37 h. ago The Republicans’ latest Clinton stunt will not work | Arwa Mahdawi

Focusing on the ex-president won’t distract Americans from the Trump administration’s foot-dragging on the Epstein filesI’ve got a sneaking suspicion that, somewhere in a makeshift situation room in Mar-a-Lago, there’s a whiteboard with “very high IQ strategies to distract everyone from Jeffrey Epstein” written on the top.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago The Trump dynasty could run and run – but will Ivanka, Barron or Kai take the crown? | Arwa Mahdawi

This week, Trump’s granddaughter announced she definitely doesn’t want to go into politics. Expect a run for office very soonLast week Kai Trump, Donald Trump Jr’s daughter and the president’s eldest grandchild, publicly declared she had no plans to run for office. The 18-year-old appeared on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast, where she stated that “politics is such a dangerous thing I think if both sides met in the middle, everyone would be so much more happier.” (Maybe tell that to your grandpa, kid.) “To be honest with you,” she said, “I stay out of politics completely I don’t want anything to do with politics.”Look, I know you’re still very young, Kai, so here’s a little advice from an old lady: maybe work just a teeny bit harder at keeping a safe distance from politics. It has not gone unobserved that the influencer and golfer has made a lot of content about life behind the scenes at the White House. She’s also launched an apparel collection, which she’s modelled on the White Hou...

Politics

5 d. ago Ford factory heckler suspended but has 'no regrets' after Trump yells 'f*** you' and gives him middle finger

Trump remains under pressure to release the Epstein files as the DOJ has offered up only 1 percent of the archive after a legal deadline issued by Congress.

Politics

5 d. ago Trump yells 'f*** you' and gives middle finger to heckler who hurled heinous slur

Trump remains under pressure to release the Epstein files as the DOJ has offered up only 1 percent of the archive after a legal deadline issued by Congress.

Politics

6 d. ago Newsom uses video of Trump gazing from a window to blast administration over Epstein Files in latest social media attack

‘PAM BONDI, RELEASE THE FILES!’ Newsom captioned the post

Politics

1 week ago Don’t dignify Trump with talk of a ‘new world order’ – there’s nothing new or ordered about this chaos | Aditya Chakrabortty

The US president’s grotesque theatrics on the world stage are an opportunistic distraction from his falling domestic ratingsOf all the commandments for living under Donald Trump, the first is always this: don’t believe him. Nothing he says can be taken at face value; everything should be fed into a polygraph. Those of scrupulous courtesy can wrap it up in red ribbon, or uncork that aphorism about how the man must be taken seriously but never literally. All the same, scratch a Trump promise and underneath will glint a pretext. Scrutinise his grand plans and you find only shabby tactics.The Manhattan Democrat turns into a Florida-dwelling Republican; the troll who demanded Barack Obama’s birth certificate will hem and haw over releasing the Epstein files. From real-estate deals to Trump University, all that this guy swears is solid gold soon settles into so much bullshit.Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Nicki Minaj’s Maga conversion is doing nothing for her career – or is it? | Arwa Mahdawi

The rapper’s recent cosying up to the Trump administration has upset a lot of her fans, but is she playing the long game?Starships are meant to fly, but Nicki Minaj’s musical career is now doing a Maga-propelled nosedive. For the past few months, the rapper and former gay icon has been horrifying many of her fans by cosying up to the Trump administration.In November, for example, Minaj shared a post by Donald Trump about the treatment of Christians in Nigeria and agreed to collaborate with the administration on awareness around the issue. Then, in December, the rapper made a surprise appearance at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest convention, where she heaped praise on the late Charlie Kirk (who once said Minaj was not a good role model for “18-year-old Black girls”) and the vice-president, JD Vance. She also accidentally called Vance an “assassin” while talking to Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, but was quickly forgiven for her word choice. “I love this woman,” Erika Kirk proclaimed aft...

Politics

1 week ago Elon Musk is moving back into politics. Can’t he take up a new hobby instead? Arwa Mahdawi

It didn’t go very well for him last time, but the tech billionaire seems to have abandoned his plans for a third party and has renewed his bromance with the president “You know, I’ve generally found that when I get involved in politics, it ends up badly,” Elon Musk mused on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast in November.Oh, we know, Elon, we most definitely know. The world is still reeling from the tech billionaire’s little experiment in politicking last year. Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) slashed federal jobs, dismantled foreign aid programmes and left a trail of chaos in its wake. It’s not clear whether any taxpayer money was saved, but experts are warning a lot of lives will be lost. By one calculation, there could be about 14 million excess deaths across the globe by 2030 if the US fails to restore aid funding. Thanks, Elon! Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Greta Thunberg came to stay – and my kid may have inadvertently helped her get arrested | Arwa Mahdawi

The activist had held a sign written with my daughter’s crayon. Try explaining that to a four-year-oldIt was 6am. London. A few days before Christmas. My four-year-old is singing at the top of her lungs and charging around my parents’ house on a hunt for the perfect crayon. There is nothing particularly unusual about this scene except for the fact that the crayon in question was for Greta Thunberg. The world’s most well-known activist needed a writing tool and my daughter, O, was on the case. (Remember this crayon: it’s going to be important later on.)O, I should note, had absolutely no idea who Greta was. We’re not longtime chums or anything like that. Rather Greta was in London to support the Palestine Action-linked hunger strikers. She needed somewhere to stay and my dad, who is a Palestinian refugee, and appreciative of anyone speaking up about the place where he was born but can’t return to live in, keeps an open house for activists who need a bed or a meal. When the visit had ...

Events

2 w. ago Tennessee actually just did something amazing for women | Arwa Mahdawi

The state has created the first registry in the US to track repeat domestic violence offendersLet’s say you’re going on a first date and you want to make sure the person you’re meeting up with isn’t a registered sex offender. If you live in the US, you can find this out very quickly: there’s a centralized website provided by the US Department of Justice that lets you search a name or location in seconds.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Eight Epstein survivors call for Trump to be impeached over handling of file release

After reading heavily-redacted documents which appear to break the law, the survivors of the convicted pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, are demanding accountability from the president

Politics

2 w. ago Trump’s DOJ is seeking hundreds of lawyers to sift through more than 5 million Epstein files before release: report

Department of Justice reportedly looking to draft in as many as 400 more legal experts to help with review of files it was required by law to release in full on December 19

Politics

2 w. ago US justice department reportedly reviewing more than 5m pages of Epstein files

Figure represents significant expansion on earlier estimates as effort draws resources away from other DoJ cases The US justice department is believed to be reviewing more than 5m pages of documents relating to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein – an effort that is drawing resources away from existing cases, according to the New York Times.The figure represents a significant expansion on earlier estimates, which drew on calculations based on 300 gigabytes of data, papers, videos, photographs and audio files held within FBI archives that relate to investigations in Florida and New York. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Redacting Andrew files ‘like removing Trump from Epstein documents’

Cabinet Office accused of cover-up after release of official papers referring to the King’s brother blocked

Politics

2 w. ago Trump’s ‘faithless’ Charlie Kirk eulogy, the Epstein files, and ‘sexualized’ Mar

Greene attacks Mar-a-Lago culture for overly sexualizing women and Trump for his reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death as rejection of MAGA becomes all-encompassing

Politics

3 w. ago The year in patriarchy: Taylor Swift, Trump 2.0 and the Epstein files | Arwa Mahdawi

The year 2025 saw a Swift engagement, a rapid rollback of rights and a slow release of the heavily redacted Epstein filesThe year 2025 would have been far better if we could have sent a few billionaires and world leaders into intergalactic exile. Instead, we had to make do with Katy Perry spending 11 minutes on the edge of space as part of Blue Origin’s all-female crewed mission. Perry promised us all that, in service of women’s empowerment, the crew would “put the ‘ass’ in astronaut” and “make space and science glam”. Truly, one giant leap for womankind!Space may have got glam, but it was another glum year for many on Earth. The war in Ukraine continued, with increasing numbers of women volunteering to fight. The civil war in Sudan raged on, with the UN urging the world not to ignore harrowing details of targeted sexual violence, torture, and abductions from the region. The slaughter in Sudan is so extreme that the blood can even be seen from space. Although I’m not sure the billio...

Politics

3 w. ago Republican behind Epstein files act responds to Trump ‘lowlife’ taunt

Kentucky’s Thomas Massie used the president’s insult to raise funds to run against a Trump-endorsed candidateA Kentucky congressman singled out by Donald Trump on Christmas as a “lowlife” after co-authoring a law requiring the federal government to release all of its Jeffrey Epstein files says the president attacked him for keeping a commitment to “help victims”.Thomas Massie then successfully sought donations for his run for another term in the 2026 midterm elections against an opponent that Trump – his fellow Republican – has already endorsed. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Gavin Newsom drops Christmas troll of Trump with video mocking Epstein files redactions

The governor rounded off a year of mocking the president by posting a video that showed pages and pages of redactions cut with old footage of Trump speaking with Epstein

Politics

3 w. ago Gavin Newsom drops Christmas troll of Trump with video mocking Epstein files redactions flub

The governor rounded off a year of mocking the president by posting a video that showed pages and pages of redactions cut with old footage of Trump speaking with Epstein

Politics

3 w. ago That dodgy 'suicide note', thousands of redactions and a 'tremendous backlash': Trump's frustration with the Epstein Files is clear... But one email could be the most damaging of all

Christmas, they say, is a time of giving and the Democrats owe Jeffrey Epstein a sackful of thank you letters

Politics