England’s ‘Mini-Trump’ isn’t gone yet — and will leave his successor a ‘poisoned chalice’
Great Britain’s Mini-Trump has left the stage. Except he hasn’t, not quite yet. The UK’s political melodrama has potentially still a few months to run, as Boris Johnson clings to office even as he struggles to fill all the vacant ministerial posts and everyone around him jockeys for the succession. In a number of ways, Johnson has followed the playbook of America’s 45th President. Both men’s reliance on bombast, wilful disregard of the rules and an inability to tell fac
Read MoreUS ambassador: Japanese in 'disbelief' over Shinzo Abe assassination
Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said on Sunday that the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was a “shock to the system.” “It hasn't been totally absorbed into the society or the politics,” Emanuel told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “People are walking around with a sense of disbelief.” Abe, who was assassinated on Friday during a campaign event in the western city of Nara, was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. He gained a reputation
Read MoreThe Supreme Court’s impact on the midterms and American democracy
The Supreme Court has just concluded what will most likely be remembered as one of the most consequential terms in modern history. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority delivered major victories for the right’s agenda — on abortion, guns, and environmental regulations — that were in many ways at odds with the American public’s own views. Even so, the court’s term will likely have a negligible political impact on the midterms, given Democrats’ own messaging failures generally and on these issues specifically. In a decision that sent a shockwave through the c
Read MoreOf RINOs, DINOs and the zombie ant apocalypse
Missouri GOP Senate candidate Eric Greitens’s martial “RINO-hunting” campaign ad, in which he invites the listener to join the MAGA crew and get a RINO-hunting license (with no limits on “bagging” or “tagging” so-called Republicans in name only), may have been tongue in cheek but it underscores the displacement by Trump-style populism of many formerly mainstream Republicans. This is a remarkable transformation, considering that as of 2015, the RINO hunters’ champion, Donald Trump, had never been a Republican himself. In fact, when Trump declared his candidacy for
Read MoreZelensky: Russia fired 'deliberately, purposefully' at 'ordinary houses'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Russian forces were conducting “brutal” strikes in residential areas as part of Moscow's campaign to capture the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east. “[Russia] fired precisely at the residential sector – absolutely deliberately, purposefully, at ordinary houses and civilian objects,” Zelensky said in a video address. “There are casualties – dead, wounded,” he continued. “The brutal strikes of the Ru
Read More