Pugnacious speech invokes Trump’s ‘vanity projects’ to makeover Washington and the ‘brazen, blatant corruption’

Joe Biden called Donald Trump “a loser” in a pugnacious speech on Saturday that invoked his presidential successor’s attempted makeover of Washington DC to portray him as incompetent, corrupt and vain.

He delivered those remarks while giving the keynote address at a gala in Hanover, Maryland, hosted by the state’s Democratic party, which is hoping to help wrest control of Congress away from Trump and his Republican allies during November’s midterm elections.

Musical stars and retired politicians from less polarised era seeming antidote to cage fights on White House lawn

The Barack Obama presidential center opened in Chicago on Thursday after more than a decade in the making amid a musical fanfare and paeans to democratic principles that evoked a previous age, all while delivering an implied rebuke to Donald Trump.

Featuring appearances by a cast of musical stars and retired politicians from a less polarised era, it was a seemingly perfect antidote to the crass spectacle of cage fights on the White House lawn.

Former secretary of state says the winner of a genuine Democratic primary ‘would have beaten Donald Trump’

Joe Biden’s decision to seek a second term was “a terrible mistake” that cost Democrats the presidency and may have permanently damaged his legacy, Hillary Clinton has declared.

Speaking at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan on Monday, the former US secretary of state and 2016 Democratic nominee said Biden had reneged on a prior commitment to step aside – and that the betrayal of that promise proved catastrophic. “He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country,” she said.

Former first lady speaks about Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race at event for her new memoir

Jill Biden recalled the immense pressure that Joe Biden faced in the aftermath of his disastrous 2024 debate performance, saying he told her, “Jilly, I had no choice,” following his decision to drop out of the presidential race.

The former first lady made the comments during a Tuesday book event coinciding with the release of her new memoir, View from the East Wing. The event was held at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, and moderated by the comedian and co-host of The View, Whoopi Goldberg. Former president Biden was in attendance at the event and received two standing ovations from the crowd.

An USA-Deutungen ist kein Mangel zum 250. Geburtstag. Klaus Brinkbäumer schwingt die Faschismuskeule, Philipp Gassert setzt die „bipolare“ Nation auf die Couch. Doch nur ein Ansatz kommt dem Phänomen Trump auf die Spur.

The public is concerned. Fewer than half of US adults believe that Trump now possesses the mental acuity or physical health to be an effective president

American presidents don’t have a stellar record of transparency about their health problems.

After a polio diagnosis that caused paralysis of his lower body, Franklin Delano Roosevelt used a wheelchair to get around, but went to great lengths to conceal it from the public. John F Kennedy suffered debilitating back pain, but most Americans never had a clue, seeing only a vigorous and youthful politician.

In CBS interview set to air Sunday, former first lady says she was ‘frightened’ during husband’s debate with Trump

Jill Biden said she had been “frightened” as she watched Joe Biden’s faltering performance during his 2024 presidential debate, and thought her husband might have suffered a stroke.

“I was frightened, because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” the former first lady said in a 30-second clip of an interview with CBS, set to air on Sunday.

Der Präsident richtet einen Fonds ein, aus dem offenbar Teilnehmer des Angriffs auf das US-Parlament Geld erhalten sollen. Nicht nur Polizisten, die damals im Einsatz waren, sind entsetzt.

Der US-Präsident befindet sich auf Staatsbesuch in China – und Gastgeber Xi dürfte mit dem ersten Gipfeltag ziemlich zufrieden sein.

Seit Olaf Scholz vor knapp einem Jahr das Kanzleramt räumen musste, ist es eher still um ihn geworden. Aber jetzt ist er wieder da – zumindest für ein paar Tage in New York.

My country has been under occupation, dogged by corruption and war. Yet even I’ve been bewildered by the way the US seems to be fracturing

• A version of this piece appeared in the Dial under the headline No Common Ground

In 2008, when I was a reporter for a leading Ukrainian TV station, I insisted on following Barack Obama’s campaign for US president. Few Ukrainian media outlets could afford to send a journalist to travel around the US to report on the election; even the newsrooms of those that could took some convincing.

As a media student in 2004, I had spent two months on the streets of Kyiv during the Orange Revolution, where people protested a stolen election and succeeded in defending their vote. The excitement of the fight for freedom and justice, combined with the energy of mass gatherings, was seductive. I recognised a similar momentum in the US during Obama’s campaign and wanted to see how things felt on the ground. As a Ukrainian, I could relate to Obama’s promises to restore respect for human rights and the rule of law, and his desire to mobilise people around the idea of “hope”. It also stood in contrast with what I knew of the US: I had studied foreign news reporting at the time of the US invasion of Iraq and the military’s crimes in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo.

Autos, Chemie, Maschinenbau: Die einst so starke Industrie in der Bundesrepublik schrumpft.  Jobs verschwinden, mehr Firmen melden Insolvenz an. Lässt sich diese Entwicklung stoppen?

A New York congressional primary is exposing the gap between Democrats who want to fight Trump and Democrats who want to fight for something

The Democratic party seems more united than it has been in years, thanks to one man: Donald Trump. Opposition to his presidency has papered over what would otherwise be serious disagreements about economic policy, civil liberties, foreign affairs, and the role of corporate money in politics.

As long as Democrats can point to Trump as the common enemy, their coalition holds, and the ideological conflicts that once defined the party during the 2016 primary or the battles over the Gaza genocide during the Joe Biden years now feel like a thing of the past. But those divisions haven’t disappeared – and in New York’s 10th congressional district, they’re beginning to surface again.

Thousands in Chicago honored civil rights ‘champion’ who ‘stepped forward again and again’, Obama said

At the longtime civil rights activist’s memorial celebration on Friday, the Rev Jesse Jackson was remembered as a “champion” for the “poor and the dispossessed” – as well as “one of the most effective community and political organizers of our time”.

Such tributes came from past Democratic US presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, along with former vice-president Kamala Harris, who received cheers and applause while they joined thousands of others in a Chicago arena for a celebration of life for Jackson.

In a rare public address, former president said US is experiencing ‘dark days’ and urged Americans to vote

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Joe Biden has warned that his presidential successor, Donald Trump, will attempt to “steal” the midterm elections, in a rare public address.

Speaking in South Carolina, where he was being honored for his lifetime achievement in politics, Biden also asserted that the US is experiencing “dark days”, in a speech made hours before the Trump administration launched attacks on Iran.

The prime minister says defeating Reform UK is Labour’s overriding task. Yet by blocking Andy Burnham, he chose self-preservation over the coalition politics needed to win

Joe Biden repeatedly said that Donald Trump was an existential threat. Yet the former US president clung on to his party’s nomination when he ought to have allowed a better candidate to take on Mr Trump. What happened next is history. There is an uncomfortable parallel in Britain. Sir Keir Starmer insists that defeating Reform UK is the overriding priority. He warns of the “fight of our lives” against a party offering “racist” policies. But when faced with a choice between maximising Labour’s chances of beating a far-right insurgent and protecting his own position, he – like Mr Biden – chose the latter.

By blocking Andy Burnham from being selected as a Labour parliamentary candidate for an upcoming byelection in Manchester, where he is a popular mayor, Sir Keir has mistaken authority for control. In politics, this desire for control usually signals fear of one’s own side. Cowardice would be to avoid risk. This is where prime ministerial pride has overridden purpose and principles. If beating Reform UK really mattered above all else, Sir Keir would deploy his strongest political weapon in the form of Mr Burnham, even if it threatened his own position. Failing to do so doesn’t just weaken the message; it reveals that the message was never really believed.

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The 46th president largely exists as Trump’s foil, with his successor blaming him for the country’s woes

In bitter cold beneath the US Capitol dome, he walked to a marine helicopter and shared parting words with Donald Trump. Then, arriving at Joint Base Andrews, Joe Biden offered farewell remarks to his loyal staff. “We’re leaving office,” he said, “We’re not leaving the fight.”

But, one year later, Washington, and the world, have mostly moved on from the 46th president. Biden, 83, has been writing a lucrative memoir, planning a presidential library and fighting prostate cancer. He was once the most powerful man on the planet, but now Biden’s public appearances have been scarce and his influence has palpably diminished.

Der Streit ist vorbei: Nach Jahren politischer Drohungen bleibt Tiktok in den USA online. China behält den Algorithmus, Amerika bekommt mehr Kontrolle – und für US-Nutzer ändert sich wenig.

Donald Trump hat versprochen, die Stahlindustrie in Pennsylvania zurück zu alter Größe zu führen. Auch das sicherte ihm die Präsidentschaft. Noch aber warten die Menschen dort auf das Wunder.

Whether it’s the financial crash, the climate emergency or the breakdown of the international order, historian Adam Tooze has become the go-to guide to the radical new world we’ve entered

In late January 2025, 10 days after Donald Trump was sworn in for a second time as president of the United States, an economic conference in Brussels brought together several officials from the recently deposed Biden administration for a discussion about the global economy. In Washington, Trump and his wrecking crew were already busy razing every last brick of Joe Biden’s legacy, but in Brussels, the Democratic exiles put on a brave face. They summoned the comforting ghosts of white papers past, intoning old spells like “worker-centered trade policy” and “middle-out bottom-up economics”. They touted their late-term achievements. They even quoted poetry: “We did not go gently into that good night,” Katherine Tai, who served as Biden’s US trade representative, said from the stage. Tai proudly told the audience that before leaving office she and her team had worked hard to complete “a set of supply-chain-resiliency papers, a set of model negotiating texts, and a shipbuilding investigation”.

It was not until 70 minutes into the conversation that a discordant note was sounded, when Adam Tooze joined the panel remotely. Born in London, raised in West Germany, and living now in New York, where he teaches at Columbia, Tooze was for many years a successful but largely unknown academic. A decade ago he was recognised, when he was recognised at all, as an economic historian of Europe. Since 2018, however, when he published Crashed, his “contemporary history” of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, Tooze has become, in the words of Jonathan Derbyshire, his editor at the Financial Times, “a sort of platonic ideal of the universal intellectual”.