25 h. ago James Comey’s real ‘crime’? Daring to put the law before loyalty to Trump | Lawrence Douglas

The former FBI director prioritized fidelity to his office. The case against him is flimsy – but that’s cold comfortIn 1931, an exceptionally talented young Berlin attorney named Hans Litten summoned Adolf Hitler to testify in a criminal case. Litten represented four victims of a brutal assault perpetrated by members of Hitler’s Sturmabteilung, or SA, on a dance hall frequented by leftist workers; by the time the assault ended, three people were dead. At trial, the defense sought to portray the SA as a disciplined political organization, under orders from Hitler to use force only as self-defense.In his three-hour cross-examination of the head of the Nazi party, Litten managed what precious few dared to attempt. Hitler had expected the young lawyer to be intimidated; instead, Litten aggressively and skillfully dissected him under oath, reducing the supposedly gifted orator to a stammering rage. In trapping Hitler in contradictions and exposing him as an inveterate liar, Litten also m...

Politics

26 h. ago Do you know about shitposting? It’s cheap humour, rage bait – and now, it seems, US government policy | Robert Topinka

Donald Trump’s White House reveals a new ‘portrait’ of Joe Biden – and in his world, if you don’t laugh, the joke’s on youOn 24 September, a White House communications adviser posted a video on X of a new presidential Walk of Fame, captioned: “Wait for it”, with a pen and eyes emoji. The video pans over a succession of presidential portraits to reveal – in place of Joe Biden’s portrait – a framed photograph of an autopen signing his name. The sight-gag references the Maga conspiracy theory that, unbeknownst to “Sleepy Joe”, unscrupulous aides used the autopen to sign pardons in his name. The post delighted supporters and outraged critics, which only further delighted supporters.And that was precisely the point. This combination of cheap humour and rage bait is the province of the shitpost, a genre of low-effort social media content designed to amuse insiders and annoy outsiders. Like so much of internet culture, shitposting was pioneered on the message board 4chan – but Donald Trump...

Events

29 h. ago Fifa says Donald Trump can’t move World Cup matches despite threat to ‘left lunatic’ cities

President Trump said last week his administration would make sure cities were ‘safe’

Politics

30 h. ago There were two paths for America and Lilith Fair was one of them. Sadly it chose the other | Emma Brockes

The all-female tour was a counterpoint to the era’s misogyny. We could do with some of that promise todayThere’s an argument to be made that the first person in the US to spot the oncoming freight train of the Maga movement – fully 17 years before the first election of Trump – wasn’t a political forecaster or a bearded contrarian but the rock star Sheryl Crow. In 1999, Crow appeared at a press conference backstage at Lilith Fair, the all-women music festival, during which she was asked about a disastrous appearance she had recently made at Woodstock ‘99. This was the Woodstock reboot in upstate New York marred by violence, sexual assault and an angry male crowd that heckled the few female artists present with, “show us your tits.” Crowe, smiling bleakly, said, “I’m hoping it doesn’t represent our future as a nation or the youth of America.”Well, as they say: ha. Crow’s comments feature in Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a new documentary by Ally Pankiw on Disney+ and a mind-blowing...

Politics

32 h. ago Farage, Trump, Musk: your boy Javier Milei just took one hell of a beating. Why so quiet?

The wild politics and chainsaw made Argentina’s president an economic hero for the right. And now, with his nation’s finances in chaos: silenceSo you really want to know how Prime Minister Farage would pan out? Well, speculate no longer. An excellent test case is unfolding right now, in a country that just so happens to be run by one of Nigel’s heroes. Javier Milei is “amazing”, said the CEO of the private company he calls Reform. “Cutting and slashing doing all the things he’s done that’s leadership.”You may know some of this story, about how a political outsider took power in Argentina. You’ve seen photos of El Loco, the self-styled madman, in a black leather jacket, with sideburns like hedges and wielding a giant red chainsaw – all the better to slash the public sector with. Taking over Latin America’s second-largest country made Milei the poster boy of the international hard right. Elon Musk: “I love Javier Milei.” Kemi Badenoch: “Javier Milei is the template.” Donald Trump: “My...

Politics

32 h. ago Farage, Trump, Musk: your boy Javier Milei just took one hell of a beating. Why so quiet? | Aditya Chakrabortty

The wild politics and chainsaw made Argentina’s president an economic hero for the right. And now, with his nation’s finances in chaos: silenceSo you really want to know how Prime Minister Farage would pan out? Well, speculate no longer. An excellent test case is unfolding right now, in a country that just so happens to be run by one of Nigel’s heroes. Javier Milei is “amazing”, said the CEO of the private company he calls Reform. “Cutting and slashing doing all the things he’s done that’s leadership.”You may know some of this story, about how a political outsider took power in Argentina. You’ve seen photos of El Loco, the self-styled madman, in a black leather jacket, with sideburns like hedges and wielding a giant red chainsaw – all the better to slash the public sector with. Taking over Latin America’s second-largest country made Milei the poster boy of the international hard right. Elon Musk: “I love Javier Milei.” Kemi Badenoch: “Javier Milei is the template.” Donald Trump: “My...

Politics

33 h. ago American democracy might not survive another year – is Europe ready for that? | Alexander Hurst

Trapped between Putin and Trump, EU citizens understand the grave dangers facing the continent. Their leaders urgently need to face reality, tooFascism is supposed to look a certain way: black-clad, uniformed, synchronised and menacing. It is not supposed to look like an overweight president who can’t pronounce acetaminophen and who bumbles, for a full minute, about how he would have renovated the UN’s New York headquarters with marble floors, rather than a terrazzo. But as Umberto Eco remarked in his timeless essay on identifying the eternal nature of fascism: “Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism can come back under the most innocent of disguises.”Historians, scholars and even some insiders from the first Trump administration have seen through the comedic quality of the disguise. They appear to have seen in Donald Trump himself and those around him, Eco’s core criteria: the call to tradition and the rejection of reason, the fear of difference, the hostility towards disagreement, th...

Events

44 h. ago FIFA VP pushes back on Trump comments about moving World Cup games from 'dangerous' cities

U.S. President Donald Trump has been reminded that FIFA and not government ultimately decides which cities will host World Cup games

Politics

44 h. ago What do Trump and Hegseth’s inflammatory speeches to military generals signal? | Moira Donegan

The Trump administration evidently seeks to transform the US military into a partisan tool of the president’s regimeShortly after Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s defense secretary, summoned all the military’s generals to Quantico, Virginia, from their positions around the world in an unusual demand for an in-person assembly, Ben Hodges, a retired general, took to social media to evoke a bit of history. “July 1935,” Hodges said. “German generals were called to a surprise assembly in Berlin and informed that their previous oath to the Weiman constitution was void and that they would be required to swear a personal oath to the Führer. Most generals took the new oath to keep their positions.” Hegseth’s account replied to Hodges post: “Cool story, General”.Yet when the meeting finally happened on Tuesday morning, the army generals and navy admirals were treated to a 45-minute speech by Hegseth, followed by a rambling, hour-long address by Trump, which confirmed at least some of what Hodges ...

Events

45 h. ago Donald Trump will not move World Cup matches, says Fifa vice

Decision would be made by game’s governing bodyMontagliani: ‘It’s Fifa’s tournament and jurisdiction’Any decision to move matches from World Cup cities must be taken by Fifa, not Donald Trump, a vice-president of the organisation has said.Victor Montagliani, who is also the president of Concacaf, the confederation which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean, was speaking after the US president said this week he would move matches out of cities if he thought they could be “even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup”. He said San Francisco and Seattle were “run by radical left lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing”. Continue reading...

Politics

46 h. ago Tonight's rugby news as Wales star banned and BBC make big World Cup move

The latest rugby headlines from Wales and around the world

Events

48 h. ago Trump’s peace plan is everything Israelis dreamed of. But it’s a fantasy | Roy Schwartz

The president’s intervention promises a return to ‘normality’ – one that appeals to Israelis unconcerned with Gaza’s futureRoy Schwartz is a senior editor and op-ed contributor at HaaretzIt didn’t take long before the Gospel of Donald became a message that everyone in Israel could embrace. The 20-point plan to end the ongoing war in Gaza, presented on Monday by the US president, is everything the Israelis had dreamed of – even fantasised about. The hostages will finally return, some to their families, others to their graves. Hamas will be gone, at least as a ruling organisation, and the soldiers will come home. The “peace plan” will, supposedly, mean a return to normality.A brief read-through of the one-page plan might suggest that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his people were involved in phrasing it. At times, it reads more like a list of Israeli demands than diplomatic compromises. Perhaps that’s why Netanyahu gave it his blessing rather quickly, which seemed to...

Politics

48 h. ago Donald Trump told ‘FIFA makes those decisions’ amid World Cup cities uncertainty

The United States President spoke last week about the possibility of moving games away from cities he considered “dangerous”.

Politics

2 d. ago It’s the art of the dodgy deal, Middle East edition: author Donald Trump, updated by Jared Kushner | Marina Hyde

Does the Donald know that there’s a new master negotiator in town? Of course he does, he taught the apprentice everything he knowsAny dramatist seeking a character through whom to distil the sold-out madness of the present times could do a lot worse than President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Yesterday exposed Jared’s starring role in not one but two current deals. 1. History’s biggest-ever leveraged buyout, of video game giant Electronic Arts (EA), which Kushner’s firm is taking private and effectively into Saudi ownership. And 2. “Eternal peace in the Middle East”, as per what has been widely referred to as “the Kushner-Blair plan” for Gaza. Busy week for Jared! He’s popping up at so many seismic moments – just call him Forrest Trump.Quick refresher on our boy: he is married to Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and previously served as a senior adviser in his father-in-law’s first administration, taking the opportunity of Trump’s election loss/unfortunate insurrection-fostering...

Politics

3 d. ago Trump pressure tactics in Comey case ‘chilling’ – but they could backfire, experts say

Former prosecutors condemn ‘takeover of the DoJ’ but say chance of success could be tainted by president’s commentsDonald Trump’s public and private push to have ex-FBI director James Comey indicted on criminal charges is a strong sign of the US slipping into authoritarianism, but it could also taint the case’s chances of success because it is evidence of a selective and biased political prosecution, ex-prosecutors and scholars say.Trump’s retribution drive against an old foe he blames for legal and political problems notched a big win when Comey was indicted last week on two criminal counts in Virginia. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Ben Jennings on Trump, Netanyahu and the Nobel peace prize – cartoon

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Politics

4 d. ago The abortion pill is safe. But why should Trump let facts get in the way of his agenda? | Moira Donegan

RFK Jr is conducting a review of mifepristone, citing a deeply flawed study. The move could be devastating for womenRobert F Kennedy Jr’s health department is conducting a new review of mifepristone, the drug used in the majority of American abortions, claiming that a new study from a conservative thinktank has raised concerns about its safety.Mifepristone, which was approved by the FDA 25 years ago this month, has repeatedly been proven safe and effective for use terminating pregnancies in both multiple medical trials and in widespread patient use over the past quarter of a century. The report cited by Kennedy, meanwhile, comes from the Ethics and Public Policy Center – a group that applies “the Jewish and Christian traditions” to modern law and pushes back “against the extreme progressive agenda while building a consensus for conservatives” – and was not peer reviewed. The study has been heavily criticized by medical experts for its methodology and lack of transparency regarding h...

Politics

4 d. ago How the 2025 Ryder Cup was won: Three crucial moves Europe made to ensure victory

In the end, Luke Donald's men became the first away winners in the Ryder Cup since 2012, leaving Keegan Bradley to admit the victory was deserved and to heap praise on the leadership of Donald

Politics

5 d. ago Trump's comments on autism evoke anger and hope among autistic people and their families

Some mothers of autistic children say President Donald Trump was blaming moms when he suggested taking Tylenol while pregnant causes autism

Politics

5 d. ago Top Welsh doctor's message to women after Donald Trump paracetamol and autism comments

Medical experts have blasted Trump's claim that the US version of paracetamol, called Tylenol, causes autism, stating that paracetamol remains the safest painkiller available

Politics