World

Monday

Jacob Heilbrunn

What does JD Vance want?

With his selection of JD Vance as his running mate, Donald Trump has signaled that he doesn’t simply want to defeat Joe Biden. He also wants to crush the last vestiges of the Republican establishment. No other politician can help him carry out a Maga revolution in Washington more ruthlessly and effectively than Vance. Forget the pundits who predicted that Trump would take a more emollient approach. Forget the talk about trying to be a unifier. Forget the speculation about the assassination attempt changing him. Instead of doing what many conservatives have done in the past — waver, flinch, compromise — Trump is going all-in. There will be no Treaty

John Foreman

Nato has fudged support for Ukraine, again

On his flight back to London from Washington DC, Keir Starmer will have been satisfied with the outcomes of his first Nato summit. He will be concerned about the vigour of President Biden and the rhetoric of his presidential challenger. He and his European colleagues can do more to help assure the future of the trans-Atlantic alliance. The summit in Washington marked the 75th anniversary of the most durable and successful defensive alliance in history. The decade since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea has seen remarkable transformation in Nato, including the agreement of a new Strategic Concept at Madrid in 2022, which reaffirmed the purpose of the alliance, and the implementation of

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Trump the unifier?

Donald Trump has been revising his big convention speech in light of his brush with death at the weekend. ‘I basically had a speech that was an unbelievable rip-roarer,’ he told two interviewers yesterday. It was brutal – really good, really tough… I threw it out… I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is, and how corrupt and crooked, even if it’s true. Had this not happened, we had a speech that was pretty well set that was extremely tough. Now, we have a speech that is more unifying. He’s Donald Trump, not Mahatma Gandhi Trump the Unifier-in-Chief?

Duncan Gardham

How did security miss the Trump shooter?

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old shot dead by a secret service sniper following the attempt on former president Trump’s life at Butler, Pennsylvania, had donated $15 to ActBlue, a political action committee which raises money for Democratic causes. State voter records also show that Crooks was a registered Republican. Either way, it is too early to be certain of his motive. At a news conference on Sunday, FBI special agent Kevin Rojek said it was ‘surprising’ that the shooter was able to open fire What we do know is that since 9/11, domestic terror plots have outstripped the threat from al-Qaeda and Isis in the US, accounting for more than

Sam Leith Sam Leith

It wasn’t just Trump who dodged a bullet. It was all of us

Hard not to think that that’s the election in the bag for The Donald. Surviving an assassination attempt was always going to be a bounce in the polls, no question. Trump not only survived one but – improbably enough, given he’s a 78-year-old man and he was surrounded by a passel of burly, supposedly highly trained security guys whose only job was to put him on the deck and sit on his head till the fun was good and over – fought his way to his feet and had the presence of mind to raise a fist of defiance and shout ‘fight, fight, fight,’ to his supporters. I don’t think

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Evan Vucci’s Trump photo will define (and perhaps shape) history

History was made in Pennsylvania last night as much by the attempted assassination of Donald Trump as by Evan Vucci of the Associated Press. Vucci’s image shows a presidential candidate, blood from a bullet wound on his face, his fist raised defiantly, with the US flag behind him in the sky. Anyone in my line of work would have instantly recognised that this is a once-in-a-generation photograph – certain to becoming one of the defining images of American history. The best photographers tend to be lucky rather a lot Several bullets had been fired. More could have been forthcoming, but Vucci didn’t take cover. He was there in the thick

James Heale James Heale

Milwaukee reluctantly prepares for Trumpmania

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee will host America’s conservative elite for the next five days – including Donald Trump, who has just survived an assassination attempt. This true-blue city has been chosen to host the Republican National Convention, primarily because of it’s the largest city in swing state Wisconsin. Around 50,000 delegates, politicians, apparatchiks and journalists are arriving here for the formal coronation of Trump – much to the chagrin of many locals. The city voted 79 per cent for Biden in 2020, with Trump subsequently seeking to overturn thousands of votes. ‘I don’t want them here’ was the reaction of Fred Smith, 54, when he saw the giant Republican elephant, emblazoned

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

American politics has a history of violence

When there are acts of violence on a campaign trail, we often hear about how this is a commentary on our uniquely toxic, hyper-partisan times. You won’t have to go far to find people now seeking to blame Donald Trump for stirring up the forces that almost killed him last night. But running for president in the United States is – and always has been – a very risky business. Every major candidate is an assassination target, and is given security detail to reflect this obvious fact.  Let’s look at the history. In 1835, Richard Lawrence tried to shoot President Andrew Jackson. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John

James Heale James Heale

James Heale, Svitlana Morenets, Philip Hensher, Francis Beckett and Rupert Christiansen

38 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale analyses the state of the Conservative leadership race (1:09); Svitlana Morenets reports from the site of the Kyiv children’s hospital bombed this week (5:56); Philip Hensher examines the ‘Cool Queer Life’ of Thom Gunn (12:13); Francis Beckett reviews ‘The Assault on the State’ arguing in favour of bureaucracy (21:20); and, Rupert Christiansen reveals why he has fallen out of love with Wagner (27:05).  Presented by Patrick Gibbons.  

Gus Carter Gus Carter

A brief history of presidential assassinations

That image of Donald Trump, blood streaming down his face, fist raised in front of the banner of the republic, will be a defining photo of the 21st century. Someone attempted to kill the former and would-be president, they missed, and Trump survived. His response to his followers? ‘Fight’. We can expect to see him on stage at the Republican National Convention next week in Milwaukee, a bullet wound to his right ear clearly visible. How might America respond? The man who shot Reagan was obsessed with the actress Jodie Foster and the Robert De Nero film Taxi Driver There have been four successful assassinations of United States presidents –

Jacob Heilbrunn

Biden’s assassination statement is tepid

Trump displayed great presence of mind in raising his fist in defiance and shouting ‘fight’ as secret service agents sought to move him to safety. He now becomes a living martyr for the MAGA cause. Not since Theodore Roosevelt continued speaking for an hour after he was shot in October 1912 has an American president displayed similar toughness. The FBI has identified the suspected shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who the Washington Post says was registered Republican. Crooks was killed by secret service agents after firing multiple shots from outside the rally venue, on a rooftop several hundred yards from the podium. Crooks

Teresa Mull

What I saw at the Trump shooting

Butler, Pennsylvania The crowd had waited for hours in the heat for Trump to show up. When he did arrive, they cheered when he asked if they minded if he went off the teleprompter. He had just been turning his head to point to a graph showing how many fewer illegal deportations there were when he was in office. Many of them stood up, apparently fearlessly, and cheered as the president was ushered off stage Then there were some popping sounds that, from where I was far in the back, close to the exit, sounded like fireworks. A pause followed and Trump disappeared from view. The people around me were

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Today, we’re all MAGA

When Ronald Reagan was shot on 30 March 1981, his wound was not immediately noticed. It wasn’t until he started bleeding from the mouth that the car was diverted from the White House to the hospital. The story goes that upon arrival, the president said to the surgeons, ‘I just hope you’re Republicans.’ A doctor is said to have replied: ‘Today, Mr. President, we’re all Republicans.’ Americans have become increasingly fearful of political violence Let’s hope this anecdote is never debunked. It’s too good a story: about Americans who did not hesitate to put their country before the politics that so often plagues it. The attack on Reagan was the

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

France doesn’t have much to celebrate this Bastille Day

England play Spain tonight in Berlin in the final of the European Championships. Emmanuel Macron is a football fan so he may tune in. Then again, it might all be a little too painful for him. If football was in keeping with history it would be France in the final. It’s their day, after all, July 14, and no doubt Macron had kept the evening free in the hope of flying east to cheer on his boys. But there’ll be no jolly to Germany. Worse, England may be crowned champions of Europe. Oh Mon Dieu, non. Anyone but perfidious Albion. A week after the elections, the country is without a recognisable government

Saturday

Limor Simhony Philpott

Has Israel managed to kill the mastermind of October 7?

When an opportunity came today for Israel to take out the leading Hamas member and head of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif, it could not afford to pass it up. It’s unclear yet whether Deif was in fact killed in the strike, which took place near the city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. Deif is arguably the most elusive Hamas leader. He joined Hamas as a teenager shortly after the organisation was established in 1987, and was arrested by Israel and held for 16 months in 1989. He has since become one of the most powerful and influential figures in the terror organisation and played a pivotal role

Joanna Williams

Why is anti-Semitism such a problem at elite universities?

Whether it’s Harvard, Pennsylvania, Oxford or Cambridge, if there are large endowments and manicured lawns then, it seems, anti-Semitism is virulent. As the academic year comes to an end, we need to discuss the bigotry that has been unleashed at elite universities across Britain and America. The latest example to hit the headlines occurred at Columbia University this week. Three deans have been ‘removed’ for sending text messages containing anti-Semitic tropes in an incident that reveals much about the way elite anti-Semitism plays out in universities today. Anti-Semitism has been a growing issue at Columbia for some months. In December, Columbia’s president was invited but, citing scheduling conflicts, declined to appear

Daniel Rey

The Democrats should remove Joe Biden from office

In a sense, Democrats ought to be relieved. After his calamitous presidential debate, Joe Biden delivered one of his most embarrassing gaffes on Thursday, when he introduced Volodymyr Zelensky as ‘President Putin’, and called Kamala Harris ‘Vice President Trump’. These howlers – which could have been mistaken for hard-right disinformation – are incontrovertible evidence the Democrats need to remove Biden from the ticket. The President’s inner circle, which has stubbornly defended Biden’s health and argued that the debate was an anomaly, have no arguments left. Democrat donors and members of the party establishment are publicly and privately calling for Biden to give up the nomination.  Biden’s age and mental acuity

Friday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Eric Kaufmann on DEI, the contagion effect and free speech

49 min listen

The Spectator’s Freddy Gray sits down with author and professor of politics Eric Kaufmann. They discuss the dangers of DEI, why Eric blames the bleeding heart liberals for the woke contagion and why it is possible much worst than originally thought. You can also watch this episode on Spectator TV:

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Is the Russian murder machine ramping up?

Are we witnessing a new and more dangerous stage in the indirect war between Russia and the West? The news that Moscow’s agents may have been planning to assassinate European defence industrialists suggests they are escalating their covert operations abroad, which demands a quick and serious response. German and US intelligence sources are claiming that Russia’s intelligence services were planning to kill Armin Papperger, head of the German arms firm Rheinmetall, as the first in a number of targeted hits against senior figures in the European defence-industrial complex.  Even the Soviet regime, at the height of its paranoia, did not declare open season on all its critics Of course, there

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Joe Biden won’t quit over his ‘President Putin’ gaffe

As Biden gaffes go, I wouldn’t say that introducing the Ukrainian leader as ‘President Putin’ is particularly bad. Silly, awkward, absurd, yes – but for once Biden acknowledged his error and corrected himself: ‘President Putin? We’re gonna beat President Putin. President Zelensky. I’m so focused on beating Putin…. We’ve gotta worry about it. Anyway…’  The made-up-on-the-spot excuse showed a certain agility of mind. If anything, Biden’s ‘I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump’ remark later in the day was the more troubling slip: he just blustered on without realising that he’d muddled Kamala Harris with his chief domestic enemy. Still, Biden has been doing that sort of thing for some