5 d. ago The Guardian view on Trump and children: protect the innocent from this dark vision of the US soul | Editorial

Republicans say they want more babies, but seek to strip away healthcare and food support, undermine migrant families and remove labour protections for the young“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children,” Nelson Mandela observed 30 years ago. Though the ugly heart of the Trump administration has hardly been hidden, there is an especially grotesque contrast between its vaunted family values and its treatment of the young.On the campaign trail, Donald Trump declared: “I want a baby boom.” JD Vance, his vice-president, says he wants “more happy children in our country”. Maga pro-natalists are pushing incentives for families to have more children. Continue reading...

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8 d. ago The Guardian view on Trump’s tariffs: the courts have drawn a line. So must Congress | Editorial

The worst of all outcomes would be for US legislators to agree to strengthen the president’s executive powersIf one thing is more challenging to the rule of law than a genuine emergency, it is the invention of a phoney one. Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has upended global trade and international relations, wiping billions off the stock market in the process, by imposing tariffs that he claims are a necessary response to an emergency. Yet that emergency does not really exist, except in the manner that Mr Trump himself has created it.The president claimed, on 2 April, that a lack of reciprocity in US overseas trade arrangements was “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States”. He claimed that this justified him in declaring an emergency and governing by executive decree under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Congress, which normally has the responsibility to decide U...

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2 w. ago The Guardian view on the US and South Africa: Trump looks to his base and partners look elsewhere | Editorial

The president’s cynical ambush of Cyril Ramaphosa was not about American interests but racial grievancesThe most telling moment of Donald Trump’s meeting with Cyril Ramaphosa was not the cynical screening of footage promoting false claims of “white genocide” in South Africa. It was when a reporter asked the US president what he wanted his counterpart to do about it. Mr Trump replied: “I don’t know.”Leaders enter the Oval Office uneasily, especially since the kicking administered to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The South African president came armed with gratitude, two golf stars, a billionaire and compliments on the decor – and kept a cool head and a straight face as he was ambushed. Mr Ramaphosa later described it as “robust engagement”. But, in truth, it was a clash of two worlds rather than an interaction.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, ...

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3 w. ago The Guardian view on Trump’s conflicts of interest: the shadow of kleptocracy | Editorial

The dissolution of boundaries between the president’s official and commercial business is a leading symptom of democracy in crisisDonald Trump’s tour of Gulf nations this week is notionally state business. The president has discussed trade, investment and defence. But the boundary between statecraft and self-aggrandisement is blurred. To honour the US president, the government of Qatar has  offered him a Boeing 747 aircraft. This “flying palace”, worth around $400m, would serve as a substitute for Air Force One as Mr Trump’s personal jumbo.The US constitution explicitly forbids anyone holding a government office from accepting any “present, emolument, office or title” from foreign powers without congressional consent. White House lawyers, obedient to their master, say the Qatari jet doesn’t cross that line. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago The Guardian view on Trump’s leftward lurch: the ‘lunatics’ are running the right | Editorial

The White House says it is borrowing from Bernie Sanders and adopts rhetoric once dismissed as dangerous to lift its flagging poll ratingsIt’s striking to see Donald Trump, who built his re-election campaign around attacking the “radical left”, now borrowing some of its economic policies. In just months, he has shifted from denouncing “communist” price controls to saying he would implement them, and from defending tax breaks for the wealthy to proposing tax increases on those earning more than $2.5m a year if it benefits poorer Americans. These moves echo longstanding proposals from progressives like Bernie Sanders – despite Mr Trump’s past efforts to portray such ideas as “lunatic”. The irony is hard to miss.Consider recent policy announcements that mirror a liberal-left agenda. Capping credit card interest rates was a Sanders campaign promise before it was a Trump one. And it may happen – courtesy of an unlikely alliance between Mr Sanders and the Republican senator Josh Hawl...

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3 w. ago The Guardian view on Israel and Gaza: Trump can stop this horror. The alternative is unthinkable | Editorial

The US president has the leverage to force through a ceasefire. If he does not, he will implicitly signal approval of what looks like a plan of total destructionDonald Trump would like a big foreign policy win as he embarks on his tour of the Middle East this week. He could secure one – and save lives – by demanding that Israel agree to a lasting ceasefire in exchange for the release of all hostages held in Gaza. He might prefer to avoid the issue, but no other leader has the leverage to force its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to end this war. If Mr Trump instead backs Israel’s current proposals, he will put the US imprimatur on what looks like a plan of total destruction.Israel’s attacks have already killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, according to local health authorities – the vast majority of them civilians, many of them children. Bakeries, hospitals and schools have been obliterated. Aid has been blocked for two months. Gaza faces famine. Last week, Isr...

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4 w. ago The Guardian view on the impact of Trump’s film tariffs: a disaster movie waiting to happen | Editorial

The US president’s proposed levies will badly hit the UK industry just as it is recovering from a series of blowsBarbieland, the Emerald City and a galaxy far, far away were all built – at least in part – at film studios just outside London. Now the UK film industry has come crashing down to earth with Donald Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on all movies “produced in foreign lands”. “Hollywood is being destroyed,” Mr Trump announced, like an action hero on a mission. “Other nations have stolen our movie industry.” In the UK the news was met with warnings that the British film sector would be “wiped out” by such a “knock-out blow”. Brian Cox, the Succession star, called the proposed tariffs “an absolute disaster”. Roll the opening credits.Mr Trump has a point. New instalments of Marvel’s Avengers and Spider-Man are filming around London this summer. No wonder the president wants “MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” The UK’s generous tax incentives, skills base and state-of-the-art ...

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