WASHINGTON: American presidential elections are a moment when the nation holds up a mirror to look at itself. They are a reflection of values and dreams, of grievances and scores to be settled.
The results say much about a country’s character, future and core beliefs. On Tuesday, America looked into that mirror gave Donald Trump a far-reaching victory in the most contested states.
He won for many reasons. One of them was that a formidable number of Americans, from different angles, said the state of democracy was a prime concern.
The candidate they chose had campaigned through a lens of darkness, calling the country “garbage” and his opponent “stupid,” a “communist” and “the b-word.”
Even as Trump prevailed, most voters said they were very or somewhat concerned that electing Trump would bring the US closer to being an authoritarian country, according to the AP VoteCast survey. Still, 1 in 10 of those voters backed him anyway. Nearly 4 in 10 Trump voters said they wanted complete upheaval in how the country is run.
In Trump’s telling, the economy was in shambles, even when almost every measure said otherwise, and the border was an open sore leeching murderous migrants, when the actual number of crossings had dropped precipitously. All this came wrapped in his signature language of catastrophism.
Trump’s win demonstrated his keen ear for what stirs emotions, especially the sense of millions of voters of being left out — whether because someone else cheated or got special treatment or otherwise fell to the ravages of the enemy within.
So the centuries-old democracy delivered power to the presidential candidate who gave voters fair warning he might take core elements of that democracy apart.
After already having tried to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power after his 2020 loss, Trump mused that he would be justified if he decided to pursue “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
One rough measure of whether Trump means what he says is how many times he says it. His direct threat to try to end or suspend the Constitution was largely a one-off.
But the 2024 campaign was thick with his vows that, if realized, would upend democracy’s basic practices, protections and institutions as Americans have known them.
And now, he says after his win, “I will govern by a simple motto: promises made, promises kept.”
Through the campaign, to lusty cheers, Trump promised to use presidential power over the justice system to go after his personal political adversaries. He then raised the stakes further by threatening to enlist military force against such domestic foes — “the enemy from within.”
Doing so would shatter any semblance of Justice Department independence and turn soldiers against citizens in ways not seen in modern times.
He’s promised to track down and deport immigrants in massive numbers, raising the prospect of using military or military-style assets for that as well.
Spurred by his fury and denialism over his 2020 defeat, Trump’s supporters in some state governments have already engineered changes in voting procedures, an effort centered on the false notion that the last election was rigged against him.
Yet another pillar of the system is also in his sights — the non-political civil service and its political masters, whom Trump together calls the deep state.
He means the generals who didn’t always heed him last time, but this time shall.
He means the Justice Department people who refused to indulge his desperate effort to cook up votes he didn’t get in 2020. He means the bureaucrats who dragged their heels on parts of his first-term agenda and whom Trump now wants purged.
But if some or all of these tenets of modern democracy are to fall, it will be through the most democratic of means. Voters chose him — and by extension, this — not Democrat Kamala Harris, the vice president.
And by early measures, it was a clean election, just like 2020.
Eric Dezenhall, a scandal-management expert who has followed Trump’s business and political career, said it’s not always easy to suss out what Trump truly intends to do and what might be bluster. “There are certain things that he says because they cross his brain at a certain moment,” Dezenhall said. “I don’t put stock in that. I put stock in themes, and there is a theme of vengeance.”
The voters also gave Trump’s Republicans clear control of the Senate, and therefore majority say in whether to confirm the loyalists Trump will nominate for top jobs in government. Trump controls his party in ways he didn’t in his first term, when major figures in his administration repeatedly frustrated his most outlier ambitions.
“The fact that a once proud people chose, twice, to demean itself with a leader like Donald Trump will be one of history’s great cautionary tales,” said Cal Jillson, a constitutional and presidential scholar at Southern Methodist University whose new book, “Race, Ethnicity, and American Decline,” anticipated some of the existential issues of the election.
From the political left, any threats to democracy were not on the mind of independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont when he offered a blistering critique of the Democratic campaign.
“It should come as no surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” he said in a statement. “Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing?”
He concluded: “Probably not.”
Guardrails remain. One is the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority loosened the leash on presidential behavior in its ruling expanding their immunity from prosecution. The court has not been fully tested on how far it will go to accommodate Trump’s actions and agenda. And which party will control the House is not yet known.
Among voters under 30, just under half went for Trump, an improvement from his 2020 performance, according to the AP VoteCast survey of more than 120,000 voters. Roughly one-third of those voters said they wanted total upheaval in how the country is run.
By Trump’s words, at least, that’s what they’ll get.
Trump has vowed to shake some of democracy’s pillars
Trump has vowed to shake some of democracy’s pillars
Germany heads for early elections as Scholz coalition collapses
- Scholz said he would seek a vote of confidence by January 15 so that MPs “can decide whether to clear the way for early elections” earlier than scheduled
- The Social Democrat leader spoke after firing his rebellious Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats in a dramatic night session of what was a three-party coalition
BERLIN: Germany entered a major political crisis on Wednesday with the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition likely paving the way for early elections next year.
The turmoil hits Europe’s biggest economy as it grapples with a sustained downturn and as Berlin worries about the impact Donald Trump’s return to the White House will have on trade and security ties.
Scholz said he would seek a vote of confidence by January 15 so that MPs “can decide whether to clear the way for early elections” which could be held by late March — six months earlier than scheduled.
The Social Democrat leader spoke after firing his rebellious Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats in a dramatic night session of what was a three-party coalition, declaring there was no longer any “basis of trust” with Lindner.
The embattled chancellor also said he would seek talks with the conservative Christian Democratic Union’s leader Friedrich Merz with the offer to “work together constructively on issues that are crucial for our country.”
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck signalled that his Greens party, the third alliance partner, would stay on in a minority government and “continue to fulfil our obligations.”
The Greens’ Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the political chaos in Berlin at such a globally volatile time meant that “this is not a good day for Germany and not a good day for Europe.”
Disparate parties
Scholz fired Lindner during a crunch meeting of senior figures from all three ideologically disparate parties, which have rowed for months over economic and budget issues.
Lindner had proposed sweeping reforms to jumpstart the troubled German economy that the other two parties opposed.
He had long flirted with bolting the unhappy coalition and repeatedly warned of “an autumn of decisions” as difficult budget talks loomed.
Scholz, after sacking Linder — who took three other FDP cabinet ministers with him — bitterly attacked the minister for his “petty political tactics” and accused him of a level of egoism that is “completely incomprehensible.”
Scholz cited the re-election of Trump, Germany’s economic woes and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East as reasons for why Europe’s top economy now needs political certainty.
“We now need clarity on how we can soundly finance our security and defense in the coming years without jeopardizing the cohesion of the country,” he said. “With a view to the election in America, this is perhaps more urgent than ever.”
With the German economy expected to shrink for the second year in a row, Lindner has demanded corporate tax cuts, eased climate regulations and a reduction of social benefits.
Many of those ideas are anathema to Scholz’s SPD, Germany’s traditional workers’ party and the left-leaning Greens.
The bitter dispute has seen Scholz, Lindner and Habeck present contradictory economic plans and hold rival meetings with business leaders, deepening the sense of dysfunction and weakening Scholz’s authority.
Scholz said he had offered Lindner a plan with steps to bring down energy costs and boost investment for companies, secure auto industry jobs and keep up support for Ukraine.
But Linder — a fiscal hawk and strong opponent of raising new debt — had shown “no willingness” to accept it, Scholz said, adding that “I no longer want to subject our country to such behavior.”
Scholz and his mutinous coalition partners have drawn withering fire from Merz, who has long demanded early elections in which polls suggest he would be the frontrunner.
“We cannot afford to argue for another year,” CDU lawmaker Norbert Roettgen said after Trump’s victory. “Germany is important in Europe, and if the government can’t live up to that, then it must make way now.”
Late Wednesday, the head of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party CSU, Markus Soeder, demanded an immediate vote of confidence, warning that “there must be no tactical delays.”
Alice Weidel of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, now polling in second place, made the same demand, calling the end of the coalition a long-overdue “liberation for our country.”
UK identifies 4 cases of new mpox variant, the first cluster outside Africa
- Scientists believe it causes milder symptoms that are harder to notice, which makes it easier to spread because people may not know they are infected
LONDON: British health officials say they have identified four cases of the new, more infectious version of mpox that first emerged in Congo, marking the first time the variant has caused a cluster of illness outside of Africa. Scientists said the risk to the public remains low.
Authorities announced the first case of the new form of mpox in the UK last week, saying the case was being treated at a London hospital after recently traveling to countries in Africa with ongoing outbreaks.
This week, the UK Health Security Agency said it had now identified three further cases who lived in the same household as the first patient. They too are now being treated at a hospital in London.
“Mpox is very infectious in households with close contact and so it is not unexpected to see further cases within the same household,” said Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser of the UK Health Security Agency.
The new variant of mpox was first detected earlier this year in eastern Congo. Scientists believe it causes milder symptoms that are harder to notice, which makes it easier to spread because people may not know they are infected. Its spread in Congo and elsewhere in Africa prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global emergency in August.
Britain recorded more than 3,000 cases of another type of mpox during a 2022 outbreak that hit more than 100 countries.
The new variant of mpox has also caused outbreaks in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Single cases in travelers have also been reported in Sweden, India, Germany and Thailand.
To date, there have been about 43,000 suspect cases of mpox in Africa, including more than 1,000 deaths, mostly in Congo.
On Wednesday, WHO said it had allocated 899,900 vaccine doses to nine African countries struggling with mpox epidemics.
Judge rules Guantanamo plea deals revoked by Pentagon were valid — New York Times
Plea deals agreed with the man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks and two accomplices held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were valid, according to a judge’s ruling reported by the New York Times on Wednesday regarding agreements that had been revoked by the Pentagon.
On July 31, the Pentagon said plea deals had been entered into with the trio, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but two days later, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rescinded them.
Austin “acted too late and beyond the scope of his authority,” the New York Times reported, citing a decision by a military judge.
Trump receives congratulations and an invitation to the White House as Biden nudges on transition
- It was Biden’s first public comment in the aftermath of Trump’s victory
- Former VP Pence also congratulates Trump after declining to endorse him
- Pelosi says to ‘pray’ for America’s next chapter, doesn’t say Trump’s name
WASHINGTON: After Democratic party nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris urged unity in a concession speech on Wednesday following her defeat to Republican Donald Trump, US President Joe Biden broke his silence and congratulated his former rival.
Biden invited the man he ousted from the White House four years ago to an Oval Office meeting to prepare to return the keys.
The White House announced that Biden had spoken to the president-elect and expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition, while emphasizing the importance of working to bring the country together.
Biden’s chief of staff later Wednesday nudged the Trump team to sign the required federal agreements necessary to begin an orderly presidential transition, a White House official said.
Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung confirmed the White House invitation.
“President Trump looks forward to the meeting, which will take place shortly, and very much appreciated the call,” he said.
Biden chief of staff Jeff Zients reached out to Trump transition co-chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon to reiterate the important role the agreements with the White House and the General Services Administration play in beginning a presidential transition. The White House official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive transition planning.
A delay could hold up the federal government’s ability to begin processing security clearances for potential Trump administration national security appointees, which could limit the number of his staff who could work on sensitive information by Inauguration Day. It also means they can’t yet access federal facilities, documents and personnel to prepare for taking office.
The agreements are required by the Presidential Transition Act, and require the president-elect’s team to agree to an ethics plan and to limit and disclose private donations. Congress, in the act, set a deadline of Sept. 1 for the GSA agreement and Oct. 1 for the White House agreement, in an effort to ensure that incoming administrations are prepared to govern when they enter office on Jan. 20.
Praises for Harris
Biden also called Harris to salute her for her campaign. In a statement issued by the White House late on Wednesday, Biden also praised Harris as “a tremendous partner and public servant full of integrity, courage, and character.”
The president also noted that Harris entered the campaign under “extraordinary circumstances,” a nod to his dropping out of the race 108 days before Election Day amid growing pressure from within his party after his cataclysmic debate performance against Trump.
Biden added that Harris “stepped up and led a historic campaign that embodied what’s possible when guided by a strong moral compass and a clear vision for a nation that is more free, more just, and full of more opportunities for all Americans.”
According to Trump spokesman Steven Cheung, Trump and Harris spoke on a call where the president-elect “acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country.”
Democrats promise ‘peaceful’ transition of power
Shortly after Harris’ concession speech, a series of Democratic leaders and lawmakers issued their first statements in response to the election results and promised to ensure a “peaceful” transition for the incoming Republican administration.
Former President Barack Obama, along with former first lady Michelle Obama, said the election’s result “is obviously not the outcome we had hoped for” but noted that “living in a democracy is about recognizing that our point of view won’t always win out, and being willing to accept the peaceful transfer of power.”
Congratulating Trump and Vance, the Obamas expressed pride for Harris and Walz, for both of whom they campaigned, calling them “two extraordinary public servants who ran a remarkable campaign.”
The Obamas cast forward with hope for a divided America, saying that the nation’s problems are solvable “only if we listen to each other, and only if we abide by the core constitutional principles and democratic norms that made this country great.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement late Wednesday, saying that “we all pray for America’s success under the next administration,” but did not make mention of Trump by name.
Pelosi was seen as the architect of the Democratic party’s strategic shift from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris as top of their ticket over the summer. The California Democrat has been Trump’s biggest critic, saying previously that her goal is to ensure Trump never enters the White House again.
“The peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of our democracy,” Pelosi said. “After every election, we all have a responsibility to come together and find common ground.”
“As deeply, deeply disappointed as I am by the results of the election, make no mistake: my Democratic colleagues and I — unlike many Republicans after the 2020 election — will uphold the will of the American people, fulfill our constitutional duty and do our part to ensure a peaceful transfer of power,” Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said in a statement.
Transition talks have not yet begun in earnest, according to a person with knowledge of the Trump campaign. Instead, the president-elect was busy taking calls from leaders, domestic and international, donors and key supporters. Transition discussions are expected to ramp up later in the week, as attention turns to naming an inaugural committee and formal transition team. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bernie Sanders calls for reckoning in Democratic Party
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders did not mince words in a scathing statement on Wednesday.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders, Vermont’s senior senator, said.
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well,” Sanders said.
Sanders won reelection to a fourth term on Tuesday. He singled out wealth inequality, a slipping standard of living in the US, a lack of full health care guarantees and support for Israel’s recent military campaigns as problems Democrats need to focus on. Sanders’s 2016 presidential run was a key factor in pushing the dialogue in the Democratic party to the left. Sanders has built his political career outside — and often criticizing — the Democratic Party, but he caucuses with Democrats in the Senate.
Trump’s election could assure a conservative Supreme Court majority for decades
- The decisive outcome spares the court from having to wade into election disputes. It also seems likely to change the tenor of cases that come before the justices, including on abortion and immigration
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has already appointed three Supreme Court justices. In his second term, he could well have a chance to name two more, creating a high court with a Trump-appointed majority that could serve for decades.
The decisive outcome spares the court from having to wade into election disputes. It also seems likely to change the tenor of cases that come before the justices, including on abortion and immigration.
The two eldest justices — Clarence Thomas, 76, and Samuel Alito, 74 — could consider stepping down knowing that Trump, a Republican, would nominate replacements who might be three decades younger and ensure conservative domination of the court through the middle of the century, or beyond.
Trump would have a long list of candidates to choose from among the more than 50 men and women he appointed to federal appeals courts, including some of Thomas’ and Alito’s former law clerks.
If both men were to retire, they probably would not do so at once to minimize disruption to the court. Justices David Souter and John Paul Stevens retired a year apart, in the first two years of Barack Obama’s presidency.
Thomas has said on more than one occasion that he has no intention of retiring.
But Ed Whelan, a conservative lawyer who was once a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote on the National Review’s Bench Memos blog that Thomas will realize that the best way to burnish his legacy is to have a like-minded justice replace him and retire before the midterm congressional elections.
If Thomas stays on the court until near his 80th birthday, in June 2028, he will surpass William O. Douglas as the longest-serving justice. Douglas was on the court for more than 36 years.
There’s no guarantee Republicans will have their Senate majority then, and Thomas saw what happened when one of his colleagues didn’t retire when she might have, Whelan wrote. “But it would be foolish of him to risk repeating Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s mistake — hanging on only to die in office and be replaced by someone with a very different judicial philosophy,” Whelan wrote.
Ginsburg died in September 2020, less than two months before Joe Biden’s election as president. Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy and majority Republicans rammed her nomination through the Senate before the election.
Barrett, along with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s other two high court appointees, joined Thomas and Alito to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the national right to abortion.
Along with Chief Justice John Roberts, the conservatives also have expanded gun rights, ended affirmative action in college admissions, reined in Biden administration efforts to deal with climate change and weakened federal regulators by overturning a 40-year-old decision that had long been a target of business and conservative interests.
The court’s landmark decision didn’t end its involvement with abortion: the justices also considered cases this year on emergency abortions in states with bans and access to medication abortion.
The new administration seems likely to drop Biden administration guidance saying doctors need to provide emergency abortions if necessary to protect a woman’s life or health, even in states where abortion is otherwise banned. That would end a case out of Idaho that the justices sent back to lower courts over the summer.
Access to the abortion medication mifepristone is also facing a renewed challenge in lower courts. That suit could have an uphill climb in lower courts after the Supreme Court preserved access to the drug earlier this year, but abortion opponents have floated other ways a conservative administration could restrict access to the medication. That includes enforcement of a 19th century “anti-vice” law called the Comstock Act that prohibits the mailing of drugs that could be used in abortion, though Trump himself hasn’t stated a clear position on mifepristone.
Immigration cases also are bubbling up through the courts over the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump tried to end DACA in his first term, but he was thwarted by the Supreme Court. Now, the conservative appeals court based in New Orleans is considering whether DACA is legal.
One of the first Trump-era fights to reach the Supreme Court concerned the ban on visitors from some Muslim-majority countries. The justices ended up approving the program, after two revisions.
He spoke during the campaign about bringing back the travel ban.
