Connect with us

Published

on

This was less Super Tuesday and more Predictable Tuesday. 

As Donald Trump made his way to the stage at his Mar-a-Lago mansion, he had notched up victories across the country, from Texas to Tennessee, Alabama and many more between.

“This was an amazing day, an amazing night,” he crowed.

At almost exactly the same time, President Biden released a statement. It was an even more dominant performance for the sitting president, capturing all the states in play for him.

“Tonight’s results leave the American people with a clear choice: are we going to keep moving forward or will we allow Donald Trump to drag us backwards,” he wrote, mentioning Mr Trump three more times in the next four paragraphs.

It is clear where the minds of both men are now focused – 5 November this year, the scheduled date for the US election, and their bitter rival on the other side of the political aisle.

The starting gun in the race to the White House has been fired and this is a contest which will now, almost certainly, be between two old age pensioners who hate each other.

Read more:
Biden and Trump dominate Super Tuesday
What is Super Tuesday?
How does the US election work?

Donald Trump speaks at a Super Tuesday election night party
Image:
Donald Trump speaks at a Super Tuesday election night party

A hypothetical second term for President Biden would see him still in the White House aged 86 – and 82 for Donald Trump.

It is the oldest presidential head to head in US history and one most people in this country don’t want.

Even in deep blue California, some voters were dismayed that this is now the choice.

“It’s crazy to see that we have such an old president running and you just don’t have a lot of options. It’s sad to see, it’s very disappointing,” said Ghazi, a young Arab-American, as he exited the voting station in LA after spoiling his ballot.

It was a protest vote, he said, not just because of Mr Biden’s age but because of his support of Israel’s military intervention in Gaza.

“The Gaza issue is a big one,” he said.

“I think that the US should call for an immediate ceasefire. I’m probably not going to be flipping over and voting Republican, but I think that it definitely has a huge part to play in me not being an enthusiastic Democratic voter and coming out to vote for Biden.”

Joe Biden speaks at a campaign stop in Michigan in February. Pic: AP
Image:
Joe Biden speaks at a campaign stop in Michigan in February. Pic: AP

Foreign policy is rarely a deciding factor in domestic elections in the US – but the longer the crisis in the Middle East rumbles on and dominates news coverage, the bigger problem it is for President Biden, particularly in key swing states like Michigan with large Arab-American populations.

In his speech, Mr Trump focused on immigration, which has typically been a happy hunting ground for Republicans.

He characterised the southern border as lawless and overrun, laying the blame solely at Mr Biden’s door.

Mr Trump hopes he can win over independent and moderate voters who are turned off by President Biden’s handling of the record influx of migrants. The tone of his speech was familiar, the message being that he and he alone can fix the problem.

He will likely have to wait another week before he is crowned the Republican nominee because his rival Nikki Haley is clinging on for now. But the race for the White House is all but cemented.

Continue Reading

US

Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants to meet – and that he and Barack Obama ‘probably’ like each other

Published

on

By

Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants to meet - and that he and Barack Obama 'probably' like each other

Donald Trump says a meeting is being set up between himself and Vladimir Putin – and that he and Barack Obama “probably” like each other.

Republican US president-elect Mr Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, saying Russian president Mr Putin “wants to meet, and we are setting it up”.

“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Mr Trump said.

Ukraine war latest updates

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was a “mutual desire” to set up a meeting – but added no details had been confirmed yet and that there may be progress once Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.

“Moscow has repeatedly declared its openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Mr Peskov added.

“What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue. We see that Mr Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue. We welcome this. There are still no specifics, we proceed from the mutual readiness for the meeting.”

More on Barack Obama

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2017. Pic: AP
Image:
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2017. Pic: AP

Trump on Obama: ‘We just got along’

Mr Trump also made some lighter remarks regarding a viral exchange between himself and former Democrat President Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday.

The pair sat together for the late president’s service in Washington DC on Thursday, and could be seen speaking for several minutes as the remaining mourners filed in before it began.

Mr Obama was seen nodding as his successor spoke before breaking into a grin.

Asked about the exchange, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.

“I said, ‘boy, they look like two people that like each other’. And we probably do.

“We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”

The amicable exchange comes after years of criticising each other in the public eye; it was Mr Trump who spread the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory about Mr Obama in 2011, falsely asserting that he was not born in the United States.

Read more:
Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money
The Hollywood celebrities who have lost homes to wildfires

Insults continued for years, with Mr Obama famously dedicating much of his final White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech in 2016 to jokes at his political rival’s expense.

Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obamas, saying the former president was “ineffective” and “terrible” and calling former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” as recently as October last year.

On Kamala Harris’s campaign trail last year, Mr Obama said Mr Trump was a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago”, while the former first lady said that “the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”

Continue Reading

US

LA wildfires: One daughter’s haunting account of her father’s fatal decision to stay in his home

Published

on

By

LA wildfires: One daughter's haunting account of her father's fatal decision to stay in his home

“He was asleep in his bed, where he still is right now, as I wait on the coroner.”

The haunting words of Kimiko Nickerson stopped us in our tracks.

Her father Rodney, 82, was sure the fire wouldn’t reach his home in Altadena. He was wrong.

The inferno cut through this quiet suburb north of Los Angeles at an alarming rate, its path unpredictable.

California wildfires latest – new evacuation order issued

She said: “He just didn’t want to evacuate. He’s been living here since 1968, and he’s been in Altadena my whole life.

“Like all of us on this block, in four blocks, he didn’t think it was going to be this devastating.

“It jumped whole streets, and it hit this community, but it didn’t touch the mountainside at all.”

They’re still trying to process the apocalyptic scenes here and grieving for those who did not get out.

Kimiko said: “I have no words to explain my feelings at this point in time.

“I’m just silent and numb and just mentally trying to go through the process.”

Rodney Nickerson decided not to leave his Altadena home.
Pic: Kimiko Nickerson
Image:
Rodney Nickerson decided not to leave his Altadena home.
Pic: Kimiko Nickerson

‘Truly apocalyptic scenes’ as flames swallow homes in LA wildfires evacuation zone

It would be impossible to exaggerate the scale of the destruction, cars burnt to a cinder, palm trees still alight, powerlines strewn across roads.

So many people have lost the roof over their head but there’s one thing Kimiko says she’ll never lose – her memories.

“Every laugh, every joke he told.

“He was a smart man. He read the LA Times from cover to cover and walked around the Rose Bowl every day.

“He was healthy, he was ambitious… but he went to sleep and died in his bed back there.”

Continue Reading

US

Donald Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money after Supreme Court rejects appeal

Published

on

By

Donald Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money after Supreme Court rejects appeal

The US Supreme Court has rejected a last-ditch attempt by Donald Trump to delay sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

The president-elect was convicted on 34 counts last May in New York of falsifying business records relating to payments made to Ms Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

Prosecutors claimed he had paid her $130,000 (£105,300) in hush money to not reveal details of what Ms Daniels said was a sexual relationship in 2006.

Mr Trump has denied any liaison with Ms Daniels or any wrongdoing.

By a majority, the Supreme Court found his sentencing would not be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since the presiding judge, Juan M Merchan, has indicated he will not give Mr Trump jail time, fines or probation.

Mr Trump’s attorneys argued that evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s Supreme Court ruling giving Mr Trump broad immunity from prosecution over acts he took as president.

At the least, they said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Mr Trump during the presidential transition.

More on Donald Trump

A guide to everything that will happen on 20 January

Stormy Daniels. Pic: AP
Image:
Stormy Daniels. Pic: AP

Mr Trump’s attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing.

Judges in New York found that the convictions related to personal matters rather than Mr Trump’s official acts as president.

Mr Trump’s attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a “grave injustice” that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House.

Mr Trump has said he will appeal again: “I respect the court’s opinion – I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out,” he said at a dinner with Republican governors at his private club in Florida.

Because the New York case was a state, rather than federal crime, Mr Trump will not be able to pardon himself when he takes office on 20 January.

Continue Reading

Trending