Politics

Who ever let a spot of rain get in the way of a good time? Donald Trump’s July 4 festivities were delayed by several hours due to the threat of thunderstorms. On the National Mall, Secret Service agents did their darnedest to urge some of the President’s more avid supporters toward shelter: in the Blacksonian, the Commerce Department, the IRS. Many were reluctant, despite the blackening skies and flashes of lightning in the distance. “It’s not a debate, keep moving,” agents said. Confusion filtered through the crowd as to whether the night’s celebrations were canceled or merely delayed. Attendees milled aimlessly around the Washington Monument grounds, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as “The metric system can’t measure freedom.

"You can do two things," Donald Trump told reporters as he stood beside the new retrofitted Air Force One on Wednesday. "You can low-key it, or you can show it." He always does the latter. The presidential plane is, as everyone knows, a $400 million present from Qatar. The famous light blue hull is gone. It is painted in Trump’s preferred color scheme – navy blue, red, gold stripes. The Air Force says it spent less than $400 million implementing "security upgrades." And the aircraft began active service this week and will be used by the President until the end of his second term at least. It’s hard to know if Americans really care about their Commander-in-Chief flying around in a jet given to him by a sheikh who didn’t need it.

Berlin is currently convulsed by a culture war – and one all too familiar in a country and capital which, nine decades after World War Two ended, can still never seem to escape the long shadow of its Nazi past. Just a few yards away from that bunker site stands another somber memorial to those evil days The German capital’s Housing Senator, Christian Gaebler, of the Social Democratic SPD party, has announced plans to demolish the last remnants of a bunker dug beneath Hitler’s long demolished Reich Chancellery building to make way for sorely needed modern apartments.

The latest Supreme Court term, which ended on Tuesday, surely must have been a deep disappointment for those who argue the court is in the thrall of political puppet masters. In decision after decision in the term that began October 6, the high court asserted a degree of institutional independence that undercuts the idea its jurists are merely politicians in judicial robes. At bottom, the issues before the court were characterized by Trump’s attempts to vastly expand presidential authority and efforts by states, political opponents and others to rein him in. In the end, the match was a draw.