America is a place where there’s now an ‘immunity to the unacceptable’
At the heart of the latest twist in the Trump story is a question you can pose a few different ways.
Is there a line for Donald Trump? Is there a point of no return for the former president? Could a sex offender be president?
So often it’s said that the people of the rural counties in just a few of America’s states are those who can swing the country’s direction.
In the shadow of Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains, Donald Trump has always found his loyalists and there are, of course, those who will never be moved.
Driving south along the west side of the Shenandoah National Park, I passed a house that’s barely visible behind the Trump flags, banners and yard signs. One said “Behead Biden”.
But beyond this unwavering loyalty, what about the more nuanced Republican voters?
Shenandoah County has voted for a Republican presidential candidate in every election since 1932.
The whole electoral district in this part of Virginia has not supported a Democrat for president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
Bobbi Rosenberger told Sky’s Mark Stone she was willing to forgive Trump
‘Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody’s perfect’
In a break from mowing her lawn in the small town of Mount Jackson, Bobbi Rosenberger agreed to a quick chat.
Self-deprecating, she wondered aloud if her hat would make her look like a “redneck” – her word.
The conservative values here are as strong as they get. It’s a Republican heartland, and the conversations are a lesson for those who choose to ridicule or dismiss the people here as thoughtless Trumpian rednecks, as so many do.
“I am not stuck in my political designations. I follow what candidate I think would be best,” she told me.
“I am not going to pigeonhole myself into one candidate. I want to see who decides to run. I probably would vote for Trump. But I want to see all the other candidates before I make my final decision.”
I asked about the fact that a jury has concluded that he is a sex offender. Her answer was telling. Yes, she was willing to forgive him but that’s a judgement based as much on how much she despises the alternative.
“Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody’s perfect.”
Read more: What other investigations is Donald Trump facing?
In our conversation, her despair about what she sees as the damaging, liberal, woke direction of the country under Biden was palpably clear.
“Biden is a shameful disgrace as a leader for our country. Someone who cannot even give a speech properly, who can’t hold the train of thought. He obviously has dementia.”
Some don’t believe the sex offender story. They think the complainant, E Jean Carroll, was just after the money. They buy the Trump line that it’s all a witch-hunt.
Others accept that his moral compass might be off, but it doesn’t matter to them.
They feel his ‘no bull’ attitude represents them. He is their street fighter, he says it like it is, he isn’t like other politicians. Warts and all, they’ll take him over all the others.
Bobby Jones believes Donald Trump is better than the alternative – Joe Biden
‘Welcome to America’
Up the road, on the back of his tractor, I met Bobby Jones.
“It’s sad to see – the Republicans and the Democrats; it ain’t like it used to be where they had just small differences. Now they stand like two completely different countries,” Mr Jones said.
I asked about the latest Trump twists.
“I’m not gonna say he’s a good man or bad man,” he told me.
“All I’m saying is that on my standard of decency, he at least did try to help get rid of abortion.
“He did try to help keep jobs going. He did try to keep jobs in the United States. He tried to look out for the people. If he did something immoral, I don’t agree with that. I think it’s terrible. But look at what Biden is doing. Have mercy here!
“In DC and all the northern areas we hear about how they vote for the Democrats. Well, how can they with all that going on?” he asked.
A few fields away, another revealing conversation with factory worker Rick Lutz.
“He’s just paying the price because they are scared of him. They just want to crucify Trump. Like I said, they’re all dirty. But I like Trump better!” Mr Lutz told me, adding with a laugh: “Welcome to America.”
You might think the most damaging part of this latest twist in the Trump story was his own response, in recorded evidence played at the E Jean Carroll trial, where he was asked about comments he’d made in 2005 in the infamous Access Hollywood tapes.
“It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the pussy?” he was asked by E Jean Carroll’s lawyer.
Trump replied, “Well if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.”
Or fortunately?
It so often feels like America has got to a place where the entrenchment, the polarisation and the distrust of the other is so deep that nothing shifts views. It is a place where there’s now an immunity to the unacceptable.
US
Gene Hackman’s wife died from rare infectious disease around a week before actor’s death, medical investigator says
Gene Hackman’s wife died from a rare infectious disease around a week before the actor died, medical investigators have said.
The couple were found dead in their New Mexico home on 26 February, along with one of their pet dogs. Police have previously said there were no apparent signs of foul play.
At a press conference on Friday, chief medical investigator for New Mexico, doctor Heather Jarrell, gave an update on the results of post-mortem investigations carried out following their deaths.
Doctor Jarrell said Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare infectious disease. There were no signs of trauma and the death was a result of natural causes, she said.
Actor Gene Hackman with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, pictured in 2003. Pic: AP
The doctor said Arakawa likely died on 11 February, the date she was last known to have communicated with people via email.
She said Hackman had advanced Alzheimer’s and died from heart disease, with data from his pacemaker last registering on 18 February.
Due to his Alzheimer’s, “it’s quite possible he was not aware that [his wife] was deceased,” Dr Jarrell added.
The actor tested negative for hantavirus, a rare disease spread by infected rodent droppings.
Gene Hackman in 1999. Pic: AP
Humans can contract hantavirus by breathing in contaminated air, and symptoms can start as soon as one week, or as long as eight weeks, later. It is not transmissible from person to person.
There were just seven confirmed cases of hantavirus in New Mexico last year, and Arakawa is the only person confirmed to have contracted it in the state in 2025. Between 1975 and 2023, New Mexico recorded a total of 129 hantavirus cases, with 52 deaths.
Santa Fe County sheriff Adan Mendoza said authorities are still waiting for data from mobile phones found at the property, but it is “very unlikely they are going to show anything else”.
“There’s no indication” that Hackman used a mobile phone or any other technology to communicate and the couple lived a very private life before their deaths, he added.
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Bill Murray’s tribute to Gene Hackman
The cause of the couple’s dog’s death has not been confirmed but it is now known that Arakawa had picked the animal up from the vet, where it had undergone a procedure, on 9 February.
The procedure “may explain why [the dog] was in a crate at the residence” while two surviving dogs were found roaming the property, Mr Mendoza said.
Hackman, who was widely respected as one of the greatest actors of his generation, was a five-time Oscar nominee who won the best actor in a leading role for The French Connection in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for Unforgiven two decades later.
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Morgan Freeman paying tribute to Gene Hackman at the Oscars. Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
At last Sunday’s Academy Awards, Morgan Freeman paid tribute to Hackman. “A community lost a giant and I lost a dear friend,” he said.
He met Arakawa, a concert pianist, in the mid-1980s and the pair married in 1991.
Donald Trump has said Russia has “all the cards” in negotiations to end the war with Ukraine.
Speaking at the White House, the US president reiterated his desire to get a deal done to end the conflict, which he warned “could lead to World War Three”.
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But he said he had found it “more difficult” to deal with Ukraine, and suggested it may be easier to deal with Moscow, because “they have all the cards”.
He was also asked if Vladimir Putin was taking advantage of the decision by the US to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine, following a series of air attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent days.
“I think he’s doing what anyone else would do,” Mr Trump replied.
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Will Kyiv fall without US support?
However, he said he believed Mr Putin wanted to get the war “stopped and settled”.
“I think both parties want to settle. I think we are going to get it settled,” he added.
Mr Trump also suggested his priorities are in a different order to Ukraine’s – saying he wants the fighting to end before any security guarantees are made.
“Before I even think about that, I want to settle the war, get it finished,” he said.
“As far as the question about security later, that’s the easy part. The hard part is getting it settled.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said his country needs “reliable and clear” security guarantees before a peace deal with Russia can be agreed.
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Relations between the US and Ukraine have become fractured in recent weeks.
Mr Trump’s latest comments come exactly a week after his disastrous Oval Office meeting with Mr Zelenskyy – which saw the US president and his vice president, JD Vance, berate the Ukrainian leader and accuse him of being “disrespectful”.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump during their fiery White House meeting las week. Pic: Reuters
In the days since, the Trump administration has paused military aid to Ukraine and stopped sharing US intelligence with Kyiv.
Officials from Ukraine and the United States will next week hold talks about peace with Russia in Saudi Arabia.
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