Some, perhaps, may not be aware, but the state of Florida is considered “Trump country”.
The 45th president of the United States is wildly popular here.
As a simple measure of his favourability, look no further than the recent polls in the contest for the Republican Party’s nomination in next year’s presidential campaign.
Donald Trump‘s primary competitor happens to be the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis – but it is not looking like much of a contest at the moment.
A recent poll revealed that Trump had a whopping 34-point lead over his younger challenger.
However, there are people in the “Sunshine State” who will do what they can to avoid him. On the day when Trump was due to be dragged into a Miami courthouse by federal prosecutors, we found plenty of residents had gone to the beach.
Perhaps it was an act of escape, with thousands of pro-Trump supporters taking positions near the Wilke D Ferguson Jr Courthouse – and it may have been an act of escapism as well.
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Joseph LaCroix told me that Trump’s 37-count indictment would not change the way anyone feels.
“In a perfect world, it should, it would, but here we are,” he said with a shrug.
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Beachgoer Andrea Ray said she was astonished when she heard that the former president would be read his rights in a federal court.
“I am happy that he is being indicted for crimes, crimes that he has probably committed, but I just didn’t think it was going to happen.”
The prosecution of Trump has certainly shocked many in Florida. The state votes Republican and it votes for Donald Trump – and there are those who think the Biden administration is out to get him.
But on Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive, people see things in a different way.
The world-famous Palace Drag Show was doing a booming trade, with hundreds of customers enjoying a boisterous show. The performers told us that the former president doesn’t speak to – and hasn’t spoken up – for them.
“What do you make of Donald Trump?” I asked drag performer, Kat Wilderness.
Image: Drag queen Kat Wilderness
“I don’t see him, no, unfortunately. We have someone who is against us, but we are not hurting anyone, we’re about love, acceptance, we just want to live life the way that everyone wants to live their lives – fully. I don’t see who you are talking about.”
Drag shows in Florida have been subject to Governor DeSantis’ so-called “war-on-woke” with new legislation banning children from attending shows.
In proposals that have been vigorously opposed by LGBTQ+ activists, Donald Trump says he plans to pass laws banning gender-affirming care – like surgery and therapies – for minors nationwide.
I asked performer Akasha O’Hara Lords whether America in 2023 was a good place to be.
Image: Drag queen Akasha O’Hara Lords
“You know, we’re in a rocky stage, but if everyone votes, we will be fine in the end.”
She may find it difficult to win meaningful backing in Florida. Ninety miles up the road, we heard pro-Trump firebrand and aspiring office-holder Kari Lake whip up a crowd of thousand or more conservatives “in the fight to save our country”.
Image: Kari Lake
Lake, who lost the Arizona governor’s race to her Democrat party opponent in 2022, told the audience to “drain their bank accounts” in an attempt to get Trump re-elected.
The former television journalist is touted by many as a possible running mate for Trump in the coming presidential election.
“Trump is a warrior, a warrior, he is Godzilla and (his opponents) are just tiny geckos running around,” she said to uproarious applause.
Florida, it seems, is “Trumpland” – the place where the former president is still the king and a trip to the coast is not going to change that reality.
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
Image: The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
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Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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5:07
The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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3:27
How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
Tanking stock markets, collapsing world orders, devastating trade wars; economists with their hair ablaze are scrambling to keep up.
But as we try to make sense of Donald Trumps’s tariff tsunami, economic theory only goes so far. In the end this surely is about something more primal.
Power.
Understanding that may be crucial to how the world responds.
Yes, economics helps explain the impact. The world’s economy has after all shifted on its axis, the way it’s been run for decades turned on its head.
Instead of driving world trade, America is creating a trade war. We will all feel the impact.
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0:58
PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US
Donald Trump says he is settling scores, righting wrongs. America has been raped, looted and pillaged by the world trading system.
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But don’t be distracted by the hyperbole – and if you think this is about economics alone, you may be missing the point.
Above all, tariffs give Donald Trump power. They strike fear into allies and enemies, from governments to corporations.
This is a president who runs his presidency like a medieval emperor or mafia don.
It is one reason why since his election we have seen what one statesman called a conga line of sycophants make their way to the White House, from world leaders to titans of industry.
The conga line will grow longer as they now redouble their efforts hoping to special treatment from Trump’s tariffs. Sir Keir Starmer among them.
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President Trump’s using similar tactics at home, deploying presidential power to extract concessions and deter dissent in corporate America, academia and the US media. Those who offer favours are spared punishment.
His critics say he seeks a form power for the executive or presidential branch of government that the founding fathers deliberately sought to prevent.
Whether or not that is true, the same playbook of divide and rule through intimidation can now be applied internationally. Thanks to tariffs
Each country will seek exceptions but on Trump’s terms. Those who retaliate may meet escalation.
This is the unforgiving calculus for governments including our own plotting their next moves.
The temptation will be to give Trump whatever he wants to spare their economies, but there is a jeopardy that compounds the longer this goes on.
Image: Could America’s traditional allies turn to China? Pic: AP
Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister who coined the conga line comparison, put it this way: “Pretty much all the international leaders I have seen that have sucked up to Trump have been run over. The reality is if you suck up to bullies, whether it’s global affairs or in the playground, you just get more bullying.”
Trading partners may be able to mitigate the impact of these tariffs through negotiation, but that may only encourage this unorthodox president to demand ever more?
Ultimately the world will need a more reliable superpower than that.
In the hands of such a president, America cannot be counted on.
When it comes to security, stability and prosperity, allies will need to fend for themselves.
And they will need new friends. If Washington can’t be relied on, Beijing beckons.
America First will, more and more, mean America on its own.