5 hours ago Nigel Farage proclaimed ‘Britain’s future PM’ at champagne fuelled Trump celebration party

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox and White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg were at the Hay Adams hotel opposite the White House as Brexiteer Brits hosted the biggest inauguration party in town and plotted a populist future with their US allies

Politics

18 hours ago 'Peter is positively purring with pleasure'. The inside secrets of the pampered lifestyle that awaits Lord Mandelson as our man in Washington, from liveried butlers to chauffeurs

When Peter Mandelson was asked if he was going to be made ambassador to Washington during the run-up to Christmas last year, he had a well-rehearsed reply.

Society

7 hours ago Steve Bannon mocks Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos as Trump ‘supplicants’ making an ‘official surrender’

Trump’s former White House strategist fires latest volley in MAGA civil war as he compares tech titans to Imperial Japan’s generals giving their unconditional surrender

Politics

10 hours ago From criminal sentencing to inauguration: Timeline of Trump’s dramatic return to White House

During the two months since Trump won the election, states and Congress have certified the results, a new Congress has convened, and the president-elect has been sentenced in his hush-money case

Events

8 hours ago Farage proclaimed ‘Britain’s future PM’ at champagne fuelled Trump celebration party

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox and White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg were at the Hay Adams hotel opposite the White House as Brexiteer Brits hosted the biggest inauguration party in town and plotted a populist right future with their US allies

Politics

10 hours ago Stressed about Trump’s return? You’re not alone. Therapists are inundated with people worried about Trump 2.0

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, Richard Hall speaks to therapists about how their (mostly liberal) clients are preparing for the chaos of a second term

Politics

10 hours ago Women’s March lives on as the People’s March – at a fraction of the size of 2017

Comparative quiet on Saturday in Washington contrasts sharply with white-knuckled fury of inaugural rallyEight years since its gargantuan first protests as a reaction to the incoming president being serially accused of sexual misconduct and misogyny and campaigning on restricting reproductive rights, the Women’s March on Saturday reprised in the nation’s capital before the return of that man to the White House – with, as in 2017, spin-off rallies taking place in various other US cities.Rebranded and reorganized, the protest was given a new name by organizers, the People’s March, as a means to broaden support, especially during a difficult and introspective time for progressive organizing after Donald Trump’s decisive win in November. Continue reading...

Politics

12 hours ago Who will tame Donald Trump this time? Roll up, roll up, for the White House travelling circus | Simon Tisdall

On the eve of his return, it’s clear that world leaders, whether they like him or loathe him, can’t ignore this unpredictable showmanMichelle Obama’s one-woman boycott of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on Monday requires no explanation. It’s plain that the former first lady has zero tolerance and even less love for a man who delights in racist and sexist behaviour. Lots of other people, especially among US allies in Europe, would boycott Trump, too, if they could. Yet, inescapably, they must deal with him for the next four years.Such fear and loathing is by no means universally shared. A poll, published last week by the European Council on Foreign Relations, found that in China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil, more people welcome Trump’s return than deplore it. In contrast, people in the UK, France, Germany and a clutch of other west European countries are frankly appalled at the prospect. Continue reading...

Politics

16 hours ago Trump launches meme coin ‘$TRUMP’ ahead of inauguration as internet questions 'is this real?'

Trump's coin drop days before he enters the White House has sparked excitement from the cryptocurrency world.

Politics

18 hours ago An American tragedy: how Biden paved the way for Trump’s White House return

To admirers, Biden will remain one of the most consequential one-term presidents in US history – to detractors, he was undone by a fatal flawHis back straight, his voice steady, Joe Biden stood at the US Capitol just days after a violent insurrection and declared: “Democracy has prevailed.” Fast forward three and a half years and America’s president cut a different, diminished figure. “We finally beat Medicare,” he muttered in confusion in Atlanta, Georgia.From the soaring hopes of inauguration day to that grim debate night against Donald Trump, the very public decline of the 46th president had the makings of an American tragedy that paved the way for the return of Trump to the White House. Continue reading...

Politics