It is no longer toxic to be associated with Donald Trump
Something has changed. When Donald Trump won in 2016, America shocked itself.
Even those who chose him back then weren’t wholly convinced he’d do it.
The Washington establishment – Democrat and Republican – had not expected a President Trump.
And beyond that, in 2016, there was a reluctance to admit you were for Trump.
Not anymore. Beyond his base – the country-wide grassroots faithful once dismissed by Hillary Clinton as the “deplorables”, there has been a truly fascinating cultural shift in America. And it’s been quick.
The hostility to Trump’s MAGA movement has gone. Part of it is a resignation; the resistance has gone, but it’s much more than that.
From the Silicon Valley tech billionaires, to significant corners of Hollywood, and in the business community, it is no longer toxic to be associated with Donald Trump.
And across Washington over the past 48 hours that shift has been so starkly clear.
Sections of society that wouldn’t or couldn’t put their name to Trump are now proudly hopeful of his chances to “Make America Great Again”. The MAGA cap is a red carpet fashion accessory, not a hillbilly hat.
All over town there have been glitzy inauguration parties in the city’s finest restaurants and clubs. And it’s not just West Palm Beach and Silicon Valley that’s descended on DC.
It would have been inconceivable in 2016 that I could have attended a lunch full of wealthy Arab-Americans for Trump. Yet this weekend the city’s swanky Ilili restaurant was buzzing with optimism drawn from across the country.
And that optimism was all around in spades last night for Donald Trump’s final victory rally.
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In the city’s Capital One Arena on the eve of completing such a remarkable comeback, 20,000 gathered for the victory lap.
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His opening words, to roars: “We won, we won.”
Written off, prosecuted, convicted, nearly assassinated, twice. I wanted a penny for his inner thoughts at that moment.
Instead we got the familiar rhetorical bullet points.
“I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East. And I will prevent World War three from happening… we will end the wokeness. We will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our schools.”
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Of course this time it may not be rhetoric. He has the presidential power now to deliver his way, and he says he will, with an unprecedented number of executive orders on day one.
“We have to set our country on the proper course by the time the sun sets tomorrow evening. The invasion of our borders will have come to a halt.”
Speaking to Sky News, senior advisor to Mr Trump Jason Miller said things would change with prescient breaking speed.
“I think he will see some immediate action there inside the Rotunda before the president heads over [to the White House]…”
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It was striking that the person invited on stage, during the victory speech, was not his vice president, but the man they are calling his “co-president”, Elon Musk.
The world’s richest man, with his son in tow, carried an awkward authenticity with him.
Mr Musk now leads a band of America’s top tech execs – from Meta, to Amazon, to TikTok – all locked in behind Trump.
Outgoing president Joe Biden says they are the billionaires who represent an oligarchy close to the heart of government. Or are they, instead, reflective of American success?
It’s always been possible to make assumptions about America: its direction, its priorities, its focus. A linear thread has run through the presidency.
It feels now that that’s been severed. It feels like we are set for profound change.
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Trump shows off his YMCA moves
The show ended with the Village People on stage with YMCA, a song that became the accidental anthem of his movement.
And yet the Village People had wanted Kamala Harris to win. That Mr Trump had them here, and that they wanted to be here, is a reflection of an upbeat unity that America will need in the days and four years ahead.
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has been passed by the US congress, sending it to the president to sign into law.
The controversial tax breaks and spending cuts package cleared its final hurdle as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill with a 218-214 vote.
The bill delivers tax breaks Mr Trump promised in his 2024 election campaign, cuts health and food safety programmes, and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will lower tax revenues by $4.5trn over 10 years and add $3.4trn to the US’s $36.2trn debt.
But despite concerns over the 869-page bill’s price tag – and its hit to healthcare programmes – Republicans largely lined up in support, with just two rebelling on the vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is congratulated following the vote. Pic: Reuters
Every Democrat in Congress voted against the bill, blasting it as a giveaway to the wealthy that will leave millions of Americans uninsured.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made the Republicans’ closing argument for the bill, telling Congress: “For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel.”
Earlier, the House’s Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a record-breaking eight-hour and 44-minute speech against it.
“The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
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The bill’s spending cuts largely target Medicaid, the health programme that covers 71 million Americans on low incomes.
It will tighten enrolment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments.
The changes could leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance, according to the CBO.
On the other side of the ledger, it will stave off tax increases that were due to hit most Americans at the end of the year, when tax cuts from President Trump’s first term were due to expire.
It also sets up new tax breaks for overtime pay, seniors and tipped income.
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The bill narrowly passed the US Senate on Tuesday after vice president JD Vance cast the deciding vote to break a 50-50 tie.
Mr Trump will sign it into law on Friday at 5pm local time (10pm in the UK), the White House said.
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