Donald Trump’s Senate acquittal came to the surprise of no-one with even the slightest interest in American politics. While many Republicans, including virtually all of those in the orbit of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, doubtless wanted the vote to go the other way, too few were individually willing to risk Donald Trump’s wrath in […]
The past 48 hours will long be long remembered as an extraordinary moment in US history – when reality and delusion clashed in the starkest way imaginable. While the story came in two acts – the unlikely Democratic victories in Georgia and the grotesque scenes in the Capitol building – they are seamlessly intertwined. On […]
It’s now a year since the 2019 General Election – and while the pandemic has changed much of our lives beyond recognition, it has also left a feeling of stasis. It’s as if the political world never truly had a chance to pause and react to the extraordinary tumult of last year. The smashing of […]
In 1886, Randolph Churchill – father of Winston and darling of the Tory right – described disdainfully then-Prime Minister William Gladstone’s wish to urgently press ahead with home rule for Ireland as “the ambition of an old man in a hurry.” At 76, the premise goes, Gladstone was rushing through a “farrago of superlative nonsense” […]
As the electoral fog clears and the result comes into view, Joe Biden seems all but assured a White House win. While he’s still behind in Georgia at the point of writing, the former Vice President seems likely to just overhaul Donald Trump’s as more votes from Atlanta are tabulated. His electoral college win may […]
The emergence of states like Texas, Georgia and Arizona as key battlegrounds in this year’s presidential election has surprised many outside observers. Some still reject it out of hand; surely gun-toting, bible-thumping, oil-drilling Texas that gave us George W Bush and J R Ewing could never leave the Republican fold? A quick history recap may […]
In this week’s midterm elections, the fact that it was possible for the Democrats to win the popular congressional vote by as much as eight points and actually fall back in the Senate seems staggering, but should surprise no-one paying attention to a trend that may lead to a constitutional crisis in coming decades. The […]
