: #dcdcdc;–follow-icon-fill: var(–darkmode-pillar);–standfirst-text: #dcdcdc;–standfirst-link-text: var(–darkmode-pillar);–standfirst-link-border: var(–darkmode-pillar);–byline: var(–darkmode-pillar)}}:root{–darkBackground: #1a1a1a}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__header,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__header,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__header,body.android #feature-article-container .article__header,body.android #standard-article-container .article__header,body.android #comment-article-container .article__header{opacity:0!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper{margin:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline{color:#dcdcdc!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .article-header a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .article-header a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .article-header a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .article-header a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .article-header a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .article-header a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta:before,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{background-image:repeating-linear-gradient(var(–headerBorderColor),var(–headerBorderColor) 1px,transparent 1px,transparent 3px)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .byline{color:#dcdcdc}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc svg,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__misc svg,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc svg,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__misc svg,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc svg,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__misc svg,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc svg,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__misc svg,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc svg,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__misc svg,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc svg,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__misc svg{stroke:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .alerts__label,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .alerts__label,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .alerts__label,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .alerts__label,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .alerts__label,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .alerts__label,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .alerts__label,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .alerts__label,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .alerts__label,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .alerts__label,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .alerts__label,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .alerts__label{color:#dcdcdc!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon],body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon],body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon],body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon],body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon],body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon],body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon],body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon],body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon],body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon],body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon],body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon]{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon]:before,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon]:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon]:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon]:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon]:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon]:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon]:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon]:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon]:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon]:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta span[data-icon]:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] span[data-icon]:before{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, –darkModeFeature)}@media (min-width: 71.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4{display:block;border-top:1px solid var(–new-pillar-colour, var(–headerBorderColor))}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4 .meta__misc,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4 .meta__misc,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4 .meta__misc,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4 .meta__misc,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4 .meta__misc,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__misc,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta.keyline-4 .meta__misc{margin:unset;margin-left:20px}}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body p,body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body ul,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body p,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body ul,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body p,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body ul,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body p,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body ul,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body p,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body ul,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body p,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body ul{max-width:620px}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before{color:var(–secondary-pillar)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a{color:var(–primary-pillar);background-image:none;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:#dcdcdc}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover{background-image:none;text-decoration-color:var(–secondary-pillar)}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before{color:var(–darkmode-pillar)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a{color:var(–darkmode-pillar)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–darkmode-pillar)}}:root[data-rendering-target=apps]{–follow-text: #dcdcdc;–follow-icon-fill: var(–new-pillar-colour);–standfirst-text: #dcdcdc;–standfirst-link-text: var(–new-pillar-colour);–standfirst-link-border: var(–new-pillar-colour);–byline: var(–new-pillar-colour);–article-meta-lines: var(–headerBorderColor);–byline: var(–darkmode-pillar)}:root[data-rendering-target=apps] .byline >span{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}:root[data-rendering-target=apps] .byline >span >div:has(+[name=FollowWapper]){background-image:var(–headerBorderColor),var(–headerBorderColor) 1px,transparent 1px}@media (prefers-color-scheme: light){:root[data-rendering-target=apps] [data-gu-name=meta] a[data-sponsor=”guardian.org”] picture img{filter:invert(1)}}
View image in fullscreen More
188 Shares199 Views
in US Politics
The podcast showing what resistance looks like under Trump 2.0: ‘Where’s the progressive Project 2025?’
by Evelyn Reynolds 19 October 2025, 11:00
In a recent episode of Unnamed and Unbound: Black Voters Matter Podcast, the co-host Cliff Albright spoke with his guests about the power of resilience and community building during a time of uncertainty. Resilience takes different forms, he said, such as mutual aid drives or Washington DC protests featuring go-go music during the national guard’s continued deployment in the capital. “As food is becoming more expensive, and as food programs are being cut, whether it’s Snap or Meals on Wheels, you’ve got a lot of organizations and Black communities that are looking at: ‘How do we feed ourselves?’” Albright, the co-founder and executive director of the voting rights and community empowerment organization Black Voters Matter, said. “The best of our resistance has always included some form of taking care of ourselves.”After the presidential election in November, the Black Voters Matter team got to work. In late January, Albright, his co-founder LaTosha Brown, and the group’s legal director and chief of staff April England-Albright launched the podcast about voting rights and organizing to help keep Black communities informed. Their goal is also to dispel misinformation by engaging people who may be vulnerable to the Trump administration’s propaganda, Albright said, and need some “persuasion in terms of how to interpret what’s going on around us”. For England-Albright, she’d like for activists to build coalitions that learn from the shortcomings of past movements. Ultimately, Brown hopes that listeners feel a sense of belonging in the podcast and that they are encouraged to build community.Some of their guests have included Jennifer Wells from the community organizing group Community Change, Ife Finch Floyd from the policy advocacy organization Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, and Deante’ Kyle, host of the pop culture and politics podcast Grits and Eggs.In addition to the podcast, Black Voters Matter has also given nearly $4m in grants to local organizations including churches, neighborhood associations and NAACP chapters to help organizers canvas and mobilize voters this year. The organization also provides technical support to grassroots groups, such as training them on how to send out mass political text messages. A documentary about Black Voters Matter, titled Love, Joy and Power: Tools for Liberation released this year followed the organization’s work in 2020. Its use as a blueprint for progressive organizers, Albright said, “is critical towards the work that we’re doing now and to understand how we can win” in future elections.“I think that there is a sobering reality of millions of people in this country that in order to create the nation that we desire, we deserve,” Brown said, “it cannot, under any circumstances, be built on the same foundation of corporate greed and race and white supremacy.”The podcast’s inception began shortly after the election results poured in the morning after the 2024 presidential race. Brown sat immobile in her hotel kitchen in Washington DC, in shock that Donald Trump won after she sounded the alarm for years. Prior to the election, she and the Black Voters Matter team had travelled throughout the country to engage voters in an effort to build political power among Black communities.A wave of emotions ranging from betrayal to bitterness and then fear washed over her. “I just felt all of the weight of this Black woman being rejected when she was the best and the most prepared. She was the most patriotic. She was the most transparent,” Brown said. “It was like white privilege, dancing in your face.”“Do we not know what we’ve done?” Brown recalled wondering as she continued to watch the election results come in. She wanted others to know that they weren’t alone in their sense of despair. “I see our podcast like a lighthouse in the storm,” Brown said. It provides a space to discuss organizing strategies in the current sociopolitical environment.Ultimately, current movement builders are creating more clandestine networks similar to the Underground Railroad, said Brown.“What we’ve decided is we’re going to focus on our own wellbeing and creating alternatives for our community and for those who really want to see a multiracial democracy. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to keep building. We’re organizing, and when the time is right, you will know we’re there.”For England-Albright, the podcast helps amplify Black Voters Matter’s coalition building by hosting guests from other community empowerment organizations. “So often in this country policy has not exemplified that we matter,” England-Albright said. “We’ve always wanted to serve as a beacon of hope and light that we do matter in this country, regardless of policy.” Her personal experience working in the government has informed her view on Trump’s second term.As a former supervising attorney for the Department of Education’s office for civil rights during Trump’s first term, she said that she has an insider’s view into how the Trump administration has weaponized the powers of the executive branch in his second term. Project 2025, a conservative agenda published by the rightwing thinktank the Heritage Foundation, laid the blueprint for the Trump administration “to radically reduce the civil servants for the federal government and replace them with individuals who would pass a loyalty test,” England-Albright said. “The reason why he did that was because civil servants played a major role in essentially preventing and halting some of the darker things he wanted to do originally.”To survive Trump’s second term, England-Albright said that activists must build coalitions unlike “we’ve ever had before”. In the past, organizations were often singularly focused on issues, such as saving the environment or protecting voting rights. But this time requires an amalgamation of forces, she said: “We have to find a way to merge all of our individual desires or top button issues to become one, to create the kind of wall that is going to be necessary in this moment.”She wants to see progressives create a long-term strategy that ensures their policies survive in rightwing administrations. “Where is the progressive Project 2025?” She asked. “We have to create permanent laws, whether it comes in constitutional amendments, I don’t care, but we’ve got to do something that makes sure that our voices are permanent in this country.”Amid his disappointment about the current state of politics, Albright retains a sense of optimism by acknowledging that a fight is needed to get through the turbulence and pain. In the fifth and sixth episodes of Unnamed and Unbound: Black Voters Matter Podcast released earlier this year, Albright spoke to guests at a gathering at Alabama’s Dallas county courthouse to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. On 7 March 1965, Dr Martin Luther King Jr led thousands of nonviolent civil rights marchers who were brutally beaten by law enforcement as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. “When I say love, you say power,” Albright said in a call and response with attendees. Love and power, Albright told the audience, is at the center of his work at Black Voters Matter. That weekend, Selma residents discussed their hopes and fears, focusing on the effects of gun violence on their community.“I personally often will call on Dr King’s quotes about love and power: ‘Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice,’” Albright said. “So as long as we can be rooted in that; not the sentimental and anemic love, the love that’s bolstered by power, then we can get through this.” More
175 Shares159 Views
in US Politics
How can blue states fight back against Trump? With fiscal disobedience | Eric Reinhart
by Evelyn Reynolds 19 October 2025, 11:00
Against Illinois governor JB Pritzker’s objections, Donald Trump’s Pentagon has ordered hundreds of national guard troops to join his regime’s assault on Chicago communities. Trump subsequently called for Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s mayor, and Pritzker to be jailed for not supporting his agenda. These are simply the latest steps in Trump’s plan not to govern as the president of all Americans but to rule as the dictatorial head of a punitive factional state. Federal funding to Democratic cities is being slashed through executive maneuvers; the justice department is conducting politically targeted investigations and arrests; and the military is being deployed to intimidate fellow citizens. Los Angeles, Portland, my home town of Chicago and other cities have been cast as enemies to be subdued, not communities to be served.This weaponization of federal power represents a sharp break with constitutional tradition. It’s not merely ideological hostility; it is economic coercion and the exercise of violence in service of a president’s whim. The Trump regime is selectively starving Democratic jurisdictions of federal funds, even as their residents continue to pay billions in federal taxes, with blue states accounting for over 60% of the federal government’s revenue. We are being compelled to subsidize our own political subjugation.As the anthropologist Janet Roitman argued in her study of taxation and sovereignty in central Africa, acts of “fiscal disobedience” emerge not simply as refusals to pay but as political interventions that expose ruptures in the reciprocal obligations underlying fiscal authority. Taxation is never merely technical. It is the material expression of political belonging and shared obligation. When the state weaponizes fiscal power against certain communities while continuing to demand unquestioned revenue from them, it undermines its own claim to legitimate authority. In such contexts, withholding or conditionally redirecting tax flows can become a way to re-politicize the fiscal relationship. It makes explicit that the state has already broken the social contract. Blue states today occupy precisely this position: forced to fund a federal government that is actively targeting them, their residents and their institutions.Faced with this reality, Democratic governors need more than legal complaints and rhetorical protest. They need fiscal strategies of resistance commensurate with the scale of the attack. And one of the most provocative – and potentially powerful – ideas available is the creation of state-administered escrow accounts, or “in trust” funds, to temporarily hold federal tax revenues until the federal government upholds its constitutional obligations and withdraws its authoritarian threats.This may sound radical, but it is less secessionist than it may at first appear. It would not involve refusing to pay federal taxes outright, which would open individual taxpayers to prosecution. Instead, the state would act as a temporary custodian, receiving payments from residents and businesses equal to their federal tax liabilities, holding them in trust for the federal government, and releasing them only when certain constitutional conditions are met – such as the partisan cessation of federal defunding and the withdrawal of military deployments unauthorized by targeted states.Such a maneuver would constitute a form of civil disobedience by a state, legally risky and certain to entail confrontation. But Democratic cities and states, progressive non-profits, universities, non-white immigrants, and public health institutions are already facing direct conflict with Trump’s government. This strategy would reset the terms of the conflict and reclaim power against an increasingly brazen Trump regime. It would also underline for everyone the authoritarian, violent nature of the federal government’s tactics rather than allowing them to proceed under the thin guise of “law and order”, as Trump leverages his control over legal systems to wage war against his personal enemies. It would transform what is now a one-sided assault into a constitutional struggle.How it could workStates could establish this system through legislation to create a tax receivership fund, explicitly designated as a trust account for federal tax liabilities. Residents and businesses would make payments into this account instead of directly to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The state would acknowledge these payments as received on behalf of the federal government, and pledge to remit them in full once specific, legally defined conditions were met – say, the restoration of suspended federal funding and reversal of other punitive actions that violate constitutional guarantees.Importantly, this scheme does not purport to nullify federal taxes or claim state sovereignty over them. It functions as a conditional remittance mechanism, akin to an escrow arrangement in contract law. Of course, the Trump-controlled IRS, which has already been weaponized by the regime, would not quietly accept this. It would likely treat payments into the state trust as non-payment and impose penalties. Legal challenges would ensue. But that is precisely the point: to force a constitutional confrontation over whether the federal government can target states for political punishment while continuing to demand unquestioned fiscal obedience.For such a strategy to work, it cannot be the isolated action of a single state. A state acting alone could be punished, scapegoated, or financially squeezed into submission. But if multiple states act simultaneously, they can transform isolated legal defiance into a coordinated assertion of constitutional co-sovereignty.Here, article I, section 10 of the constitution could offer an eventual tool: interstate compacts. These are agreements between states – subject to congressional consent, and thus not likely legally viable until and unless Democrats win back congressional majorities – that allow them to formally coordinate policy, pool resources, and create collective governance structures. With or without congressional approval, blue states could form a “fiscal sovereignty compact” to coordinate the legal, fiscal, and political strategies involved in holding federal taxes in trust. It could standardize escrow mechanisms across member states, ensuring legal coherence and shared administrative capacity; create a pooled legal defense fund to support court battles; coordinate triggers for releasing funds, so that the federal government faces a unified set of demands; and protect against selective federal retaliation by presenting a united front representing tens of millions of residents and trillions in economic output.This compact would not need to involve all blue states to be effective. A coalition of economically powerful states – such as California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington – could represent a staggering share of federal revenue. If even a portion of federal tax remittances from these states were held in trust, the federal government would face not an isolated legal challenge but substantial fiscal obstacles to its current belligerence.Building an anti-fascist federalismTrump’s use of the federal government to punish political enemies represents an authoritarian turn in American governance. It betrays the basic premise of federalism – that states are coequal entities within a constitutional framework, not mere provinces under imperial command – that was the supposed cornerstone of the Republican party before it sold what little soul it had to a conman. Lawsuits and press conferences are inadequate responses to this kind of assault. What’s needed are mechanisms that translate state and citizen dissent into material leverage. Escrow accounts, when deployed through a coordinated strategy, do precisely this: they turn the flow of money, the lifeblood of federal power, into the explicit site of political struggle.Such a move could have wide-rippling political effects. It would give residents a concrete way to participate in opposing the Trump regime, transforming legal disputes into collective political action. It would also force the supreme court, which is increasingly aligning itself with Trump against the constitution, to directly confront fundamental questions about the balance of state and federal power. Given the corruption of the courts, courtroom victory is neither the expectation nor the point in this strategy; it is instead to use the law to draw clear constitutional and fiscal battle lines – to make states active protagonists rather than passive targets.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSkeptics will call the above proposal unconstitutional, impractical or politically reckless. They are not wrong to note the risks. Under current federal tax law, states have no role in federal revenue collection. Courts might enjoin such efforts quickly. Administratively, state governments would need to build new fiscal infrastructure to receive and track payments. And Trump will seize on any opportunity to paint blue states as “insurrectionists” who must be violently crushed – but the regime is already inventing fictions to justify this regardless of on-the-ground realities.Acknowledging risks is not the same as accepting them as decisive. The legal barriers to fiscal disobedience are formidable in part because the federal government has never before faced coordinated, large-scale challenges of this kind from wealthy states representing a majority of national tax revenue. The courts are not mechanical; they are political actors that respond to the balance of power and the perceived legitimacy of claims. Even if states ultimately lose in court, the process itself would publicly expose the authoritarian abuse of fiscal powers, force constitutional confrontation rather than quiet capitulation, and potentially reshape the political terrain.As is evident from Chicago – where I am writing this with Black Hawk helicopters flying overhead night and day and where my friends, patients, elected representatives, and neighbors are being assaulted in their homes, in hospitals, and on the streets by federal agents acting with total disregard for either reality or legality – a rapid escalation of political violence in America is well under way. The Trump regime has made clear that it will continue to expand its campaign of violence with total impunity if we do not respond. In this context, refusing to counter fascism because retaliation might follow is not prudence; it is surrender.State-administered escrow accounts will not solve the crisis of American democracy, but they could help shift the terrain of struggle away from unilateral federal domination and toward a contested, negotiated, and coordinated anti-fascist federalism much better equipped to contest the destruction of US democracy.Trump is breaking the outer limits of the constitutional order and bending law to his advantage. It’s time for blue states to do the same.What’s giving me hope nowAlthough I’ve written above about large-scale strategy, it is small everyday acts of care between neighbors and co-workers seeking to protect one another within my Chicago community that give me confidence fascism will not consume us. I collaborate with local mutual aid and organizing collectives – such as the CHAAD Project, which supports vulnerable Chicago bar and restaurant workers – to remember that genuine change in society arises from giving and receiving care, and sharing joy and hospitality, with those around you. It is only from that basis that collective ethical and political life can acquire power great enough to topple fascism – and to replace it with a genuine democracy that fosters difference rather than seeking to annihilate it.
Eric Reinhart is a political anthropologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst More

Trump administration

More stories

Troops on the streets, Ice thuggery – and prices still climbing: welcome to Trump’s ‘golden age’ | Steven Greenhouse

No Kings protesters on their hopes for resistance movement against Trump: ‘If we lose momentum, we lose the fight’

Trump news at a glance: ‘Illegal drug leader’ – threat of new tariffs against Colombia

George Santos says prison sentence was ‘disproportionate’ but ‘large slice of humble pie’

Trump calls Colombia president ‘illegal drug dealer’ as US says it hit another ship

What’s happening with Marjorie Taylor Greene? Why the Maga loyalist has won some Democratic fans

The podcast showing what resistance looks like under Trump 2.0: ‘Where’s the progressive Project 2025?’

How can blue states fight back against Trump? With fiscal disobedience | Eric Reinhart

ITALIAN LANGUAGE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE