Donald Trump’s penchant for dictator-chic is being well-nourished by a glitzy state welcome in China, though that’s likely to fall foul of North Korea and trade wars. This December/January look pretty explosive between Xi Jinping and DT; with a fast downhill slide through 2018. Today’s FT, sadly behind a paywall, has an … Read more
Trump and Brexit – the two great shocks of 2016 – are being seen as linked to a spider’s web of alliances between the Trump campaign, Steve Bannon, Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, Robert Mercer’s UK-based Cambridge Analytics of which Bannon was vice-president and Brexiteer Nigel Farage – with Russia hovering in the background. One … Read more
The Trump lash-back reflex appears to be misfiring spectacularly as he digs himself a crater-sized hole over presidential condolences to the families of soldiers killed in action. Following Roy Cohn, his mentor’s advice – ‘always be on the attack, counterpunch whenever punched and never apologize. Never, ever, ever apologize’ – he blames … Read more
How delicious as light relief. A wife and ex-wife fighting for the title of First Lady. Ivana Trump, mother of Ivanka, Donald Jnr and Eric, is pushing her new memoir Raising Trump and says she has a hot line into the White House and is really the important wife having been first … Read more
A banner year is what the US conservatives are hoping for from the Supreme Court as it reviews a batch of ideological cases on migrant rights in the legal system, partisan gerrymandering of election districts, voter purges, public-sector union financing, a cake maker’s objection to gay marriage, the privacy of cell-phone … Read more
Trump’s “asinine response to criticism” about what Puerto Rico locals claim is an insufficient response to the storm-ravaged island, tweeted from his luxury golf course in New Jersey, has created another a firestorm. Ten days after Hurricane Maria, most of Puerto Rico is still without power and many of its 3.4 million … Read more
Just as everyone sags back punch-drunk from seven months of Trump-mania, he stirs the cauldron and pours boiling oil over already inflammatory situations. His generals have clearly reckoned there’s little point in restraining his acid-rain twitter stream, but he runs the risk of tipping Kim Jong Un into a major miscalculation. What will … Read more
President Trump ordered an end to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation this week. He and Jeff Sessions, argued that those in the country illegally hurt native-born Americans by usurping their jobs and pushing down wages. And then handed the matter over to Congress … Read more
Taylor Swift having retrieved her reputation over the DJ groping court case has now brewed up a storm of agitated comment over her latest musical offering ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ that scored a record-breaking 28 million views in its first 24 hours. Described by one commentator as ‘an amazing tour de … Read more
Trump’s U-turn on Afghanistan, sending more troops into America’s longest running war, not only broke a campaign promise, it also threw a hand grenade into relations with Pakistan, which could provoke a blowback. He quite rightly called Pakistan out for playing to both sides by supporting NATO and at the same time … Read more