Category Archives: US Politics

Alternative facts, witch-hunt, bigly: the Trump era in 32 words and phrases

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His rally speeches and manic Twitter feed conjured new slogans and insults or revived incendiary words

Donald Trump not only changed much about campaigning, governing and the ways of Washington, even the language of American politics has altered during the Republican’s tenure. Trump’s rollicking rally speeches and manic Twitter feed conjured new slogans and insults or revived incendiary words with long histories; his allies, opponents and chroniclers searched for new phrases to describe the indescribable. Here is a glossary of some of them from the past five years:

alternative facts

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Millions lose benefits as Trump refuses to sign Covid relief package

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11 million people will lose aid from expiration of unemployment programs as Trump heads to the golf course instead of signing bill

Millions of Americans battling the financial hardships of the coronavirus pandemic lost their unemployment benefits on Sunday as Donald Trump continued to refuse to sign a relief package agreed in Congress and headed instead to the golf course.

The president’s belligerence over the bipartisan Covid relief and spending bill, that would have extended the benefits and given direct cash payments to most American families, drew the ire of senior Republicans, who accused Trump of inflicting more misery on citizens.

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Democrats in Georgia’s runoff elections raise more than $200m in two months

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Races will decide which party controls the Senate and, in turn, the legislative power of President-elect Joe Biden

Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both running for crucial US Senate seats in Georgia that will decide the fate of Joe Biden’s new administration, have raised over $100m each in just two months.

The announcement of the recent record-breaking hauls – which considerably exceed that of their Republican opponents – comes with less than two weeks to go until the runoff races are decided in special elections on 5 January.

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Sisters in Hate review: tough but vital read on the rise of racist America

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After black women helped push Trump from office, Seyward Darby’s work on white extremists is more resonant than ever

It’s not Proust, Nietzsche or even Toni Morrison when it comes to difficult reading, but some are sure to find Seyward Darby’s book even more arduous to wade through.

Related: From A Very Stable Genius to After Trump: 2020 in US politics books

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Trump continues to block pandemic relief package as shutdown looms

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The president indicated he may veto the 5,000-page bill that he calls a ‘disgrace’ which would extend benefits to Americans

As unemployment benefits were due to expire for millions of Americans on Saturday, Donald Trump, who spent Christmas playing golf in Florida, continued to block a $900bn pandemic relief bill that would extend them.

The package, which Congress passed with bipartisan support on Monday after months of negotiations, would keep unemployment benefits in place until March and expand state benefits by $300 a week – as well as extending an evictions moratorium, providing federal loans to small businesses and $600 direct payments to many Americans.

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Critics fear Trump could pressure William Barr’s successor for big favors

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Former DoJ officials say they are worried Trump will lean on acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen for potentially risky favors

William Barr’s abrupt move to leave his post as attorney general this week has spurred fears among Department of Justice veterans that Donald Trump will put new pressures on Barr’s successor to do him big and potentially risky political and legal favors.

Former justice department officials say they are worried Trump will lean on Barr’s less experienced successor, the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, to push policies which Trump has suggested he backs, including naming special counsels to investigate President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and using the DoJ to investigate Trump’s baseless charges of widespread election fraud.

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Blueprint for Biden? How a struggling Irish town gambled on its links to JFK

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New Ross reinvented itself as a shrine to the Kennedy clan. Can towns linked to Biden, the most Irish American president since JFK, do the same?

After its factories died and its port withered, New Ross, a town perched by the River Barrow in south-east Ireland, decided in the 1990s to tap a unique asset: John F Kennedy.

The US president’s great-grandfather had sailed from the quays of New Ross to America during the 1840s famine, leaving behind a modest homestead that JFK twice visited, including a few months before his assassination in 1963. Like many Americans, not least the current US president-elect, Joe Biden, Kennedy was proud of his Irish connections and keen to re-emphasise the links.

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The Republican heroes and villains of Trump’s attempt to steal the election

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As Donald Trump peddled baseless claims of vote fraud after 3 November, democracy found out who its friends were

In November, Donald Trump became the first president in American history to try to hold on to power that voters had given to someone else in the course of a national election.

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Trump claims to be ‘working tirelessly’ but leaves Covid relief in disarray

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Donald Trump went to his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday, after claiming to be “working tirelessly for the American people” with a schedule that included “many meetings and calls”. Back in Washington, a Democratic proposal to increase direct payments to Americans under the Covid relief bill, from $600 to $2,000, was blocked.

Related: Donald Trump's latest wave of pardons includes Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner

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Donald Trump’s latest wave of pardons includes Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner

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President also gives clemency to Roger Stone in second round of pardons since Tuesday

Donald Trump has pardoned another 26 people in his second big wave of clemency actions since Tuesday, marking yet another audacious application of presidential power to reward loyalists.

The US president pardoned his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his longtime adviser Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

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Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians

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Four guards fired on unarmed crowd in Baghdad in 2007, killing 14 and sparking outrage over use of private security in war zones

President Donald Trump has pardoned four Blackwater security guards who were given lengthy prison sentences for killing 14 civilians in Baghdad in 2007, a massacre that caused international uproar over the use of private contractors in war zones.

The four – Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Nicholas Slatten – were part of an armoured convoy that opened fire indiscriminately with machine-guns and grenade launchers on a crowd of unarmed people in the Iraqi capital. Known as the Nisour Square massacre, the slaughter was seen as a low point in the conflict in Iraq.

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Joe Biden won’t inherit Trump’s millions of Twitter followers

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Move marks a departure from past practice as in 2017 Twitter transferred followers of Obama administration accounts to Trump

Joe Biden will not inherit Donald Trump’s millions of followers on the official president of the United States and White House Twitter accounts when he assumes the presidency, marking a departure from past social media practice, the Democratic president-elect’s team said on Tuesday.

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New museums and Smokey Bear: what’s in the $900bn US stimulus package?

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Tucked into a 5,593-page bill are a range of obscure provisions that appear to have little to do with fortifying a fragile economy

Late on Monday night, Congress approved a $900bn stimulus package which will deliver financial aid to millions of families and businesses facing economic distress from coronavirus pandemic. Though far smaller than a bill lawmakers passed at the outset of the pandemic, earlier this year, the measure is one the largest pieces of legislation in US history.

Related: Covid could shorten US life expectancy by up to three years, experts say

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Trump loyalists aim to block Biden’s goal to rejoin Iran and Paris agreements

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Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham urge Trump to submit Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate agreement to Senate to undercut future attempts to revive them

Two prominent Trump loyalists in the US Senate, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, are reportedly pressing the president to submit the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement to the chamber for ratification, in a last-minute attempt to scupper Democratic plans to take America back into the accords.

Related: Senior Republican says party’s final election challenge will ‘go down like a shot dog’

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Covid could shorten US life expectancy by up to three years, experts say

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The US could see a decline of two to three years in life expectancy in 2020 due to the coronavirus, the steepest drop since the second world war. Covid-19 is poised to become the third-leading cause of death in America, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Related: US Congress passes $900bn Covid-19 aid bill after months of gridlock

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‘Help is on the way’: Covid relief bill deal agreed, says Mitch McConnell

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Top congressional leaders have announced agreement on a $900bn coronavirus aid package after late-night discussions on Sunday.

“We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time: more help is on the way,” said Republican Senate leader Mitch MCConnell. “Moments ago, in consultation with our committees, the four leaders of the Senate and House finalised an agreement for another major rescue package for the American people.”

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Biden mulls punishments for Russia over suspected role in government hack

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As president-elect Joe Biden weighed options to punish Russia for its suspected hacking of US government agencies and companies, one leading Republican accused Moscow of “acting with impunity” and others called for retaliatory strikes.

Related: Trump attempt to overturn election is 'nutty and loopy', Romney says

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Trump attempt to overturn election is ‘nutty and loopy’, Romney says

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Donald Trump’s flirtation with declaring martial law in battleground states and appointing a conspiracy theorist as special counsel to help his attempt to overturn defeat by Joe Biden are “really sad” and “nutty and loopy”, Mitt Romney said on Sunday.

Related: Biden mulls punishments for Russia over suspected role in government hack

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Trickle-down economics doesn’t work but build-up does – is Biden listening? | Robert Reich

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A new study confirms tax cuts for the rich do not benefit the rest. Recovery from the pandemic is a chance to change course

How should the huge financial costs of the pandemic be paid for, as well as the other deferred needs of society after this annus horribilis?

Related: Jeff Bezos became even richer thanks to Covid-19. But he still won't protect Amazon workers | Robert Reich

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