7 h. ago Trump is no 'strongman' when it comes to Russia or Israel. If other democracies don’t step up, anarchy awaits | Simon Tisdall

Putin and Netanyahu are creating chaos in the vacuum left by a weak US president. But there are still ways to foil themIt is too easy to blame Donald Trump for everything that goes wrong in the world. The ability of any US president to fundamentally change or control the behaviour of other major powers is frequently overestimated. Yet by posing as a sort of uncrowned global monarch and grand arbiter of war and peace, Trump perpetuates fantasies of US hegemony, omnipotence and divine right. Intoxicated by such ego-inflating delusions, he pledged before taking office to swiftly end the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts. Perhaps, in his vanity and hubris, he truly believed he could.Eight months on, the exact opposite is happening. Both crises are expanding and escalating. The bubble has burst, his bluff has been called, the emperor has no clothes – and there is no denying that Trump, by alternately appeasing, excusing and encouraging the two foremost villains of these twin tragedies, is great...

Politics

14 h. ago Memphis mayor says he got confirmation National Guard would be deployed from Trump's TV comments

The Memphis mayor says President Donald Trump’s TV announcement was the first hard confirmation he received that Trump would send in the National Guard to address crime

Politics

15 h. ago Leaked plans show Pentagon eyeing Louisiana to deploy national guard

Documents show intent to deploy 1,000 troops to conduct law enforcement operations in urban centersDonald Trump’s administration has drafted a proposal to deploy 1,000 Louisiana national guard troops to conduct law enforcement operations in the state’s urban centers, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing military planning documents it had obtained.Trump has made crime a major focus of his administration even as violent crime rates have fallen in many US cities. His crackdown on Democratic-led municipalities has fueled legal concerns and spurred protests, including a recent demonstration by several thousand people in Washington DC. Continue reading...

Politics

43 h. ago The US is on the brink of another era of political violence – and Donald Trump ‘couldn’t care less’ | Jonathan Freedland

In their humane responses to the killing of Charlie Kirk, Democrats are observing the old norms. Things are different now: anger and division ruleSign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading and moreThe killing of Charlie Kirk has left the US and those who care about it on edge. The arrest of a suspect, Tyler Robinson, has hardly settled the nerves, not when the revelation of any supposed political allegiances could touch off a fresh round of recriminations. The fear is that the country is about to descend into a new era of political violence, becoming a place where differences are settled not with words and argument but by guns and blood. After all, it has plumbed those depths before.The US was born in violence, fought a civil war less than a century after its founding and in living memory seemed to be on the brink of another one – with a spate of assassinations in the ...

Politics

48 h. ago Israel’s attack on Qatar proves Trump’s pledges of protection are worthless | Mohamad Bazzi

Deadly airstrike was Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest move to obstruct peace negotiations, threatening Qatar’s role as intermediaryWhen Donald Trump visited Qatar in May, he promised to defend the tiny, wealthy emirate and its rulers. “We are going to protect this country,” Trump declared on his state visit, where he was treated like royalty and honored in gilded palaces. “It’s a very special place, with a special royal family They are great people and they are going to be protected by the United States.”Over two decades, Qatar spent billions of dollars to upgrade the largest US military base in the Middle East and spent many more billions to buy US warplanes and other weapons. In May, as the president prepared to visit, the Qatari government donated a luxury Boeing jet, a “palace in the sky” valued at $400m, which is now being refitted so Trump can use it as Air Force One.Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New...

Politics

68 h. ago Charlie Kirk shooting latest: FBI shares photos of person of interest after recovering rifle where suspect fled

FBI says ‘high-powered bolt action rifle’ found in wooded area, adding suspect ‘blended in’ and appears to be of ‘college age’Full report: FBI says it found weapon as hunt for suspect continuesFar-right commentators echo Trump in calling for ‘vengeance’What we know so farA UK offshoot of a US conservative group set up by Charlie Kirk is to hold a vigil in London after he was shot dead, reports the PA news agency.Turning Point UK has said its activists will gather on Friday evening by the Montgomery statue in Whitehall and called on others to “join us in remembering Charlie”.It’s absolutely shocking, we’re heartbroken over here in the UK.My thoughts this evening are with the loved ones of Charlie Kirk.It is heartbreaking that a young family has been robbed of a father and a husband.Political violence has no place in our societies.Our thoughts and condolences are with his family.An atrocious murder, a deep wound for democracy and for those who believe in freedom.My condolences to his ...

Events

69 h. ago Charlie Kirk shooting latest: FBI recovers rifle believed to have been used to kill Trump ally as suspect still at large

FBI says ‘high-powered bolt action rifle’ found in wooded area, adding suspect ‘blended in’ and appears to be of ‘college age’; Trump to award Kirk Presidential Medal of FreedomPolice search for suspect amid condemnation of ‘targeted’ killingFar-right commentators echo Trump in calling for ‘vengeance’What we know so farA UK offshoot of a US conservative group set up by Charlie Kirk is to hold a vigil in London after he was shot dead, reports the PA news agency.Turning Point UK has said its activists will gather on Friday evening by the Montgomery statue in Whitehall and called on others to “join us in remembering Charlie”.It’s absolutely shocking, we’re heartbroken over here in the UK.My thoughts this evening are with the loved ones of Charlie Kirk.It is heartbreaking that a young family has been robbed of a father and a husband.Political violence has no place in our societies.Our thoughts and condolences are with his family.An atrocious murder, a deep wound for democracy and for th...

Events

2 d. ago How the Charlie Kirk shooting unfolded – in maps, videos and images

Conservative activist and Trump ally was shot dead at a Utah Valley University event on WednesdayCharlie Kirk shooting – latest updatesThe conservative American activist Charlie Kirk, a podcast commentator and influential ally of Donald Trump, was shot dead on Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University.The university is located in the city of Orem, about 40 miles south of the Utah state capital Salt Lake City. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago As the Epstein case shows, Trump’s Maga faithful care about only one kind of sex

E Jean Carroll won her case, but in Trumpland the only sex offences that matter are committed by paedophiles with links to DemocratsOn Monday, Donald Trump appeared in two, unrelated stories involving the sexual abuse of women. The first was a ruling by the US federal court of appeals, upholding an earlier judgment in which the president was found liable for $83.3m in damages for defaming the writer E Jean Carroll – a woman whom, it was ruled in civil court in 2023, had been sexually abused by Trump. On the same day, Trump’s alleged contribution to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s “birthday book” was shared by Democrats on social media in the form of a lewd drawing the president denied having made. The E Jean Carroll news caused no public inconvenience for Trump; the Epstein story went up like a mushroom cloud in what has become the most politically dangerous episode of his presidency.What, exactly, is the difference then between the sexual abuse of E Jean Carroll, for which ...

Politics

3 d. ago Trump or no Trump, Europe’s relationship with the US will never recover | Nathalie Tocci

Optimists cling to a faith in the old alliance, but the best we can achieve is an amicable divorceIs the transatlantic rupture temporary or structural? Is Donald Trump the cause of the rift, or is the US president only a symptom of underlying trends? Optimists latch on to the hope that the stability we have lost can be restored post-Trump. Having spent the past few days in Washington, I doubt it.Even in recent history, things were not quite so bad for the transatlantic relationship. The current tensions make the first Trump administration look like a walk in the park for Europeans. It is one thing to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump did in his first term. It is quite another to bomb Iran and give Israel the green light for its war against the regime.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Trump, MAGA commentators and political dignitaries offer prayers after Charlie Kirk shot in the neck at Utah event

Republican and Democratic politicians offered thoughts and prayers to Kirk and his family after the shooting

Politics

4 d. ago What is the truth about Trump and Epstein? The story keeps getting murkier ... | Arwa Mahdawi

Whatever happened between the pair, questions about their relationship are not going away. This enigma is ageing like raw milkYou have to keep this hush-hush, OK? I have top-secret information to share. You know Donald Trump has been reluctant to release the Epstein files? Well, it’s not because there’s anything nefarious going on. Trump may be an adjudicated sexual predator accused of sexual misconduct by at least 27 women (all of which he denies), who publicly boasted in 2002 about how his “terrific” pal Jeffrey Epstein liked women “on the younger side”, but you shouldn’t read too much into all that. Nor should you overanalyse a Wall Street Journal report claiming White House officials told Trump in May that his name appeared multiple times in the files. Or that House Democrats have now released a sexually suggestive letter and drawing sent to Epstein in 2003 for his birthday that appears to show Trump’s signature, the same note the president has denied writing. Nor should you wor...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump apparently thinks domestic violence is not a crime. That makes sense | Moira Donegan

Trump’s view of the prerogatives of husbands towards their wives mirror his own sense of his entitlements as president towards his abused countrySpeaking at a Christian museum on Monday, Donald Trump claimed, falsely, that his deployment of national guard troops to invade the nation’s capital has eliminated crime in Washington. He complained, however, that domestic violence was being counted in the crime statistics, which he claimed meant that the influence of his policy was not being seen as significant enough. “They said, ‘Crime’s down 87%,’” the president claimed, not explaining who “they” were. “I said, no, no, no. It’s more than 87%, virtually nothing. And much lesser things, things that take place in the home they call crime. You know, they’ll do anything they can to find something. If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime. See? So now I can’t claim 100%, but we are. We are a safe city.”If Trump wanted to endorse domestic violence decriminalization,...

Events

6 d. ago Donald Trump’s ‘Department of War’ will just deliver bloodshed and destruction | Judith Levine

The agency celebrates the US and the president as aggressor, conqueror and unrestrained international lawbreakerOn Friday, Donald Trump signed an executive order restoring the Department of Defense to its original name, the Department of War.That name “had a stronger sound”, Trump told reporters in August. “As Department of War we won everything,” he added, “and I think we’re going to have to go back to that.” In June, at the Nato summit, he called Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, his “secretary of war”.Judith Levine is a Brooklyn journalist and essayist, a contributing writer to the Intercept and the author of five books Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Need I list all the reasons why Trump shouldn’t get a Nobel peace prize? | Sidney Blumenthal

Trump has been an enabler of war, famine, disease and deathDonald Trump’s thuggish campaign to bully his way to the Nobel peace prize should not be the cause for the committee to reject him. There are many more substantial grounds that render him patently unqualified to receive the award.Among the numerous reasons that make him one of the least deserving people in the world who should be honored, he has single-handedly destroyed the United States Agency for International Development, which has saved hundreds of millions of people from hunger and disease, and promoted democracy and the rule of law around the world. In an executive order issued on his inauguration day, 20 January, Trump slandered USAID as “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and claimed that its workers “serve to destabilize world peace”.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume p...

Politics

6 d. ago Work absences due to National Guard, military deployments and other duties are at a 19

There have been at least 90,000 instances of military or civic duty-related work absences in 2025

Events

7 d. ago One by one, leaders learn that grovelling to Trump leads to disaster. When will it dawn on Starmer? | Simon Tisdall

As the US president’s state visit looms, he’s leaving a trail of broken promises across the globe. Britain can’t afford to look like a lackey stateSign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading and moreSucking up to Donald Trump never works for long. Narendra Modi is the latest world leader to learn this lesson the hard way. Wooing his “true friend” in the White House, India’s authoritarian prime minister thought he’d conquered Trump’s inconstant heart. The two men hit peak pals in 2019, holding hands at a “Howdy Modi” rally in Texas. But it’s all gone pear-shaped thanks to Trump’s tariffs and dalliance with Pakistan. Like a jilted lover on the rebound, Modi shamelessly threw himself at Vladimir Putin in China last week. Don and Narendra! It’s over! Although, to be honest, it always felt a little shallow.Other suitors for Trump’s slippery hand have suffered similar heartbr...

Politics

7 d. ago Mexican festivals in Chicago canceled amid Trump plans to deploy troops

City and suburbs pull local events tied to Mexican Independence Day on 16 SeptemberDonald Trump’s plan to deploy national guard troops and federal immigration agents to Chicago is already having an impact on the city’s Mexican community.Organizers have canceled several local events tied to Mexican Independence Day, which occurs on 16 September. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Melania Trump is right that the robots are here – but she’s wrong on how to handle it | Arwa Mahdawi

The first lady has taken it upon herself to help children navigate AI. If she really wants to help, then she should ask her husband to stop gutting public education“The robots are here,” proclaimed Melania Trump during an AI event at the White House on Thursday. It can be hard to parse the first lady’s poker face and expressionless voice, but this certainly wasn’t a statement of regret. Rather Trump, reading from a script encased in a very analogue binder, was taking it upon herself to help America’s children navigate AI, which she touted as the “greatest engine of progress in the history of the United States of America”. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Yvette Cooper: the Labour stalwart tasked with boosting Britain’s global standing

New foreign secretary faces challenges from Ukraine to Gaza — and her unflattering comments on Donald Trump

Events