In politics what should happen and what will happen are usually distinct questions. One involves questions of problem-solving and of morality. The other is an equation in which the variables are the self-interest of the actors involved. As regards Donald Trump, who after losing an election incited a mob to […]
Global
Trump is brewing a coup, and it’s no laughing matter
When you lose, it is good and healthy to know why. In the First World War, the conflict that defined our modern world, the Germans lost because of the overwhelming force assembled by their enemies on the Western Front. After the Americans entered the war, German defeat was a matter […]
Even if he wins, Biden will have to govern in Trump’s America
By Molly Ball The car horns blared as Joe Biden took the stage just before 1 a.m.—not to proclaim victory, but to urge his supporters not to lose hope, no matter what President Donald Trump might say. “We believe we are on track to win this election,” the former Vice President told […]
Is White America Really Ready to Reject Trump’s Fascism?
This election is about whether the majority of white Americans can do the right thing — for the first time in modern history By Umair Haque There’s a simple question that needs to be asked if you really want to make sense of the upcoming American election. Are American white […]
Why Trump and his clan must go
If US democracy is to survive, the removal of Trump and his enablers from office is not just desirable but essential. The contest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden for the US presidency is more than a clash of competing visions – it is a vote on whether American democracy […]
It’s time to dump Trump. America’s only hope is Joe Biden
Four years of deranged and unpredictable behaviour is proof that the current US president is uniquely unsuited to the job Donald Trump’s presidency has been a horror show that is ending with a pandemic that is out of control, an economic recession and deepening political polarisation. Mr Trump is the author of […]
If America were in Africa, U.S. diplomats would be ringing the alarm bells
By Reuben E. Brigety II In April 2013, when I was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, I accompanied former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Mayor of Atlanta Andrew Young to a meeting with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Then Secretary of State John Kerry had […]
White voters swept Trump to power in 2016. Now they’re the reason he’s going to lose
His biggest problem in his quest for reelection, if the best of the recent polls are to be believed, is a historic collapse in winning the support of the white voter By Michael Salfino It’s fair to say that no presidential candidate has gone in more for the white voter […]
Strongmen have taken advantage of covid-19 to erode democracy and human rights
People were hungry during lockdown. So Francis Zaake, a Ugandan member of parliament, bought some rice and sugar and had it delivered to his neediest constituents. For this charitable act, he was arrested. Mr Zaake is a member of the opposition, and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has ordered that only […]
US Africa policy needs a reset
Trump didn’t tear up the playbook, but it still needs to be rewritten By John Campbell Early in his administration, U.S. President Donald Trump seemed poised to make major changes to U.S. policy toward Africa. His signature “America first” approach was inherently skeptical of foreign involvement, especially in what he […]