Subterms
Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke in Davos on Thursday about the ‘board of peace’ plans for Gaza’s postwar redevelopment at an event on the sidelines of the World Economic ForumDavos live – latest updates Continue reading… More
This blog is now closedTrump declaration of Greenland framework deal met with scepticism as doubts persistTrump news at a glance: at Davos, president rambles, backs down and touts ‘future deal’ on GreenlandHouse Republicans are starting a push on Wednesday to hold former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time.The contempt proceedings are an initial step toward a criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice that, if successful, could send the Clintons to prison.They’re not above the law. We’ve issued subpoenas in good faith.For five months we’ve worked with them. And time’s up. Continue reading… More
Superintendent says Liam Ramos and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway and sent to TexasUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a five-year-old Minnesota boy on Tuesday as he returned home from school and transported him and his father to a Texas detention center, according to school officials.Liam Ramos, a preschooler, and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway, the superintendent of the school district in Columbia Heights, a Minneapolis suburb, said at a press conference on Wednesday. Liam, who had recently turned five, is one of four children in the school district who have been detained by federal immigration agents during the Trump administration’s enforcement surge in the region over the last two weeks, the district said. Continue reading… More
Trump told Davos attendees the US won’t use military force to take Greenland but demanded ‘immediate negotiations’ – key US politics stories from Wednesday 21 January at a glanceIt was quite a day in Davos.Donald Trump began his time at the World Economic Forum Wednesday with a rambling, racism-drenched speech in which he attacked European leaders and reasserted his demand to acquire Greenland. But hours later, the US president backed down and eased off his threats to impose tariffs on several allied nations, claiming he had reached “the framework of a future deal” concerning the US’s involvement in the Danish territory. Continue reading… More
Scale and speed of president’s moves have stunned observers of authoritarian regimes – is the US in democratic peril?Three hundred and sixty-five days after Donald Trump swore his oath of office and completed an extraordinary return to power, many historians, scholars and experts say his presidency has pushed American democracy to the brink – or beyond it.In the first year of Trump’s second term, the democratically elected US president has moved with startling speed to consolidate authority: dismantling federal agencies, purging the civil service, firing independent watchdogs, sidelining Congress, challenging judicial rulings, deploying federal force in blue cities, stifling dissent, persecuting political enemies, targeting immigrants, scapegoating marginalized groups, ordering the capture of a foreign leader, leveraging the presidency for profit, trampling academic freedom and escalating attacks on the news media. Continue reading… More
After covering Trump’s immigration policies from Chicago and LA, the Twin Cities operation feels like a marked escalationThe Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board described the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities as “a military occupation”. Local leaders have used words like “siege” and “invasion”. After a week of reporting in Minneapolis and St Paul, I wouldn’t know how else to describe the scene.I’ve been covering the administration’s immigration policies since Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January last year. I was in Chicago in January last year, when the administration assigned hundreds of federal agents to conduct “enhanced targeted operations” in the city. I was in Los Angeles last summer, when agents began seizing workers at car washes and garment warehouses, grabbing bicyclists and raiding churches. Continue reading… More
Scott Bessent’s maladroit efforts to calm European anger and Americans’ puzzlement over Greenland have fallen flatTrump steps up demand to annex Greenland in rebuke to Europe’s leaders Scott Bessent has gained a reputation as one of Donald Trump’s suavest enablers but his dismissal of Denmark as “irrelevant” is likely to earn him a place in the annals of infamy rather than diplomacy.The US treasury secretary’s tactless put-down of a Nato ally has come as the annual World Economic Forum at Davos has cast him into the international limelight at the very moment when Trump is upping the ante to take over Greenland, which is Danish sovereign territory. Continue reading… More
In his second term, Trump’s bluster has been accompanied by an emotional and aggressive approach to foreign policyThis was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; sign up to receive it in your inbox every WednesdayTheodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, characterized his approach to international relations as “speak softly and carry a big stick”. It was an approach that won him a Nobel peace prize in 1906, for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese war.In recent days, Donald Trump’s own take on diplomacy has come into focus, one that might be characterized thusly: speak hysterically and threaten to use (and sometimes actually use) a big stick. This idiosyncratic approach to statecraft has yet to win Trump a Nobel peace prize, although that is something that the president has said – many, many times – does not bother him at all. Continue reading… More
