#us-politics

#us-politics

The year began with the art world-like much of the rest of the world-holding its breath, waiting to see what America's newly re-elected president, Donald J. Trump, had on his Washington to-do list. Meanwhile, on America's other coast, a series of wildfires in and around Los Angeles burned up around 60,000 acres, killing hundreds of people, displacing thousands more, and consuming architectural landmarks as well as untold works of art.

Now it's President Trump who's trying to persuade the public that the state of the economy is sound, after prices rose 3% in the 12 months ending in September and with consumers spending less on big-ticket items. Betsey Stevenson, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, says making that argument could be a tall order in the face of rising costs for a number of goods and services.

Kamala Harris lost last year's US presidential election because she chased the wrong voters with the wrong message, ultimately demobilising the very base that she needed to win, according to an autopsy by a progressive grassroots advocacy group. The vice-president focused on courting moderate Republicans over motivating core Democratic working-class, young and progressive voters, a misstep compounded by her failure to break from Joe Biden on Gaza, says the report by RootsAction.

🏒 The gay hockey romance Heated Rivalry has been a massive hit, and the show has fans taking a closer look at the NHL -- the only major North American men's sports league with no current or former out gay players. Mey Rude explores whether that might change soon. Speaking of professional sports, the World Cup is coming to the U.S. this summer, and this week we learned that the Seattle-based game designated locally as the "Pride Match" will feature two countries where being gay is illegal.

US officials debate who to blame for the military killing of shipwrecked alleged drug smugglers; Democrats celebrate despite losing a special election in Tennessee; and the future of self-driving cars. If you can't access your feeds, please contact customer support. Set up manually: How does this work? We are showing you options for a computer but if you're on a phone or tablet

The former Honduran president was found guilty of taking bribes from drug traffickers to enable the movement of some 400 tons of cocaine to the US through Honduras. It took place as Hernandez portrayed himself as an ally to US authorities in the fight against drug trafficking. Trump's pardon of Hernandez drew criticism, coming at a time when his administration has vowed to intensify efforts against drug trafficking in the region, while threatening Venezuela and accusing President Nicolas Maduro of running a narcotrafficking cartel.

At a Thanksgiving gathering with voters, another candidate in the same race fielded questions about affordability but also about moral leadership when it came to Israel's war in Gaza. A third candidate vying for the same seat devoted much of his campaign's launch video to lambasting the current member of Congress representing the district over the funding he's received from the pro-Israel lobby.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a longtime Trump ally who recently split with the president, made headlines last week by announcing her plans to resign in January. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a Trump critic, told Axios he nearly resigned over the Trump administration's 28-point peace plan for the Russia-Ukraine war. "I have made the decision, after conversations with my beautiful bride and my girls over the Thanksgiving holiday, to focus on my family and return home after this Congress," Nehls said in a statement.

Many of us libbed out so hard this past week with the New York City mayoral victory of Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, as well as huge wins for statewide races in Virginia and New Jersey. It's so exciting!! Turns out having a plan for things to suck shit less is a winning position. Who'd have thought, besides literally every young person? Even Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who declined to endorse Mamdani throughout the race, eventually had to snivel through a congratulatory post.

He tells me the following, and this is a quote: The retirement of Nancy Pelosi is a great thing for America. She was evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country. She was rapidly losing control of her party, and it was never coming back. I'm very honored she impeached me twice and failed miserably twice. Nancy Pelosi is a highly overrated politician.

His political career also included stints as defense secretary, a White House chief of staff and a Wyoming congressman.

Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria, Trump wrote on Friday. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN' But that is the least of it. When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done!

Millions of Americans yearn for 7 November 2028, the scheduled date of the next presidential election. That's the day the Trump era effectively ends. Probably. That's the day the Democrats will atone for Kamala Harris's calamitous 2024 failure. Possibly. That's the day US democracy is reborn. Hopefully. Succession talk is tantalising Washington. Gavin Newsom, California's governor, has given the clearest sign yet that he'll run and glossing over past blunders, Harris reckons she deserves a second chance.

From 1988-1992, Yale grad and oil company founder George H.W. Bush was commander-in-chief; not only did Bush. Sr. improbably make vocal his belief that global warming ("The Greenhouse Effect") was real, but promised to employ "the White House effect" to counter it. Which included appointing as EPA chief Bill Reilly, an avid conservationist and veteran of Nixon's Presidential Council on Environmental Quality and the World Wildlife Fund.

It's beneath [Graham] to say what he just said. He knows, as well as I do, there is no legal authorization for these strikes. There isn't, Himes started off by saying. He continued: If Lindsey Graham and other Republicans want to go the route of saying it's okay to kill people illegally, just so long as the American public supports it,' the American public needs to really think that through, you know? There will be a Democratic president someday.

United States President Donald Trump threatened to change FIFA World Cup 2026 host cities if concerned by safety. Organisers of the 2026 FIFA World Cup have dismissed concerns that United States President Donald Trump could move matches from cities he does not deem safe. Republican President Trump said last month that he would consider moving games from Democrat-led San Francisco and Seattle if they did not cooperate with his immigration and crime initiatives.

An aerial view of al-Mawasi area, where thousands of displaced Palestinians live in makeshift tents by the sea Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images A Palestinian woman cleans an area next to tents in Gaza City Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters President Donald Trump inside Marine One, arriving back at the White House after participating in a world leaders' summit in Egypt Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/Reuters

It's good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan the Biden Administration developed after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. (6/12) It starts with a clear and comprehensive post conflict plan for Gaza. It's good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan the Biden Administration developed after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It centers on

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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

Here in DC, the Trump administration rails against the radical left while others call for calm The sound in a newsroom changes from a low, busy hum to a loud, intense clamour when big stories break. On Wednesday afternoon, when the first indications that Charlie Kirk had been shot while addressing a student gathering in Utah started pinging online, that volume switch was flicked.

For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals,

The scramble began in November as news broke that Donald Trump had been re-elected. Benjamin and Chrys Gorman had long said they would leave the US before seeing Trump inaugurated again, giving them exactly 76 days to sell their home, cars and most of their belongings and move four people, three dogs and two cats to Barcelona. I was saying: we've got more time than that, it won't go that fast, said Gorman.

In an evening social media post about a supremely partisan battle that could reshape American political power for generations, President Trump sounded ebullient. "Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!! Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself," Trump wrote, of the nation's most populous red state pushing a mid-decade redistricting plan designed to win more Republican seats in Congress and protect Trump's power through the 2026 midterms. "Texas never lets us down. Florida, Indiana, and others are looking to do the same thing," Trump wrote - nodding to a potential proliferation of such efforts across the country.

Tether is the most captivating story you've never heard of. A first mover in the stablecoin space, Tether's flagship product has grown to a monster $167 billion in market cap with just around 200 employees and $13 billion in profits last year, making it one of the most successful corporations on the planet. (And it was cofounded by a Mighty Duck, but that's a story for another time.)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Putin said Trump is brilliant. Now I don't know if he means it, if he doesn't mean it. I don't care. I like it, OK?