Donald Trump will soon mark 100 days in power – where does his opposition stand?
Donald Trump has not been president for a hundred days – he will pass that marker at the end of April. Already the assessments are in: this is the most disruptive and transformative start ever to a presidential term.
The United States government is being turned inside out by Elon Musk.
The New York Times reports that Trump’s “expansive interpretation of presidential power” is an attempt “to consolidate power over courts, congress and more”.
In other words, to defang the legislature and the judiciary, the two other, supposedly independent, branches of government established to act as checks and balances to presidential autarchy.
On the international stage, the White House has, in practice, given the green light to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to up their assaults on Ukraine and Gaza, while cold shouldering NATO allies.
These are big and controversial changes for which Trump claims a mandate after winning both the electoral college and the popular vote in last year’s election.
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His dramatic moves might be expected to stimulate as much passion among politicians as they are in the general public.
Yet – perhaps because Trump is judged to be so powerful at this stage – his elected opponents at home and abroad are struggling to organise effectively against him.
A two-party fight
American politics is strictly a two-party fight. There are no significant third forces.
Politicians are either Republican or Democrat.
Outside election years when both parties have presidential nominees, there is no equivalent to a British leader of the opposition, fighting the president blow by blow.
What opposition there is to an incumbent president is led from the US Congress.
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Mr Trump signs order to dismantle education department
Currently the Democrats are in an exceptionally weak position because they are in the minority in both the US Senate and the House of Representatives.
They are routinely outvoted by the Republicans.
This month, to the disgust of many Democrats, their party leadership in the Senate passed up on a rare chance to oppose the Trump administration.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and eight other Democratic senators sided with the Republicans to allow Trump’s Budget Resolution to pass.
Democrats, including Schumer, denounced the resolution because it contained massive cuts to government programmes such as housing, social security and healthcare.
But Schumer justified his last-minute change of heart because the federal government would have shut down unless the bill passed.
“A shutdown would shut down all government agencies, and it would solely be up to Trump and DOGE (department of government efficiency) and Musk what to open again, because they could determine what was essential,” he explained.
“So their goal of decimating the whole federal government, of cutting agency after agency after agency, would occur under a shutdown.”
Democrats in both Houses were furious. Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crocket said Schumer is “absolutely wrong”.
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut argued that the Democrats had aided Trump and Musk’s plan to destroy government so they can hand control over to their “billionaire friends”.
Jon Stewart, the star host of the Daily Show, said simply of Schumer “you are a disgrace”.
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TV comedians like Stewart and his former partners Stephen Colbert and John Oliver have become some of the most outspoken public critics of Trump.
They viciously mock the Democratic establishment, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, for repeatedly insisting that the MAGA “fever will break”.
Meanwhile, Schumer protests that it will not be possible to do sensible deals in Congress until Trump’s popularity rating drops to 40%.
It could be a long wait. At the moment the president stands at around 48% approval while the Democrats are at a pitiful 27%.
This is not a basis from which they can confidently expect to harvest in 2026, the backlash against the president’s party which often occurs in mid-term elections.
There is little coherence as senior Democrats mount their own freelance campaigns.
Two prominent radicals from blue states, Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are outspoken about the violations of the Constitution which they believe the administration is perpetrating.
Together they are embarking on a nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. They are joined in anger by the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, who denounces “villainous cruelty by a handful of idiots”.
Sanders, 83, ran for the Democrat nomination in the past.
Both Ocasio-Cortez and Pritzker have been talked about as possible future runners.
Other Democrats worry that their values are too leftish and woke to win back the extra votes their party needs.
This seems to be the view shared by other potential candidates for the 2028 nomination.
Some are keeping a low profile. Pete Buttigieg has declined to run for the Senate and Kamala Harris says she will not announce any plans until the autumn.
Two governors are emerging as early hopefuls: Gavin Newsom in California and Harris’ former running mate, Tim Walz, in Minnesota.
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Newsom spotted Trump’s dominance on social media and in the manosphere of podcasting.
Newsom has adopted an “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” strategy and set up his own podcast series.
His guest list is raising eyebrows for including Trump’s outrider Steve Bannon and other prominent MAGA figures.
When he finally got his invitation, centrist dad Walz wanted to know why Newsom is promoting “bad guys”.
So the Democrats in the US are arguing with each other and still looking for a way to take on Trump beyond hoping that his popularity will drop before he has terminally destroyed the democratic system.
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Political leaders across the spectrum in Europe are privately aghast at what looks like the end of international politics as they have known it.
But they do not want to provoke Trump’s vindictive wrath by pointing out publicly that he is destroying America’s role as the lynchpin of the Western alliance.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor in waiting, Friedrich Merz, have one key asset: Trump is overwhelmingly unpopular in their countries.
This allows them to adopt a two-faced strategy – smilingly trying to salvage whatever they can from their existing links, while preparing to defend their countries with America as an unreliable ally and seemingly as an economic foe.
No one has a plan to take on Trump directly.
The best they have come up with is to hope he goes too far and destroys himself.
In so many ways that is not a safe bet. Trump’s first hundred days may yet be the least extraordinary of his term.
The UK-US trade deal has been signed and is “done”, US President Donald Trump has said as he met Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 summit.
The US president told reporters: “We signed it, and it’s done. It’s a fair deal for both. It’ll produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.”
As Mr Trump and his British counterpart exited a mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies where the summit is being held, the US president held up a physical copy of the trade agreement to show reporters.
Several leaves of paper fell from the binding, and Mr Starmer quickly bent down to pick them up, saying: “A very important document.”
President Donald Trump drops papers as he meets with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Kananaskis, Canada. Pic: AP
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Sir Keir Starmer hastily collects the signed executive order documents from the ground and hands them back to the US president.
Sir Keir said the document “implements” the deal to cut tariffs on cars and aerospace, adding: “So this is a very good day for both of our countries – a real sign of strength.”
Mr Trump added that the UK was “very well protected” against any future tariffs, saying: “You know why? Because I like them”.
However, he did not say whether levies on British steel exports to the US would be set to 0%, saying “we’re gonna let you have that information in a little while”.
Sir Keir Starmer picks up paper from the UK-US trade deal after Donald Trump dropped it at the G7 summit. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also praised Sir Keir as a “great” prime minister, adding: “We’ve been talking about this deal for six years, and he’s done what they haven’t been able to do.”
He added: “We’re very longtime partners and allies and friends and we’ve become friends in a short period of time.
“He’s slightly more liberal than me to put it mildly… but we get along.”
Sir Keir added that “we make it work”.
The US president appeared to mistakenly refer to a “trade agreement with the European Union” at one point as he stood alongside the British prime minister.
Mr Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on countries in April. At the time, he announced 10% “reciprocal” rates on all UK exports – as well as separately announced 25% levies on cars and steel.
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In a joint televised phone call in May, Sir Keir and Mr Trump announced the UK and US had agreed on a trade deal – but added the details were being finalised.
Ahead of the G7 summit, the prime minister said he would meet Mr Trump for “one-on-one” talks, and added the agreement “really matters for the vital sectors that are safeguarded under our deal, and we’ve got to implement that”.
US
Doctor to plead guilty to giving Matthew Perry ketamine before Friends star suffered fatal overdose
A Los Angeles doctor has agreed to plead guilty to giving Friends actor Matthew Perry ketamine in the lead up to his death from a fatal overdose, prosecutors have said.
Dr Salvador Plasencia, who will admit to four counts of distribution of ketamine, faces up to a maximum of 40 years in prison.
He is among five people charged in connection with the death of Friends star Perry, 54, whose body was found in his hot tub by his assistant in October 2023.
The medical examiner ruled that ketamine and other factors caused him to lose consciousness and drown.
The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal treatment for depression, but had begun seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him.
Salvador Plasencia. Pic: Malibu Canyon Urgent Care
Plasencia is accused of supplying the bulk of Perry’s ketamine in his final weeks. He and three other defendants, including another doctor, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for their cooperation.
Jasmine Sangha, who prosecutors allege was a major ketamine dealer, is alleged to have provided the dose that killed the actor and is the only defendant who has pleaded not guilty to the prosecution’s case.
About a month before the actor’s death, Perry found Plasencia, a doctor who allegedly asked another doctor, Mark Chavez, to obtain the drug for him, according to court filings in the Chavez case.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez, according to court filings from prosecutors.
Dr Mark Chavez has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry. File pic: AP
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The pair who practised in California met up the same day and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine, the filings said.
After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500 (£3,314), Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to” prosecutors said.
Chavez has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry.
Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing.
He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004.
US
Suspect in killing of US politician went to homes of other lawmakers in same night, officials say
A man accused of killing a US politician and her husband went to the homes of other lawmakers that night, intending to kill them, officials said.
Vance Boelter, 57, meticulously planned his attacks, carrying out surveillance missions, taking notes on the properties and people he targeted and disguising himself as a police officer, according to Minnesota’s acting US attorney Joseph Thompson.
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Authorities believe Boelter wore a mask as he posed as a police officer and shone a torch in the face of some of his victims to disguise his identity.
The FBI released this image of Vance Boelter posing as a police officer. Pic: FBI.
“It is no exaggeration to say that his crimes are the stuff of nightmare,” said Mr Thompson.
Boelter, 57, allegedly shot and wounded Senator John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, in their Minneapolis home in the early hours of Saturday morning.
John Hoffman. Pic: Facebook/Senator John Hoffman
He then travelled to the home of another state lawmaker but she and her family were on holiday, so they didn’t answer the door, said Mr Thompson.
Video showed that Boelter rang the doorbell at around 2.24am on Friday but left when the family didn’t respond.
Vance Boelter. Pic: Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office/Reuters
He then drove to the home of an unnamed state senator, but after the Hoffmans’ adult daughter called emergency services to say her parents had been shot, a police officer was dispatched to conduct a wellness check.
That officer saw Boelter’s car parked up the street but thought he was another officer, said Mr Thompson.
Boelter had reportedly altered his car to make it look more like a police car.
He then left and drove to the home of lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, according to an FBI affidavit.
Read more:
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Melissa Hortman. Pic: Instagram
Local police officers, also conducting a check, arrived to see Boelter fatally shoot Mark Hortman through the open door of the home, according to the document.
Melissa Hortman was found dead inside.
Boelter was arrested on Sunday evening after a huge manhunt in a rural area in Sibley County, southwest of Minneapolis.
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He faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder in the deaths of the Hortmans and the wounding of Mr Hoffman and his wife.
Before his arrest, the father of five texted his family group chat saying: “Dad went to war last night … I don’t wanna say more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody,” according to the affidavit.
His wife got another text that said: “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation… there’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around,” the document said.
Several AK-style firearms and a list of about 70 names, which included politicians and abortion rights activists, were allegedly found inside his vehicle.
A Minnesota official said politicians who had been outspoken in favour of abortion rights were on the list.
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