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There are three rules for success in life: attack, attack, attack. Admit nothing, deny everything. And always claim victory.

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump is sticking to them to this day.

The original advice is given to a young Trump by the notorious New York lawyer Roy Cohn in a controversial new biopic which is opening in cinemas across the US this weekend, with just over three weeks to go until election day.

Pic: Mongrel Media/Everett/Shutterstock

.THE APPRENTICE, from left: Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump, 2024. .. Mongrel Media / Courtesy Everett Collection.The Apprentice - 2024
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The Apprentice, starring Jeremy Strong (L) and Sebastian Stan (R), is out in the US. Pic: Mongrel Media/Everett/Shutterstock

The movie’s release amounts to an unwelcome October surprise for Trump’s campaign. He is just the latest former US leader to fall foul of big screen incarnation.

Dan Snyder, a close billionaire friend of the former president, originally helped fund the film’s production with the expectation that it would depict Trump positively.

After seeing a finished cut, he spoke to his lawyers in an attempt to stop its distribution.

Trump’s own legal team issued a cease and desist notice to stop the “marketing, distribution, and publication” of the movie.

They were unsuccessful.

The Apprentice had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Pic: Mongrel Media/Everett/Shutterstock

The Apprentice - 2024
THE APPRENTICE, from left: Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump, 2024. ph: Pief Weyman / © Mongrel Media / Courtesy Everett Collection

2024
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Sebastian Stan and Maria Bakalova as Donald and Ivana Trump in a scene from The Apprentice. Pic: Mongrel Media/Everett/Shutterstock

Donald Trump and Ivana Trump 1985. Pic: Adam Scull/PHOTOlink.net/MediaPunch /IPX/AP
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Donald Trump and Ivana Trump in 1985. Pic: Adam Scull/PHOTOlink.net/MediaPunch /IPX/AP

It pulled off its New York premiere in Manhattan last week after a Kickstarter fundraiser was set up to help “promote and defend the acclaimed Trump biopic that corporate America is scared to show you”.

Now it is going on commercial release in the US and Europe. It is out in the UK on 18 October.

The film’s producers insist that it is “a fair and balanced portrait of the former president” based on fact, as stated at the start of the film.

It opens without comment, playing archive footage of Richard Nixon’s “I’m not a crook” speech and his claim that he never personally profited from public office. The implied comparison with Trump is unmissable.

President Richard Nixon speaks near Orlando, Fla. to the Associated Press Managing Editors annual meeting, Nov. 17, 1973. Nixon told the APME "I am not a crook." (AP Photo)
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In 1973 then president Richard Nixon told reporters ‘I am not a crook’. Pic: AP

The film covers “Donnie” as he starts out in his father’s property business in the 1970s and 1980s – before his political career and his time as the star of the long-running The Apprentice reality TV show.

It ends as Trump commissions the ghostwriter for his 1987 bestseller, The Art Of The Deal, and undergoes surgery for liposuction and baldness.

The portrait of the future president is intimate. Sebastian Stan brilliantly mimics many of the gestures and mannerisms which have become familiar to a global audience.

Trump starts out as a soft, privileged, and highly ambitious young man.

He is shown going on to become a party to blackmail, corruption, attempts to swindle his siblings, and bankruptcy.

In a graphic scene, he rapes his first wife.

In her legal divorce deposition, Ivana did indeed accuse her husband of marital rape.

She recanted the claim years later insisting: “Donald and I are the best of friends and he would never rape me.”

Ivana, the mother of Don Jnr, Ivanka, and Eric Trump, died in 2022.

In this film, Trump is the apprentice tutored in corruption to win by Roy Cohn. Cohn persuades him that there is no such thing as “The truth”, only what you say it is.

Cohn was a well-known New York lawyer whose clients ranged from Trump, Rupert Murdoch and Andy Warhol to Mafia bosses.

Since his death in 1986, he has assumed almost legendary status in US literature as an evil manipulator.

Donald Trump makes his point. Pic: AP/Alex Brandon
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Trump’s legal team issued a cease and desist notice to try to halt the movie. Pic: AP

Cohn – a closeted gay man who died of complications from AIDS – is a central character in the award-winning drama Angels In America and other fiction and non-fiction works.

Cohn began his career as a fierce anti-Communist prosecutor and worked alongside Richard Nixon and US Senator Joe McCarthy, who led the discredited anti-Communist witch hunts of the early 1950s.

Cohn used all means to ensure that both Julius Rosenberg and his wife Ethel, mother of two young children, went to the electric chair for spying.

At The Apprentice’s Manhattan after-party, Jeremy Strong told Vanity Fair: “Roy’s legacy is a legacy of shamelessness, mendacity, lies, dissimulation, brutality, and winning as the only moral measure.”

Strong is a method actor, best known as Kendall Roy in Succession, who likes to inhabit the parts he plays.

In Roy Cohn, he says he also found “a kind of guileless innocence and charm at the same time as he was a lethal, brutal, ruthless, savage, remorseless person”.

By the end of the film, Cohn is almost a pathetic character as Trump casts him off, partly in fear of his sickness, partly because of his advice “to slow down” making increasingly questionable “deals”.

Trump relents and throws a final birthday party for Cohn at Mar-a-Lago, spoilt by a thoroughly alienated Ivana telling him that the “solid gold” and diamond Trump cufflinks he’s been given are cheap fakes.

Meanwhile, the real estate tycoon completes his apprenticeship by stealing Cohn’s rules as his own for his book.

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Jeremy Strong, Sebastian Stan and Maria Bakalova turn in Oscar-worthy performances – although the Academy may not be in the mood to honour the film next spring if the man himself is voted back into the White House.

Whether friendly or hostile, presidential biopics typically do not do very well.

Neither Primary Colours in 1998 nor Reagan this year made back their production costs.

Primary Colours came out well into Bill Clinton’s second term, too late to damage his political career.

John Travolta’s portrayal of slippery Jack Stanton, a thinly disguised version of Clinton, and his “bimbo eruptions” did little for the president’s long-term reputation.

Dennis Quaid played President Ronald Reagan in a hagiography earlier this year.

It fizzled at the box office, was panned by critics, and was quickly pulled from cinemas. It has not been released in the UK.

Reagan died 20 years ago but Facebook still restricted online advertising of the film this year in case it was seen as election interference for the Republicans.

The most successful recent biopic was the satire Vice in which Christian Bale piled on the prosthetic pounds to impersonate Dick Cheney, George W Bush’s vice president.

Liz and Dick Cheney in Wyoming in 2022. Pic: AP
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Liz and Dick Cheney in Wyoming in 2022. Pic: AP

This year the real Dick Cheney, a staunch Republican who also served Nixon, has endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris over his own party’s candidate.

His daughter, former US congresswoman Liz Cheney, is leading the campaign against him inside the party.

Unlike those movies, The Apprentice is going live just when Americans are deciding whether or not to vote for Trump.

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What impact it will have is uncertain. One audience member at the US premiere thought it could help Trump win because “Sebastian Stan is attractive”.

The film’s Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbassi says “it’s fun to be riding on the back of the dragon”.

The scriptwriter Gabriel Sherman hopes the film “makes people sit in a quiet, dark theatre and look with their own eyes at the behaviour of the man that we might elect to be the next president”.

Donald Trump may hate the film and denounce it. But the boastful mega-egotist so painstakingly captured in The Apprentice will nevertheless be upset, one suspects, if it fails to do business “bigly” at the box office.

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Trump’s tariffs are about something more than economics: power

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Trump's tariffs are about something more than economics: power

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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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.

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.

Read more:
Do Trump’s numbers on tariffs really add up?
Trump hits island home only to penguins with 10% tariffs

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng gestures to Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves following a photo session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
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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.

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‘A genius actor’, ‘firecracker’, and ‘my friend’: Tributes paid to Top Gun star Val Kilmer

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'A genius actor', 'firecracker', and 'my friend': Tributes paid to Top Gun star Val Kilmer

Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.

The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.

She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.

Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.

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Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles

He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.

“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”

Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”

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Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.

“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”

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Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.

Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.

Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.

“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”

The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.

Nicolas Cage added that “I always liked Val and am sad to hear of his passing”.

“I thought he was a genius actor,” he said. “I enjoyed working with him on Bad Lieutenant and I admired his commitment and sense of humor.

“He should have won the Oscar for The Doors.”

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Island home only to penguins hit by tariffs – and other things you may have missed on ‘Liberation Day’

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Island home only to penguins hit by tariffs - and other things you may have missed on 'Liberation Day'

No one expected penguins to bear the brunt of Liberation Day. 

But among the barrage of tariffs set out by Donald Trump, the US also took aim at uninhabited islands, talked up American beef and turned its nose up at plastic eggs.

Here is what you might have missed in the US leader’s expansive announcement.

Trump latest: Follow live updates

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What the numbers behind Trump’s tariffs really mean

Tiny territories hit with big tariffs

At first glance, newly imposed tariffs on countries such as China, the European Union, India and the UK stand out – ranging from 34% to 10% respectively.

But the president also imposed tariffs on dozens of tiny territories – some of which don’t even have human inhabitants.

One of those was the Heard and McDonald Islands, an external territory of Australia in the Antarctic that is inhabited only by penguins and seals.

All of Australia's external territories that have been hit with US tariffs
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All of Australia’s external territories that have been hit with US tariffs

Despite having no human residents – or imports and exports – the island now faces a 10% tariff for any goods bound for the US.

According to export data from the World Bank, the US imported $1.4m (£1m) of mainly “machinery and electrical” products from Heard Island and McDonald Islands in 2022.

Australian territory Norfolk Island, a volcanic island 600 miles east of Queensland, was also hit with a hefty 29% tariff on exports to the US. That’s much higher than mainland Australia, which had a 10% tariff imposed.

The news was met with confusion by some of Norfolk Island’s 2,188 residents.

“Norfolk Island is a little dot in the world,” Richard Cottle, owner of a concrete-mixing business on the island, said on Thursday.

“We don’t export anything. It was just a mistake”.

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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?

Although the island does ship a modest amount of Kentia palm seeds abroad, this is typically worth less than $1m (£760,000) a year, with the products mostly going to Europe.

According to US government data, America has recorded trade deficits with Norfolk Island for the past three years.

Other tiny nations and territories were also hit with 10% tariffs, including Tokelau, a dependent territory of New Zealand, with a population of around 1,600 people, and the Cocos Islands, another territory of Australia, with a population of around 600 people.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters he had no explanation for the tariffs, calling them “unexpected” and “a bit strange”.

A Southern Elephant Seal pup on the beach below the Baudissin Glacier on Heard Island.
Pic: VWPics/AP
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We have a feeling the seals won’t welcome Trump for his next holiday to the Heard Island… Pic: AP

‘Our beef is beautiful, theirs is weak’

After announcing a 20% tariff against the European Union, Mr Trump’s secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick spoke to Fox News to try to explain what was behind the decision.

In a brief but bizarre rant, Mr Lutnick spoke about the bloc’s ban on imported chicken from the US.

“I mean European Union won’t take chicken from America,” he said.

“They will take lobsters from America… they hate our beef because our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak.”

The EU has a ban on chicken washed in chlorine – a practice that is approved by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Although US beef is not completely prohibited in Europe, any beef that has been treated with artificial growth hormones – which is legal in the US and common among producers – is banned by the EU.

Why was Russia exempt?

Russia was not on Mr Trump’s tariff list, despite his threat to introduce some on Russian oil imports last week.

The US president made the threat after telling NBC’s Kirsten Welker he was “very angry” and “pissed off” after Vladimir Putin criticised the credibility of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as fragile peace negotiations are ongoing.

Read more:
World leaders react to Trump’s tariff announcement
Do Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff numbers add up?

Mr Trump said that if Russia was unable to make a deal on “stopping bloodshed in Ukraine” – and Mr Trump felt that Moscow was to blame – then he would put secondary tariffs on “all oil coming out of Russia”.

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil,” he said.

Axios reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the publication on Wednesday that Russia was left off the tariffs list because US sanctions already “preclude any meaningful trade”.

Russia ran a $2.5bn goods trade surplus with the US in 2024, according to the US Trade Representative’s office, falling from $35bn in 2021 as a result of sanctions put in place due to the war in Ukraine.

World’s poorest nations face highest tariffs

Many of Mr Trump’s tariffs have targeted the world’s poorest countries.

Lesotho in southern Africa, listed as the 22 poorest country in the world, has been slapped with the highest duty of 50%. It primarily exports diamonds and garments, with the US as one of the top five exporting destinations, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported.

The second-highest tariff went to Cambodia at 49%, even though the US is Cambodia’s largest single-country export destination.

Madagascar in east Africa, the world’s ninth poorest country, will face 47% reciprocal tariffs. It primarily exports vanilla, cloves, and garments, with the US among the top five countries it exports to, according to NBC.

‘Huge complexities’ for Northern Ireland and the Republic

Tanaiste Simon Harris speaks to media outside Government Buildings, Dublin. Picture date: Thursday April 3, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story IRISH Tariffs . Photo credit should read: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire
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Deputy premier Simon Harris said the difference in tariffs between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland will cause complexities. Pic: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire

Under the 10% tariff imposed on the UK, Northern Irish goods will also be covered at the same rate.

Whereas the Republic of Ireland will subject to a 20% tariffs – which Mr Trump imposed on the entirety of the EU.

Reacting to the announcement, Ireland deputy premier Simon Harris said the tariff difference would create “huge complexities” for products that need to be carried across the cross-border dimension during production.

He said the issues were similar to those at play during the Brexit debate around maintaining a frictionless land border on the island of Ireland.

Mr Harris said it was on the US to “outline their understanding” on how the 10% differential between Northern Ireland and Ireland will play out.

Trump defines groceries

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Trump says ‘groceries’ is a ‘beautiful term’

As has become common when delivering major addresses, the US president repeatedly deviated from his script.

At one point, he took time to define the word groceries: “It’s a bag with a lot of different things in it.”

He went on to describe the word as “old-fashioned” but “beautiful”.

‘Could you use plastic eggs?’

In another part of his wide-ranging speech, Mr Trump got onto the topic of eggs – the price of which reached an all-time high earlier this year in the US due to the outbreak of bird flu.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump confirmed that the annual White House tradition of rolling around 30,000 Easter eggs across the South Lawn is expected to proceed, and will use real eggs, despite pleas for plastic ones to be used instead.

“They were saying that for Easter ‘Please don’t use eggs. Could you use plastic eggs?’ I say, we don’t want to do that,” Mr Trump said.

He did not clarify who was telling him not to use real eggs.

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