Us politics

The old dog has announced. And he is in it to win it. After endless rumours about whether he will throw his hat into the ring for one last campaign, former vice president Joe Biden officially declared his presidential candidacy this morning with the customary video.  The supporters who have been chanting “Run Joe, Run!” for years will be pleased that the personable veep is giving it one last try before retiring from politics altogether. Others, like the loud progressive movement that is increasingly steering the Democratic party, are vowing to tank Biden’s nomination bid as a matter of principle. Justice Democrats, one of those progressive groups, blasted Joe Biden as if he were

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted, public report is nearly a week old, but the Democratic Party in Washington is still trying to figure out what to do. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and one of president Donald Trump’s most committed opponents in Congress, summed up the Democrats’ dilemma during a Sunday morning television interview. “I think what we are going to have to decide as a caucus is, what is the best thing for the country,” the California congressman said.  That’s politician-speak for “we have no clue what to do with this 448-page tome. We’re still knocking our heads together and looking into it. Ask us in a few

When little known California congressman Eric Swalwell announced his decision to seek the Democratic presidential nomination this month, the former county prosecutor became the 18th Democratic candidate to enter the race. There are so many Democrats running for president of the United States that it’s becoming tiresome to track them all. Most—like Swalwell, Maryland congressman John Delaney, Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, author Marianne Williamson, and businessman Andrew Yang—have about as much of a chance winning the Democratic party nomination as Huddersfield do of becoming Premier League champions. But improbability has never stopped the most narcissistic politician from believing he or she is qualified to run the most powerful country on the planet. Why should

President Trump seems to be enjoying his presidency, for a change. His Twitter feed betrays none of the nervousness of the tense weekend when Mueller submitted his findings to the attorney general, William Barr. Then, for an extraordinary and probably unprecedented 24 hours, Trump’s Twitter fell almost silent. Now he writes, joyously: ‘No Collusion – No Obstruction!’ Perhaps this is not just spin and Trump really believes he has been proven innocent and can cruise towards the Republican nomination in 2020 and on to a second term. Or can he? Mueller simply set out ‘facts’ on both sides of the question of whether the President had obstructed justice – when

Almost every day, somebody somewhere recycles the idea that President Donald J. Trump doesn’t want to be president. He never did, they say. His heart is not in it. He wants to protect his business empire first and foremost. He doesn’t like having to answer to Congress. You’ll have heard these arguments in one form or another. They all make sense, until you consider that there is almost zero evidence to support them. The truth is that, unless he is pulling the greatest con perpetuated against American democracy (not impossible), Trump is running again – and his campaign is deadly serious. In fact, in terms of organisational prowess, it may

Could Donald Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize? He would be following in the footsteps of his predecessor but unlike Barack Obama in 2009 his award could be for something significant: helping to bring an end to one of the world’s most intractable conflicts – the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.  It might sound implausible but Trump may have a better chance of delivering peace – or at least a non-belligerency agreement – than previous presidents, even if those chances do still remain low. Trump’s Middle East peace envoy (and ex-real estate lawyer) Jason Greenblatt, who I met recently, says that the Trump team will soon unveil their plan – the “deal of

REVERSE FERRET! When he edited the Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie used to throw open his office door and bellow this at the newsroom when the paper had got a story wrong. It came from the northern endurance sport of ferret-legging: a pair of razor-toothed ferrets are put down your trousers — no underwear allowed. The Sun would call the ferrets off some hapless public figure and go into full reverse without apology or explanation. If we in the media have spent the past two years getting the Trump-Russia story wrong, simply pulling a reverse ferret now would not be enough. There would have to be something more. But is a mea

If you follow the US president on Twitter, you might think that every day is Donald Day. But Sunday was a particularly good day for Trump After two years of special counsel Robert Mueller investigating possible collusion between Trump, his officials and the Russian government, the verdict was finally delivered: not guilty. The letter from attorney general William Barr to Congress explains “the special counsel did not find that any US person or Trump campaign official conspired or knowingly co-ordinated with Russia.” On the issue of obstructing justice, the evidence “was not sufficient”, and so the “special counsel therefore did not draw a conclusion.” In short, Donald Trump is a free

‘Sometimes you have to walk’, said Donald Trump this morning as talks between him and Kim Jong-un broke down. With no new summit planned, the prospects for a denuclearisation deal with North Korea are not good. Yet South Korea was still keen to look on the bright side: the two leaders had made “more meaningful progress than at any time prior”, a spokesperson for president Moon said. For all the criticism chucked at Trump, this progress (albeit limited) is worth remembering. At least he is trying, after all. But can the same be said for Europe? It’s certainly striking that while Trump and Kim were at the centre of festivities this week,

Donald Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-un in Hanoi is a diplomatic triumph for Pyongyang. For the second time in under a year, the North Korean leader gets to strut his stuff on the world stage. Kim Jong-un is able to stand next to President Trump as – in his imagination – an equal. The Americans, for their part, have had to come to the table and are going to (among other things) likely hear demands for them to reduce their military presence in and around Korea. No, it’s not dignified, but what else can the president do? Can anything come from these talks? Maybe. Both sides clearly want there to be some progress in the today.

Donald Trump takes no punches. He prides himself on being a counter-puncher, a person who won’t think twice about hitting an opponent in the teeth. It only took a few days for those who hoped the Oval Office and the nuclear button would smooth the edges of his boisterousness, combativeness, and unbounded egotism to learn that Trump wasn’t going to change his personality for the sake of high-powered, politically correct Washingtonians.   Halfway through his first term, however, Trump has learned the hard way how tough it is to enact a legislative agenda when you get on everyone’s bad side. Back in New York, when Trump was the dictator of