26 h. ago How Trump’s promise to slash energy bills in half has failed across the US

Guardian analysis shows electricity bills were up 6.7% last year, and much higher in some states, and gas bills up 5.2%Trump’s failed energy bill pledge leaves US households struggling: ‘It’s obscene’Donald Trump has comprehensively failed to meet a key election promise to slash Americans’ energy bills in half within the first year of his presidency, with power prices instead surging across the US.The average household electricity bill in the US was 6.7% more expensive in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to a Guardian analysis of data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Department of Energy’s statistical arm. The increases meant that, on average, US households paid nearly $116 more across 2025 than they did in 2024. Continue reading...

Politics

49 h. ago Donald Trump says he may put a tariff on ‘countries that don’t go along with Greenland’ – Europe live

US president further steps up threats after US special envoy to Greenland says Trump is ‘serious’ about his plans to control islandMeanwhile, Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto does not seem to be convinced about the merits of European military deployments to Greenland.Speaking to journalists, he wondered “what a hundred, two hundred, or three hundred soldiers of any nationality could do” in Greenland. “It sounds like the beginning of a joke.”“It’s not a competition to see who sends the military around the world.”“A part of me is not sure how much of this is a distraction, to try and take the attention of the American people away from some very real issues that we have in the United States right now.The cost of living is a real concern for Americans [and] Donald Trump got elected saying he was going to address the cost of living. Continue reading...

Politics

54 h. ago Trump’s Greenland threats do ‘real damage’ to alliances and benefit Putin, warns senior US senator

Jeanne Shaheen, the most senior Democrat on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said ‘millions of Americans are deeply concerned about the recent rhetoric of the United States taking over Greenland’US Democratic senator Shaheen also has this theory on why Trump turned his attention to Greenland:“A part of me is not sure how much of this is a distraction, to try and take the attention of the American people away from some very real issues that we have in the United States right now.The cost of living is a real concern for Americans [and] Donald Trump got elected saying he was going to address the cost of living. “I believe saner heads will prevail. I believe that because we have institutions that are acting in the United States, on both sides of the aisle in Congress, there is overwhelming support for our relationship for Nato and among the American people.“It’s not safe for Americans. It’s not safe for Danes and the only people who benefit from that sort of world are the au...

Events

3 d. ago Donald Trump says 'we shouldn't even have an election' in biggest hint yet he'll scrap midterms

The US President has been quietly floating the idea of axing this year's congressional election, which polls suggest will see his Republican party get a pummelling from voters

Politics

1 week ago María Corina Machado vows to return to Venezuela and rejects rule of Maduro’s deputy

Opposition leader says her movement is ready to win a fair election and praises Trump for toppling the presidentFrom elation to frustration: Trump snub wrongfoots Venezuela’s oppositionThe Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has vowed to return to the country as soon as possible and rejected the authority of the interim president backed – for now – by the US after it forcibly removed Nicolás Maduro from power.Machado told Fox News from an undisclosed location that her movement was ready to win a free election, and praised Donald Trump for toppling Maduro. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘I just hate corrupt politicians’: George Conway on his political evolution as he enters Democratic House primary

As George Conway launches his campaign for New York’s 12th Congressional District, he tells Andrew Feinberg about his motivations and explains his political evolution a decade after he celebrated Donald Trump’s first election victory

Politics

1 week ago Made in America by Edward Stourton review – why the ‘Trump doctrine’ is no aberration

From territorial overreach to deportations, the current president is not as much of an anomaly as he might seem‘Almost everyone is a little bit in love with the USA,” declares Edward Stourton in his introduction to Made in America. And why not? It is the land of razzle-dazzle and high ideals, of jazz music, Bogart and Bacall, Harriet Tubman and Hamilton, a nation that was anti-colonialist and pro-liberty from its conception, whose Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal”. Why, then, does this same country so often produce clown-show politics, racism at home and abroad, and imperial ambitions, latterly in Greenland and Canada? Why does it regularly show contempt for the world order it helped create? Why did it once again elect Donald Trump?These contradictions have kept an army of journalists, White House-watchers and soothsayers in business for generations. Alistair Cooke, perhaps the greatest British exponent of the genre, interpreted the country via the ...

Politics

2 w. ago Delcy Rodríguez strikes defiant tone but must walk tightrope as Venezuela’s interim leader

Technocrat must accommodate US demands while shoring up a regime that is hated by many VenezuelansUS attacks Venezuela – live updatesIn her first speech as Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez lambasted the US and pledged fealty to Nicolás Maduro. But the Trump administration has made a cold calculation: she will bow to Washington.Rodríguez is a political veteran who served as Maduro’s vice-president and oil minister and defended the regime against accusations of terrorism, drug-running and election-stealing, yet for now she is Donald Trump’s favoured option to lead Venezuela. “She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump said. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago From Donald Trump to Benjamin Netanyahu, let 2026 be a year of reckoning | Jonathan Freedland

These malign figures will do anything to avoid paying for the harm they have done, but accountability must eventually come to bothIt’s not quite a new year resolution, and it’s certainly not a prediction. Think of it instead as a hope or even a plea for the next 12 months. May the coming year see those leaders who have done so much damage to their own countries, and far beyond, at last be called to account. Let 2026 be a year of reckoning.Start with the man whose reach is longest, by dint of the mighty power he wields. Such is the nature of the US electoral system that Donald Trump, who returned to power less than a year ago, will face the judgment of voters in 10 months’ time. His name will not be on the ballot but, make no mistake, the midterm elections of 3 November will deliver a verdict on the second Trump presidency.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistGuardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US? On Wednesday 21 January 2026, join Jonathan Freedla...

Politics

2 w. ago Jack Smith labeled a ‘TYRANT!’ by MAGA commentator after former special prosecutor blames Trump for Jan 6 in testimony

Jack Smith said that there was ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ that Trump had sought to overturn the 2020 elections with the riot

Politics

2 w. ago China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s biggest electric car seller

Sales at Elon Musk’s company slump after Donald Trump’s withdrawal of EV subsidiesChina’s BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s largest electric carmaker in 2025, after the US company run by Elon Musk reported a slump in deliveries at the end of the year.BYD sold 2.26m battery electric cars during the year, easily outstripping the 1.63m deliveries reported on Friday by Tesla for the same period. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘They sowed chaos to no avail’: the lasting legacy of Elon Musk’s Doge

The billionaire – who had no government experience – left various federal agencies in disarray while overseeing an ‘efficiency’ drive across WashingtonAs Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, splurged more than $250m on Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, the US president commissioned his new ally to oversee a sweeping “efficiency” drive across the federal government.The Tesla and SpaceX boss, who had no experience inside government, was tasked with eradicating waste and cutting spending as part of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) – and was quick to stoke expectations. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Donald Trump may have 3 years left but half of Americans already thinking about 2028 election: poll

Both Donald Trump and Barack Obama were named on Americans’ 2028 candidate wishlists, yet the Constitution prohibits either from running for a third term

Politics

4 w. ago US justice department releases heavily redacted cache of Jeffrey Epstein files

Files that were viewable included images of Epstein socializing with Bill Clinton, as well as entertainers like Michael JacksonEpstein documents release – live updatesThe Department of Justice on Friday released a long-awaited and huge tranche of documents related to its investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a major development in the lengthy political saga that turned into one of the biggest setbacks Donald Trump has suffered since his re-election last year.While significant portions of the files are redacted, those that were viewable included images of Epstein socializing with Bill Clinton and former British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as well as entertainers like Michael Jackson, Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey. Continue reading...

Politics