Donald Trump, the US president-elect, was unequivocal about Fidel Castro in a statement yesterday. “The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.” I hate to agree […]
Donald Trump’s New York Times interview, dissected fully
Donald Trump was interviewed by a team of reporters from the New York Times yesterday. It was interesting for numerous reasons: one, the rocky relationship that had developed between Trump and the newspaper; two, the fact that they decided to print the interview absolutely verbatim, with no editorial content (which means we get a lot […]
The Right cannot be anti-business and yet expect business to stay onside forever
I’ve noticed a trend amongst a particular yet large section of the Right in Britain since Trump won. It is something that actually started after June 23rd came and went, but that the Trump victory has made a lot stronger. It is a triumphalism based on a set of perceived centre-right values that has not only changed since May […]
Why this stuff involving Farage and the American executive is so frightening
As everyone knows, Donald Trump met with Nigel Farage before Theresa May, or indeed, any other British politician of any kind. We know this for sure because the proof was in a photograph, taken in a gold plated lift, a demonstration of the trans-Atlantic kinship between the sort of/kind of headcheese of UKIP and the leader […]
Far from “taking back control” it feels like Britain’s fate is now in the hands of Donald Trump
Theresa May has given a speech today about how Britain needs to become a leader in global free trade. These are welcome words. But I really wonder how this will play out, particularly with the United States. Members of May’s government are trying to put a positive spin on Trump getting elected, citing Obama’s disinterest […]
No, Donald Trump is not a liberal or a centrist – unless those terms have lost all meaning
We’ve had many “unexpected” people try and claim that Donald Trump is actually one of their bunch, and further, has been all along. And the guy hasn’t even been president-elect for a week yet. Embarrassingly, both sides of the Labour Party have got in on the act. View Emily Thornberry and her “Jeremy is like […]
What I really think could happen in Syria now that Trump is US president
What Donald Trump said on the campaign trail in regards to foreign policy (actually, all policy areas for that matter) was mixed and often contradictory, so it is hard to know what he will and will not do as president. However, most of what he said on the Middle East was reasonably consistent (by his […]
This is the real reason Trump won the election
Most of the world remains stunned that Trump could have won the presidential election. Theories abound: some of the few pundits who were correct beforehand said Trump would win because of a key group of indicators; some said you could read it in the behaviour of the markets. But Trump winning conforms to a much simpler prediction […]
Trump wins. Now what?
I’ve never been less glad to be right about something than I have turned out to be about Trump winning. I, like many of you, are sitting here in a daze, shocked by another terrible election result (something that has become a very familiar feeling). But let’s try and take a deep breath and figure […]
Why I have this sinking feeling that Trump is going to win
Part of the notion that Donald Trump will come out ahead in the electoral college vote comes down to Brexit – I’ll admit that up front. The whole thing feels eerily like the EU referendum, and not just because of Trump’s love of all thing Brexity but rather due to the very similar things we’re all trying to […]