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    What can we learn from RFK’s ‘erotic poetry’? That Americans need to get better at enjoying a scandal | Marina Hyde

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    Literally nothing on this earth takes itself as seriously as American journalism. There are rogue-state dictators it’s more permissible to laugh at than the endlessly hilarious pretensions of newsmen and newswomen in the United States. The crucial difference between the British press and US press is that at least we in the British press know we’re in the gutter. The Americans have always imagined – and so loudly – that they are involved in some kind of higher calling. Guys, I love you and stuff, but get over it, because you’re missing one of the great jokes of the century. Yourselves.I don’t deny that everything’s bigger in America. Our former health secretary had a knee-trembler up against his office door in the pandemic; their current one apparently wrote felching … poetry, is it … felching poetry? … to a superstar journalist who was worrying about his brainworm, yet the story is being written up like it’s Dante, instead of X-rated Italian brainrot.We are, by the way, talking about the tale of Olivia Nuzzi, Ryan Lizza and Robert F Kennedy. If you’ve missed this one, you have a great treat in store. Olivia and Ryan were hotshot political journalists (and a couple) covering presidential campaigns and writing a joint book about the 2020 one, when Ryan discovered last year that Olivia had had what is primly described as a “digital affair” with wingnut presidential candidate RFK. It all blew up, there was some legal hokey-cokey, they lost their jobs, she fled to LA, RFK became health secretary. He’s got bigger brainworms to fry; the other two are now “breaking their silence”.And everything – everything – about it is darkly hysterical. It should obviously be being written as comedy. Instead, the story is being chronicled with maximum portentousness by its own protagonists. First, in Nuzzi’s forthcoming memoir/state-of-the-nation something-or-other, which is actually entitled American Canto. And second in Lizza’s Substack, which is genuinely called Telos. I can’t.No, hang on – I can. Like so many of the self-regarding big-hitters of the US fourth estate, this sundered pair very much need you to know that serious prose is occurring. Both of them adore a sledgehammer metaphor. With Lizza, it’s bamboo. The bamboo in the couple’s apartment courtyard “had become a metaphor for our decade-long entanglement”. Righto. “If not tamed, [it] would march through the entire courtyard and kill everything.” Thanks for flagging, mate. “I spent hours hacking at the sprouts to keep the bamboo at bay, just as I had with all the secrets that Olivia and I shared.” Is there much more of this? Yes, would seem to be the answer. “I should have known that it was futile and that, at some point, the bamboo would take over the garden, and that’s all anyone would see.” Come on Ryan, batter me round the head with the bamboo analogy one more time – I’m so close to getting the point.With Nuzzi, it’s wildfires. She flees to LA after the RFK story breaks, staking down seemingly dozens of signposts to where we are going as the burning takes hold. “10:30 a.m., 10 acres burning. 10:50 a.m., 20 acres burning … 2 p.m., 700 acres burning. 3 p.m., 1,300 acres burning … 12:30 a.m., 3,000 acres burning. 9 a.m., 5,000 acres burning. 11:45 a.m., 12,000 acres burning. 1:30 p.m., 16,000 acres burning … 9 p.m., 20,000 acres burning. 8 a.m., 22,000 acres burning. 4 p.m., 24,000 acres burning.” OK GOT IT. Luckily, because we’re literary dumbos, Nuzzi has already explained: “You cannot outrun your life on fire.” Makes u think. Could we have some crossover metaphor event where the bamboo catches fire? Maybe for Black Friday.With heavy heart, apparently, the wider US media must cover the tale, yet not even America’s dainty journalese can rob the story of its full-spectrum trash merriment. In fact, in some cases it adds to it. Nuzzi’s lawyer told the New York Times his client would “not dignify efforts to impugn her character with any future response”. Dialling in from an Edith Wharton novel, there. I believe the felching poetry dropped a couple of days later.It’s so sad that, across American newsrooms, hankies must be overtly pressed to noses about all this, while refresh keys can only be covertly pressed to see if any more has dropped. Pretty much the only splashy thing Vanity Fair has done under its new editorship was hire Nuzzi as West Coast editor and run her book extract, so it should be absolutely zero surprise to learn that, as a result of something they read in Telos – again, “Telos”!!! – the magazine is reviewing the appointment. “We were taken by surprise,” intoned a Vanity Fair spokeswoman, “and we are looking at all the facts.” For heaven’s sake, buck up and stop being so absolutely wet. This sort of thing is why you hired her. Just own it and allow yourself a bit of fun.Alas, they seem bent on playing it like they’re in the midst of some boring ethics crisis, when you can’t help feeling that ship has sailed. May we humble outsiders offer a word of advice? Guys, you just need to stop being so American and serious about it all. And, indeed, about America. God knows we lesser countries have put some ghastly people in charge ourselves, but you do have to allow your international underlings the occasional cackle at the fact that in your great nation, Donald Trump has now become president, twice. When you lot shit the bed, the whole world has to lie in it – so do at least have the delicacy to realise that once dignity has gone, a good laugh is how the rest of us get by. Come along and join us: you’ll like it if you try it.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion

    Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. More

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      Majority of Latino voters disapprove of Trump, Pew study finds

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      A majority of Latinos disapprove of Donald Trump and his economic and immigration policies, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.After receiving support from nearly half of Latino voters in the 2024 election, Trump had lost the backing of a majority surveyed in October. Pew found that 70% of Latinos “disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president”, while 65% disapprove of his administration’s approach to immigration and 61% believe his economic policies have worsened economic conditions.Trump won 48% of the Latino vote in 2024, up from 28% in 2016. Latinos, one of the fastest-growing demographics in the United States, account for one in five Americans.After the 2024 election, Latinos, particularly Latino men, credited Trump’s economic proposals and immigration policies – suggesting he was not serious about threats of mass deportations – for winning their vote.At the time, two-thirds of Latinos said they “do not feel like he is talking about me” when Trump discussed his immigration policies, and more than 40% approved of his proposal to build a border wall, according to an October 2024 Siena poll for the New York Times.But since Trump implemented sweeping tariffs and social safety net spending cuts, alongside aggressive immigration raids, that support has dwindled. In June, a co-founder of Latinas for Trump criticized widespread immigration arrests as “unacceptable and inhumane”.The results of the November elections showed that Democrats won back Latino voters in New Jersey and Virginia’s gubernatorial races.The shifts within the Latino electorate are still markedly divided by political party. According to the Pew report, while nearly all Latinos who voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election disapprove of Trump, 81% of those who voted for Trump approve of the president’s job (down from 93% at the start of his term).A majority of Latinos worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported under the president’s heightened immigration enforcement – where 42% expressed such fear in March, 52% do now. Nearly 60% said they had witnessed or heard of immigration raids or arrests in their community in the past six months.For the first time in nearly two decades, Pew reported that “most Hispanics say their situation has worsened”. While 10% of Hispanics told Pew that Trump’s policies helped them, 78% said the president’s policies harmed their community. More

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      Trump news at a glance: James Comey, Letitia James welcome judge’s decision to toss criminal cases

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      A federal judge threw out the criminal cases against James Comey and Letitia James on Monday, concluding that the prosecutor handling the case was unlawfully appointed.Lindsey Halligan, who Trump named the interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia in September, had “no lawful authority to present the indictment” against the former FBI director and New York attorney general, Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, wrote in her opinion.She added that “all actions flowing from Ms Halligan’s defective appointment” were “unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside”.The decision is a major win for Comey, who was charged with lying to Congress five years ago, and James, who was charged with mortgage fraud. Both unequivocally denied wrongdoing and said the cases were a thinly veiled effort by the Trump administration to punish them for opposing the president.Currie dismissed both cases “without prejudice”, which means the government could theoretically try to bring the charges again under a properly appointed US attorney. But it is unclear if they could even do that in Comey’s case because the statute of limitations for the crime he is charged with passed on 30 September 2025.US judge throws out criminal cases against James Comey and Letitia James“I am heartened by today’s victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from around the country,” James said in a statement. “I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day.”Comey also praised the decision.“I’m grateful that the court ended the case against me which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence,” he said in a recorded video. “This case mattered to me personally, obviously, but it matters most because a message has to be sent that the president of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies.”Read the full storyUkraine makes significant changes to US ‘peace plan’, sources sayUkraine has significantly amended the US “peace plan” to end the conflict, removing some of Russia’s maximalist demands, people familiar with the negotiations said, as European leaders warned that no deal could be reached quickly.Volodymyr Zelenskyy may meet Donald Trump in the White House later this week, sources indicated, amid a flurry of calls between Kyiv and Washington. Ukraine is pressing for Europe to be involved in the talks.Read the full storyPentagon investigating US senator over call for troops to refuse illegal ordersThe Pentagon says it is investigating the Arizona senator Mark Kelly for possible breaches of military law after the federal lawmaker joined a handful of other Democrats in a video calling for US troops to refuse unlawful orders.It is extraordinary for the Pentagon to directly threaten a sitting member of Congress with investigation. Until Donald Trump’s second presidency, the institution in charge of the US military had usually strived to appear apolitical.Read the full storyTrump begins process of designating Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist groupsTrump began the process of designating certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists, a move would bring sanctions against one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements.Trump signed an executive order directing secretary of state Marco Rubio and treasury secretary Scott Bessent to submit a report on whether to designate any Muslim Brotherhood chapters, such as those in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, according to a White House factsheet. It orders the secretaries to move forward with any designations within 45 days of the report.Read the full storyVenezuela accuses US of using ‘narco-terrorism’ allegations to justify ‘regime change’Venezuela’s government has accused the US of peddling “ridiculous hogwash” about its supposed role in sponsoring “narco-terrorism” as Washington continued to turn up the heat on Nicolás Maduro’s regime and leftwing European politicians warned South America faced being plunged into “a torrent of bloodshed”.The Trump administration officially designated a Venezuelan group known as the “Cartel de los Soles” (the Cartel of the Suns) a terrorist organization – despite widespread doubts over its actual existence.Read the full storyFox Corp chief told Sean Hannity that Trump could not go on air in 2020 if he attacked network
      New revelations about the tense relationship between Fox News and Donald Trump in the fall of 2020 have emerged in a trove of thousands of court documents released Sunday as part of a massive defamation lawsuit filed against the network by voting technology company Smartmatic.One exchange showed that Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of Fox News parent company Fox Corp, told star anchor Sean Hannity in a 1 October 2020 text chain that Trump could not appear on Fox again if he attacked the network.Read the full storyTrump hints support for fringe theory that Venezuela rigged 2020 electionDonald Trump on Sunday appeared to endorse the discredited conspiracy theory that Venezuela’s leadership controls electronic voting software worldwide and caused his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.White House officials have previously said that Trump’s increasingly bellicose policy toward Venezuela is driven by concerns about migration and the drug trade. But the president’s new comment, made on Truth Social, hints that his hostility to Venezuela may also be based on an outlandish, implausible theory ruled to be false by a judge in 2023.Read the full storyTrump DoJ’s focus on Maga goals harms other investigations, experts warnDonald Trump’s weaponization of the US department of justice to focus on retribution against political foes, on fulfilling Maga goals and on granting pardons for allies has seen thousands of lawyers depart or be fired and weakened investigations in civil rights, national security and other areas, say ex-prosecutors and legal experts.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

      A church employee is under arrest in Houston, Texas, after being accused of posing as an ICE agent to extort money from a woman he had booked to give him a massage.

      A controversial and secretive private company backed by the US and Israel that distributed food in Gaza has announced the end of its operations in the devastated territory.

      The Trump administration announced it will cancel temporary asylum for about 10,000 Myanmar nationals living in the US, despite the country being ruled by a military dictatorship that has a record of executing dissidents.

      The North Dakota supreme court revived the state’s abortion ban on Friday, once again making it a felony for doctors to perform the procedure except in medical emergencies or in some cases of rape or incest.

      A flurry of social media posts from Maga influencers have laid bare the disorientation felt by members of Trump’s base at the spectacle of Friday’s cordial Oval Office meeting with Mamdani, who the president previously painted as a “communist lunatic”.

      Viola Ford Fletcher, one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre in Oklahoma, has died at 111. She spent her later years seeking justice for the deadly attack by a white mob on the thriving Black community where she lived as a child.
      Catching up? Here’s what happened on 23 November 2025. More

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      in US Politics

      Trump begins process of designating Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist groups

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      Donald Trump on Monday began the process of designating certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists, a move that would bring sanctions against one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements.Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and treasury secretary Scott Bessent to submit a report on whether to designate any Muslim Brotherhood chapters, such as those in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, according to a White House fact sheet. It orders the secretaries to move forward with any designations within 45 days of the report.The Trump administration has accused Muslim Brotherhood factions in those countries of supporting or encouraging violent attacks against Israel and US partners, or of providing material support to Palestinian militant group Hamas.“President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilization campaigns against US interests and allies in the Middle East,” according to a White House fact sheet.The Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the 1920s as an Islamic political movement to counter the spread of secular and nationalist ideas. It swiftly spread through Muslim countries, becoming a major player but often operating in secret.Republicans and right-wing voices have long advocated for and considered terrorist designations for the Muslim Brotherhood.Trump mounted a similar effort during his first term. Months after his second term began, Rubio said the Trump administration was working to designate the movement as a terrorist organization.Texas Governor Greg Abbott, also a Republican, last week imposed the same designation on the Muslim Brotherhood at a state level. More

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      in US Politics

      White House insists Trump’s prosecutor was legally appointed after federal judge throws out Comey and James indictments – live

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      The White House press secretary insisted that Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia handpicked by Donald Trump, was legally appointed to her position.This comes after a federal judge threw out the charges against James Comey and Letitia James, saying that Halligan had no “legal authority” to charge two of the president’s most notable adversaries.“The Department of Justice will be appealing very soon, and it is our position that Lindsey Halligan is extremely qualified for this position, but more importantly, was legally appointed to it,” Leavitt told reporters.The press secretary said that Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who issued today’s rulings, was “trying to shield” the former FBI director and New York attorney general “from receiving accountability”.The White House just posted the full text of a new executive order Donald Trump signed on Monday, “to begin the process of designating certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations”.Laura Loomer, a pro-Israel, anti-Muslim extremist with unusual influence over Trump, responded to the announcement by renewing her call for the administration to designate as terrorists Muslim American elected officials she claims, without evidence, are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.Writing on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which Loomer was barred from for anti-Muslim racism before it was purchased by Elon Musk, the extremist podcaster called on Monday for the White House to use the new designation to arrest and jail three prominent Muslim Democrats: Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Zohran Mamdani.Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, has welcomed the decision by a federal judge to dismiss the criminal case against her on Monday, on the grounds that the prosecutor who brought the case, former White House aide Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed.“The court’s order acknowledges what’s been clear about this case from the beginning,” Lowell said in a statement. “The President went to extreme measures to substitute one of his allies to bring these baseless charges after career prosecutors refused. This case was not about justice or the law; it was about targeting Attorney General James for what she stood for and who she challenged. We will continue to challenge any further politically motivated charges through every lawful means available.”While gaggling with reporters, Karoline Leavitt said that she had spoken with secretary of state Marco Rubio “at length” following the US delegation’s meeting with Ukrainian officials in Geneva. She also mentioned that she’d spoken with the president.“Everybody inside feels optimistic about what happened in transpired yesterday,” she said. “The whole team really worked through the points of that 28-point peace plan that the United States authored, with input from both sides, the Russians and the Ukrainians.”Leavitt affirmed that “the vast majority” of these points had been agreed upon. “The Ukrainians have worked on language with us together,” she said. “So we feel as though we’re in a very good place.”The White House press secretary insisted that Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia handpicked by Donald Trump, was legally appointed to her position.This comes after a federal judge threw out the charges against James Comey and Letitia James, saying that Halligan had no “legal authority” to charge two of the president’s most notable adversaries.“The Department of Justice will be appealing very soon, and it is our position that Lindsey Halligan is extremely qualified for this position, but more importantly, was legally appointed to it,” Leavitt told reporters.The press secretary said that Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who issued today’s rulings, was “trying to shield” the former FBI director and New York attorney general “from receiving accountability”.Speaking to reporters outside the West Wing today, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the White House supports the Pentagon’s announcement that it is investigating veteran and Arizona senator Mark Kelly.Today, the Democratic lawmaker accused the Department of Defense of intimidation, Leavitt pushed back when asked about his Kelly’s statement.“I think what senator Mark Kelly was actually trying to do was intimidate the 1.3 million active-duty service members who are currently serving in our United States Armed Forces with that video that he and his Democrat colleagues put out,” the press secretary said, referencing the social media post where six Democratic members of Congress told members of the military that they should “refuse” illegal orders.“They knew what they were doing in this video, and Senator Mark Kelly and all of them should be held accountable for that,” Leavitt added today.My colleague, Jeremy Barr, has been combing through the tens of thousands of pages that were released on Sunday as part of voting technology company Smartmatic’s $2.7bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News over its coverage of the 2020 presidential election.He notes that Fox News has strenuously denied Smartmatic’s claims and said the company has vastly overstated its value. In a statement, Smartmatic said Fox’s “attempts to delay accountability won’t work, and its day of reckoning is coming”.You can read the top takeaways from the documents below.

      In a blow to Trump’s justice department, a federal judge has tossed out criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey and New York attorney general Letitia James. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Lindsey Halligan, the Trump-installed prosecutor who secured the indictment against two of the president’s most noted adversaries, was illegally appointed to her position as US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia. Currie wrote that Halligan had “no lawful authority” to present the indictments to both Comey and James (in separate cases).

      The Pentagon has said it’s investigating Democratic senator Mark Kelly of Arizona for possible breaches of military law after Kelly joined a handful of other lawmakers in a video that called for US troops to refuse unlawful orders. The Pentagon’s statement, which was posted on social media this morning, cited a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the defense secretary for possible court martial or other measures. For his part, Kelly wrote in a statement that he’s “given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution”.

      Talks continued in Geneva between US and Ukrainian representatives today. Earlier, Donald Trump said that “something good just may be happening” in a post on Truth Social. Meanwhile, Ukraine has significantly amended the US “peace plan” for Ukraine, removing some of Russia’s maximalist demands, people familiar with the negotiations said, as European leaders warned on Monday that no deal could be reached quickly. For his part, Volodymyr Zelenskyy may meet Donald Trump in the White House later this week.

      The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has filed a notice in the federal register to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the roughly 10,000 Myanmar nationals living in the US. This, despite the country being ruled by a military dictatorship that has a record of executing dissidents. The Trump administration has already withdrawn protected status for a number of other nationalities, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, South Sudan and Venezuela, as part of sweeping changes to immigration policy.

      The outgoing Georgia congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, said today that “smears, lies, attacks, and name calling is childish behavior, divisive, and bad for our country”. This comes after she announced her decision to resign from Congress in January. In recent weeks, Greene has had a very public falling out with Donald Trump, which culminated in the president calling her a “traitor” after she supported a vote for the justice department to release the complete trove of Jeffrey Epstein files. Today, without naming the president or any Republican colleagues, the Georgia lawmaker pushed back on X. “Memes and red meat rants do nothing. Actions speak louder than words,” Greene wrote
      The president has said he will visit Beijing in April, after a “very good” call with China’s leader, Xi Jinping.Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he “discussed many topics including Ukraine/Russia, Fentanyl, Soybeans and other Farm Products”.He also teased a “good, and very important, deal for our Great Farmers”, and summarised the relationship with China as “extremely strong”. This despite a brewing trade war with the nation, following their decision to limit exports of rare earth minerals, and the US issuing retaliatory tariffs.“President Xi invited me to visit Beijing in April, which I accepted,” Trump added. “I reciprocated where he will be my guest for a State Visit in the U.S. later in the year. We agreed that it is important that we communicate often, which I look forward to doing.”Earlier, we brought you the news that the Department of Defense is investigating veteran and sitting Democratic senator Mark Kelly.This, after the Arizona lawmaker joined five other members of Congress in telling active duty military to “refuse illegal orders” in a social media video.For his part, Kelly has responded in a statement. “Secretary Hegseth’s tweet is the first I heard of this. I also saw the President’s posts saying I should be arrested, hanged, and put to death,” he wrote in a post on X. “If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work. I’ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution.”Kelly also gave a brief summary of his military career:
      In combat, I had a missile blow up next to my jet and flew through anti-aircraft fire to drop bombs on enemy targets. At NASA, I launched on a rocket, commanded the space shuttle, and was part of the recovery mission that brought home the bodies of my astronaut classmates who died on Columbia. I did all of this in service to this country that I love and has given me so much.
      Halligan’s conduct in the Comey case came under sustained scrutiny from three different judges. A magistrate judge determined that Halligan may have committed other significant legal errors in instructing and presenting evidence to the same grand jury.The justice department denied to Reuters that Halligan engaged in any misconduct and argued that the magistrate judge’s ruling was based on misinterpretations and assumptions.A reminder that Comey was charged with making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation. Prosecutors alleged he lied to the Senate judiciary committee during a 2020 hearing when he said he stood behind prior testimony that he had not authorized FBI leaks about investigations into Trump and his 2016 presidential election rival, Hillary Clinton.Comey has had an antagonistic relationship with Trump since his first term in 2017, when the president fired Comey while he was overseeing an investigation into alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.Comey, who pleaded not guilty, mounted an array of legal challenges to the case, arguing that Halligan was unlawfully appointed as interim US attorney, that the case was an improper “vindictive” prosecution engineered by Trump, and that the substance of the false statement allegation was legally flawed.A federal judge has tossed out criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey and New York attorney general Letitia James.District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Lindsey Halligan, the Trump-installed prosecutor who secured the indictment against two of the president’s most noted adversaries, was illegally appointed to her position as US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia.Currie wrote that Halligan had “no lawful authority” to present the indictments to both Comey and James (in separate cases). Lawyers for the former FBI director argued that when Halligan secured the indictment, the clock for a temporary US attorney had been run-out by her predecessor, Erik Siebert (who had already served for 120 days). They said it ultimately disqualified Halligan from holding the position at all. More

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      Surprise envoy pushing Ukraine ‘peace’ plan belies Vance influence on US policy

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      The US army secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was an unlikely envoy for the Trump administration’s newest proposal to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine – but his ties to JD Vance have put a close ally of the Eurosceptic vice-president on the frontlines of Donald Trump’s latest push to end the war.Before his trip to Kyiv last week, Driscoll was not known for his role as a negotiator or statesman, and his early efforts at selling the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.His close ties to Vance, with whom he studied at Yale and shares a close friendship, indicate the resurgence of the isolationist vice-president in negotiations to end the Ukraine crisis.It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disastrous first trip to the Trump White House in March and demanded he show Trump more “respect” – now Ukraine is once again resisting pressure from the US to cut a quick deal that local officials have described as a “capitulation”.After a tumultuous first year in office, foreign policy decisions in the White House are said to be shaped by a handful of Trump’s top advisers – including chief of staff Susie Wiles, rightwing adviser Stephen Miller, envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.Vance has been a vocal booster of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.Vance’s early efforts at hammering out a peace deal with Russia – while also seeking to renew relations with Moscow – were unsuccessful, and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. European officials, meanwhile, were angered by his early speeches in which he accused them of “running from their voters” – who Vance said had anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump’s own constituency.But the new peace deal published last week closely resembled his positions, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the deal in the administration while the US has been under fire for accepting a peace framework that largely resembles Vladimir Putin’s maximalist demands.In posts this weekend, Vance argued that a peace deal would have to produce a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be acceptable to both sides, and prevent the war from restarting.“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground,” Vance wrote. “There is a fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions, victory is at hand.”“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by smart people living in the real world.”It was also Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a phone call with Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his team with bringing a signature on the peace deal before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.That was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio, a more traditional hawk in the administration who has gone from a shaky stature inside the administration to more firm footing.Rubio was part of a US delegation that traveled to Geneva this weekend to meet with Ukrainian officials to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more acceptable to leaders in Kyiv.But his initial response to the deal was lukewarm: “Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas,” Rubio wrote over the weekend before the conference. “And achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.”In private, he was said to be much more doubtful of the plan. The Republican senator Mike Rounds said last week at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the deal was just a preliminary offer from the Russians and not an initiative pushed by the administration.“Rubio did make a phone call to us this afternoon and I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”Rubio moved quickly to fall in line. “The peace proposal was authored by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.” More

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      in Elections

      Trump hints support for fringe theory that Venezuela rigged 2020 election

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      Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to endorse the discredited conspiracy theory that Venezuela’s leadership controls electronic voting software worldwide and caused his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.White House officials have previously said that Trump’s increasingly bellicose policy toward Venezuela is driven by concerns about migration and the drug trade. But the president’s new comment, made on Truth Social, hints that his hostility to Venezuela may also be based on an outlandish, implausible theory ruled to be false by a judge in 2023.Fox News paid $787m in 2023 to Dominion Voting to settle a lawsuit that was based in part on identical claims about Venezuela’s supposed role in the 2020 election.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s remarks.Trump’s post came two days after the Guardian reported that Trump’s Department of Justice has been extensively interviewing conspiracists who are pushing the idea that Venezuela controls voting companies and flips votes to the candidates it favors.The US attorney in Puerto Rico, W Stephen Muldrow, has repeatedly interviewedthe former CIA officer Gary Berntsen and Venezuelan expatriate Martin Rodil, who claim to have proof of the scheme and the two have also briefed a taskforce out of Tampa. Berntsen, and author Ralph Pezzullo, were also guests on the podcast of far-right media personality Lara Logan on Friday.Trump on Sunday reposted the Logan podcast segment, and wrote:“We must focus all of our energy and might on ELECTION FRAUD!!”Trump did not specifically mention Venezuela, but the podcast was a rehash of the allegations and was built around a self published book called Stolen Elections, which recounts the theory.The post came as Trump has sent extensive military resources, including a navy aircraft carrier, to the region.On Monday the administration ramped up pressure, designating the Venezuelan-based so-called Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. In July the treasury department had already named it a “specially designated global terrorist”.An indictment filed in 2020 alleged that the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, heads the reputed organization.“Who knows what the process is inside the White House,” said David M Rowe, a political science professor at Kenyon College who specializes in national security. “If it captures Trump’s attention, my understanding is it is part of the process. Trump needs to find justification in his own mind for war.”Rowe said that narcoterrorism claims about Venezuela have not resonated with Trump’s America First base, which has been reluctant to support overseas intervention. “As a kind of casus belli, a reason for war, narcoterrorism looks extremely weak. An attack on the American electoral system is stronger. If he can argue to the Maga movement that they did intervene in the US political system, it’s a stronger case for war,” he said.Berntsen, the ex-CIA officer promoting the theory, was asked by the Guardian on Monday about the president’s apparent affirmation of his theory, and replied: “The President knows this is NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY, he knows the truth, evidence in possession of DOJ.”A Venezuelan opposition figure who supports strong action against Maduro but is dismissive of the election claims told the Guardian on condition of anonymity that proponents of the conspiracy theory are trying to take advantage of access to the administration. “I think there is someone inside the White House that these people have access to. They might be overselling this crap and there are people who refuse to let go of the 2020 election conspiracy bullshit.” More

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      Trump wants to revive the Rush Hour franchise. Is he eyeing a return to Hollywood?

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      It is said that by 328BC, having made empires kneel to him, Alexander the Great wept … for there were no more worlds to conquer.Similarly, having solved the Middle East and Ukraine issues with only a couple of technicalities to iron out and put an end to so many other wars as well, Donald Trump may also be tempted to sob at having run out of important tasks. And yet, just as he is about to kneel in anguish on the Oval Office carpet, he is apparently perking up at the thought of one more mighty challenge.He can revive the Rush Hour movie franchise!Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of Paramount Skydance – which, earlier this year, as Paramount Global, settled a lawsuit with Trump not dissimilar to the one he’s recently threatened the BBC with – has reportedly been leant on by the commander in chief to revive the affectionately remembered Rush Hour films – the knockabout buddy cop adventures starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan.A fourth Rush Hour film is reportedly a central part of Trump’s second-term project – a dream of reintroducing some old-fashioned masculinity into Hollywood culture and it would moreover create some employment for that unlovely Tinseltown hombre who directed the first three Rush Hour films – Brett Ratner.Ratner was accused of sexual assault in 2017, allegations which he denied. But, with privileged access, has now directed a $40m documentary about Melania Trump – the kind of film that can only be described as “soft-hitting”.Does the world really need or want Rush Hour 4? If it did, surely we would have it by now? Market forces in the brutally commercial Darwinian jungle of franchise cinema would have created Rush Hour 4. Or at the very least rebooted it for streaming TV with a younger cast and maybe David Harbour as the glowering police chief.The idea of the Rush Hour series is a quirky odd-couple pairing of two cops: Chris Tucker’s James Carter from the LAPD and Jackie Chan’s Yan Naing Lee from the Hong Kong Police Force. They both get to play “fish out of water” comedy – the water being each other’s culture – with some very broad and arguably problematic sexual comedy. And, of course, there are plenty of fights, with Tucker giving us some all-American punch-ups and Chan busting out some uproarious martial arts moves.It’s all very undemanding, stereotypical stuff and Donald absolutely loves it. Could it be that Rush Hour 4 will feature one of his wooden cameos, or something more? Or it could be that the president is – like Arnold Schwarzenegger – starting to envision a post-political return to the glamorous world of show business. Perhaps he will wish to produce as well as star.But there is another possibility. Recently, Trump played host to New York’s Democratic socialist mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani; the meeting that many thought could only end in the kind of tongue-lashing that the president notoriously gave Volodymyr Zelenskyy on their first encounter. But no. It was all smiles. A very unexpected bromance seemed to be in the offing. Could it be that Trump likes the idea of Rush Hour because it’s so … inclusive? A black guy and an Asian guy united under the American banner. Has Mamdani finally softened Trump’s worldview? If so, and if Rush Hour 4 is the result, well, it could have been worse. More

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      Many prominent Maga personalities on X are based outside US, new tool reveals

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      Many of the most influential personalities in the “Make America great again” (Maga) movement on X are based outside of the US, including Russia, Nigeria and India, a new transparency feature on the social media site has revealed.The new tool, called “about this account,” became available on Friday to users of the Elon Musk-owned platform. It allows anyone to see where an account is located, when it joined the platform, how often its username has been changed, and how the X app was downloaded.As soon as the update was rolled out, users found numerous Maga and rightwing influencers who presented themselves as patriotic Americans were operating from other countries.“This is easily one of the greatest days on this platform,” wrote liberal influencer Harry Sisson. “Seeing all of these MAGA accounts get exposed as foreign actors trying to destroy the United States is a complete vindication of Democrats, like myself and many on here, who have been warning about this.”The account MAGANationX, with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We The People”, is actually operated from eastern Europe, according to the Daily Beast. Another popular profile, IvankaNews, an Ivanka Trump fan account with around one million followers that frequently posts about illegal immigration, Islam and support for Trump, was revealed to be based in Nigeria.Another user also uncovered several additional cases. Dark Maga, a smaller account with roughly 15,000 followers, is run from Thailand. MAGA Scope, which has more than 51,000 followers, operates out of Nigeria, while MAGA Beacon is based in south Asia.Users on Reddit also joined the exposé effort, posting examples of accounts that appeared to misrepresent their origins. One Reddit user posted a screenshot of a woman who claimed to live in Texas but instead appeared to be located in Russia, though as of Sunday, the user named in the post appears to have a US location. Many in the comments posted other examples they found.Bots spreading misinformation and propaganda has been a long-running problem on Twitter, a problem that has been significantly exacerbated since Musk bought it in October 2022 and then renamed it X. Its AI chatbot, Grok, has also been found to frequently make and amplify false claims. More