How Trump is laying the groundwork for rejecting the election result if he loses
Mr Trump has repeatedly told his supporters to make sure the Democrats don't cheat in this year's election - just one example of how he is trying to undermine confidence in the legitimacy of the very democratic process in which he is competing.
Next week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago will be characterised by a mood of relief among delegates.
The switch of candidate from the aged Joe Biden to his vice president Kamala Harris has put the party back in contention in this year's general election, when it seemed set to be flattened by Donald Trump's re-election bid for the presidency.
It still looks like a close race. And even if Ms Harris wins the vote she may not become president.
Much may also hang on how strongly Democratic candidates lower down the ticket perform. It may fall to the US Congress to uphold the constitution.
If Mr Trump "loses" to Ms Harris there are still arguably legitimate ways in which he could end up back in the White House.
Trump loyalists are already preparing for this fight - egged on with carefully unspecific rhetorical encouragement in rambling comments of the man himself.
Whether Mr Trump's protests against his defeat in 2020 amounted to a "Big Lie" or evidence of a "Big Steal", as a majority of Republicans now claim, he is preparing to do it again, if he loses.
At the very least America would be plunged into political and legal chaos, again, for months after the approaching election on 5 November.
It could be much worse. This month President Biden told CBS he is "not confident at all" that there will be a peaceful transition if Ms Harris is elected president.
"Now if I don't get elected it's gonna be a bloodbath," Mr Trump told an audience in March, leaving it ambiguous whether he was only talking about the prospects for the car industry there in Dayton, Ohio.
Lesser politicians are clumsier.
Republican Ohio state senator George Lang apologised after declaring: "I'm afraid if we lose, it's going to take a civil war to save this country."
He did not withdraw his praise for "Bikers for Trump" or the slogan "Fight! Fight! Fight!", also mouthed by Mr Trump, fist aloft, after the assassination attempt on his life.
How Trump could win with the least votes - again
To win the presidency the successful candidate does not necessarily have to get the most votes from the people.
The victor needs the support of a majority of the electoral college - at least 270 out of 538.
Technically the election votes decide the make-up of the college, state by state. Membership does not directly reflect the views of the overall US population.
Republican nominees defeated in the popular vote, including Mr Trump and George W Bush, have become US president in three of the last seven elections.
In 2000, the dispute over Florida went to the US Supreme Court, which ruled in Mr Bush's favour. Since then Mr Trump has made three appointments which have tilted the court in his favour. The justices are likely to back him if there are any legal disputes.
Former president trying to sow seeds of chaos
Mr Trump repeatedly tells his rallies that they have to do two things - they have to vote and they have to make sure that the Democrats don't cheat.
This is just one example of how he is trying to undermine confidence in the legitimacy of the very democratic process in which he is competing. He is laying the ground in advance to challenge the results if they do not go in his favour.
The strategy is a familiar one in modern US campaigns, first formulated by the Republican strategist Roger Stone as "Stop the Steal" back in 2016, in case things did not go Mr Trump's way.
They did and at the end of his presidency, Mr Trump commuted Stone's prison sentence for lying to Congress. As shown in the recent TV documentary, A Storm Foretold, Stone was bitterly disappointed that he did not get a full pardon but he has endorsed Mr Trump again in this campaign.
If Mr Trump loses the vote he may still have successfully spread chaos and confusion which calls the results into question.
There are then potential legal routes at state level and subsequently in Congress, which could even overturn the result in his favour.
This year, election officials have until 11 December to certify the results in their state.
#news #USElections
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Trump supporters lose $12bn as president’s cryptocurrency coin collapses
Donald Trump’s supporters have lost more than $12bn (£9.5bn) in a month after the value of the president’s cryptocurrency collapsed.
$Trump, a so-called “meme coin” unveiled on Jan 17, three days before Mr Trump’s inauguration, has lost more than 80pc of its value since its peak on Jan 19.
This has led to its overall worth falling from a peak of $15bn to $2.7bn on Thursday, as it suffered amid a wider crypto rout.
The paper value of the coins owned by Mr Trump himself has also fallen by $50bn.
While Mr Trump’s own losses have not been crystallised, investors are on the hook after spending heavily to back the Trump coin in the run-up to his inauguration, partly as a show of support but also as a gamble that the token would rise in value.
#Trump #TrumpCoin #cryptocurrency #crypto #memeCoin #News
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Europe must show leadership against Trump’s ‘ruthlessness,’ Germany's foreign minister says
With U.S. support in doubt, German foreign minister warns that Europe must lead on Ukraine or risk losing its security.
BERLIN — As European leaders prepare to meet in London on Sunday for an emergency summit on Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called for Europe to show decisive leadership in the wake of the Oval Office clash between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a starkly worded speech delivered Saturday in the Foreign Ministry, Baerbock warned of a “new era of ruthlessness” following Trump’s public humiliation of Zelenskyy and the U.S. administration’s shifting stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
“A ruthless time has begun, in which we must defend the rules-based international order and the strength of law more than ever against the power of the strongest,” Baerbock said.
#Berlim #News #Europe #Ukraine
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‘He defended our honour’: Ukraine reacts to Zelenskyy’s clash with Trump
Back home there was widespread support for Ukraine’s president, but also dismay at his car-crash encounter in the Oval Office
Ukrainians have rallied behind Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his mauling on Friday in the White House, and have accused Donald Trump and the US vice-president, JD Vance, of deliberately and cynically “starting a brawl”.
There was widespread support for Ukraine’s president at home and dismay at his car-crash encounter in the Oval Office. There was also praise for Zelenskyy’s insistence that a peace deal without security guarantees was meaningless, and that Russia could not be trusted.
The bitter fallout continued on Saturday. There were reports that Trump – who claimed Zelenskyy had “disrespected” him and was “not ready for peace” – was planning to cut off all military supplies to Ukraine.
Senior Ukrainian officials said that without meaningful security pledges any ceasefire deal with Moscow would not last.
#Ukraine #Zelensky
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Trump condemns Zelensky remarks that war end is 'far away'
A statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying a deal to end the war with Russia was "very far away" has drawn a furious response by Donald Trump.
"America will not put up with it for much longer," the US president said in a social media post, before accusing Zelensky of not wanting peace.
A summit of mostly European leaders in London on Sunday agreed a four-point plan to guarantee Ukraine's defence in the event of a peace deal with Russia.
"Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?" Trump said, apparently referring to the summit held two days after his fiery clash with Zelensky at the Oval Office.
The summit - hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer - was intended as a show of support for Ukraine and an attempt to reduce differences between Western countries over Ukraine.
Britain and France said they were working on a European-led solution to the conflict.
After the meeting, Zelensky said a deal to end the war between Ukraine and Russia was "still very, very far away".
He added that he expected the US to continue backing Ukraine despite his own fraught relations with Trump.
"I believe that Ukraine has a strong enough partnership with the United States of America," Zelensky said late on Sunday.
#Zelensky #Trump #BBC #News
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Trump warns Zelensky he 'won't be around very long' if he refuses peace deal with Russia
Donald Trump stepped up the pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky Monday with a stark warning: Sign up to a peace deal or risk annihilation.
The U.S. president spoke to reporters at the White House after an investment announcement, and used the occasion to further ratchet up pressure on the Ukrainian leader.
He said Zelensky should be 'more appreciative' of American aid if he wants Washington's help and made clear his frustration after their Oval Office summit on Friday descended into a slanging match.
#Trump #Zelensky #DailyMail #News
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Dow tumbles 800 points as Trump confirms tariffs on Mexico and Canada will start Tuesday
US stocks slid Monday as investors braced for President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico to go into effect by the midnight deadline.
The Dow tumbled 650 points, or 1.48%, to close at 43,191. The Dow fell almost 900 points in afternoon trading before pulling back slightly. The broader S&P 500 fell 1.76% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.64%.
The S&P 500 posted its biggest one-day decline of the year. The Nasdaq is down about 6.5% since since Trump took office on January 20.
“Tomorrow, tariffs — 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “And that’ll start. … What they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”
Trump said the two trading partners had “no room” left to negotiate to avoid the levies and that he was using tariffs to “punish” countries that, as he put it, were taking from the US economy without giving enough in return.
“They’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow,” he said.
Trump also signed an executive order on Monday raising tariffs on imports from China to 20%, up from 10%. Trump said the tariffs, aimed at bringing China to the table on curtailing fentanyl entering the United States, will be raised because the communist country has not done enough to stem the flow of illegal drugs.
The VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, surged to its highest point this year after Trump’s comments.
“Due to the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs, the stock market has erased the gains from the ‘Trump bump’ following the presidential election and the expected upward pressure on prices is giving investors pause,” said Gustavo Flores-Macias, a professor of government and public policy at Cornell University.
“For investors, 2025 can still be a positive year for stocks, but it may take all year to realize gains. And they may be modest,” said Gina Bolvin, president of Bolvin Wealth Management Group.
“I’m still a bull,” Bolvin said.
The import taxes Trump imposed are significant — the largest in US-China history. The initial tariffs, which went into effect February 4, set in motion tariffs on $1.4 trillion of imported goods. That’s more than triple the $380 billion worth of foreign goods that were hit with tariffs during Trump’s first term, according to estimates from the Tax Foundation.
Before he became president, Trump pledged a 60% tariff on all Chinese goods, so the tariff level could rise still.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the press conference about tariffs on Canada and Mexico that global companies can avoid tariffs if they invest into production in the United States, like TSMC, the Taiwanese chipmaker at the White House on Monday to announce a $100 billion US investment.
Trump’s tariffs will raise prices of imported goods, which could boost demand for goods produced in the US, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. But they also noted that tariffs will have negative effects on some American businesses.
“Tariff increases will also raise production costs for some domestic producers and will likely prompt foreign retaliation against some US exports, both of which could hurt domestic production,” they wrote in a note.
#CNN
#Mexico #Canada #China #US #News
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European leaders ‘doubling down’ on backing Zelensky after Trump blowup
LONDON — Rattled European leaders said Sunday they were “doubling down” on supporting Ukraine and boosting military aid following the televised Oval Office blowup between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The embattled Zelensky was greeted with cheers outside 10 Downing Street and a warm hug from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he arrived late Saturday for an emergency summit of European leaders. The pair embraced again at the start of the session Sunday, which Starmer described as a “once-in-a-generation moment” for European security, and they sat side-by-side during the talks.
The display of support stood in stark contrast with comments Sunday from Trump administration officials, who heaped blame on Zelensky for the White House uproar. National security adviser Michael Waltz described Zelensky’s behavior as “incredibly disrespectful,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused him of disrupting U.S. efforts to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war.
#WashingtonPost
#Europe #News #Zelensky
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"Putin couldn't be happier" over Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, Trump's former national security adviser says
An Oval Office showdown between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would have been cheered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as Mr. Trump's national security adviser during his first administration.
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia and provided aid to Ukraine after the war began but last month, Mr. Trump flipped U.S. policy on its head. He opened peace talks with Russia, which occupies 20% of Ukraine while bombing the rest, and did not invite Ukraine. Then on Friday, he berated Zelenskyy during an explosive Oval Office meeting.
"Vladimir Putin couldn't be happier," McMaster, who is a CBS News contributor and author of "At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House," said. "Because what he sees is all of the pressure on Zelenskyy, all of the pressure on Ukraine and no pressure on him."
Trump and Russia
During his Friday Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy, Mr. Trump revealed something of a common cause with the Russian president. Mr. Trump complained that he and Putin had both been slandered for years by allegations that Russia helped Mr. Trump's campaigns, allegations the U.S. president ties to his Democratic opponents.
"Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia," Mr. Trump said.
McMaster, who was ousted by Mr. Trump in 2018, said Putin has manipulated many world leaders, including the U.S. commander in chief.
#CBSNews #News
#Putin #Russia #Trump #Zelensky
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Trump rolls back tariffs
Trump hikes China tariffs to 30% and then 84%
China reciprocates
Trump hikes tariffs to 145%
China reciprocates
Trump announces that he wants Xi to call him
China does nothing
Trump announces he would be ready to "make a deal"
China does nothing
Trump rolls back tariffs
#Trump #News #Politics #China
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Trump softens tone on Zelenskyy but repeats threat to take over Greenland
Donald Trump has said he appreciated Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s willingness to sign a minerals deal with the United States and come to the negotiating table to bring a lasting peace in Ukraine closer.
“Earlier today, I received an important letter from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine,” the US president said in a speech to Congress after last week’s disastrous meeting at the White House. Quoting from the letter, Trump said Zelenskyy told him that “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians.”
“My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,” Trump quoted Zelenskyy as writing. “We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence.”
#TheGuardian #News
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Starmer and Macron plan to accompany Zelensky to White House on Trump visit
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are considering accompanying Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington to salvage his relationship with Donald Trump.
The visit would be part of a three-pronged plan being worked out by Kyiv’s European allies after a dramatic spat in the Oval Office between the US and Ukrainian presidents led to Washington suspending military support for the war-torn nation.
“We are considering potentially having President Macron travel again to Washington, alongside President Zelensky and his British counterpart,” an Élysée Palace spokesman said.
“We’re currently engaged in tight negotiations which involve the French president, as well as the entire government.”
Mr Macron’s office later said there were no current plans for the trip, while No 10 also denied plans were under way.
It comes as Mike Waltz, the US president’s national security adviser, said the president would consider restoring aid to Ukraine if peace talks were arranged and “confidence-building measures on the table”.
#SirKeirStarmer #Macron #Zelensky #WhiteHouse
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China vows to ‘fight till the end’ as Trump escalates trade war
China has vowed to “fight till the end” after US President Donald Trump escalated his trade war by doubling tariffs on all Chinese imports to 20%.
Beijing hit back at Trump’s levies by imposing retaliatory tariffs of up to 15% on selected American goods, expanding export controls to a dozen US firms and filing a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization. It also sent a stern warning to the Trump administration: Chinese people will never bow to “hegemony or bullying.”
“Pressure, coercion and threats are not the right ways to engage with China. Trying to exert maximum pressure on China is a miscalculation and a mistake,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, told a regular news briefing Tuesday afternoon. “If the US insists on waging a tariff war, trade war, or any other kind of war, China will fight till the end.”
The barrage of retaliatory measures and fiery exchanges came as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to hold a major political gathering designed to project confidence in his country’s ability to stay the course and weather external headwinds.
As thousands of delegates convene in the Chinese capital for the country’s “two sessions” annual meeting, Xi and his officials are set to use the highly choreographed spectacle to broadcast China as a major power steadily advancing its tech prowess and global rise.
That escalating rivalry between the two powers will be in the spotlight on Wednesday morning in Beijing, when Trump’s first address to Congress will roughly coincide with a state-of-the-union-like speech delivered by China’s No. 2 official Li Qiang at the opening meeting of the National’s People Congress (NPC), which rubber-stamps decisions already made behind closed doors.
There, Li is expected to announce China’s yearly targets for economic growth and military spending — and lay out how Beijing plans to continue its economic growth and transformation into a technological powerhouse in the face of mounting pressure from the United States.
Despite the challenges, analysts aren’t bracing for any major policy surprises or U-turns from the roughly weeklong meetings of both the NPC and the country’s top advisory body. True decision-making power lies with the Chinese Communist Party, whose authority cannot be challenged in the country – and Xi, the party’s most powerful leader in decades.
The increased tariffs — and the threat of more economic and tech controls to come — are casting a long shadow over China’s two sessions, which observers will also be watching for signs on how Beijing will continue to address its rumbling economic difficulties at home.
And signs point to Beijing staying the course on its leader’s strategies to bolster innovation, industry and self-sufficiency to steel itself against frictions ahead: all while projecting that, in China, it’s business as usual.
We must “face difficulties head-on and strengthen confidence” amid growing external challenges, the Communist Party journal Qiushi quoted Xi as saying in an article released Friday that’s meant to set the tone for the gathering.
#CNN
#China #Asia #US #Trump
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Trump has instructed to raise Canadian tariffs on aluminum and steel to 50%
Trump orders more tariffs on Canada after Ontario levies tax on electricity exports
Donald Trump has ordered an increase in tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and threatened to impose more levies, after Ontario yesterday slapped a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to three US states.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump said he would “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada” if the country did not end unspecified tariffs it had placed on US goods:
Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on “Electricity” coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to ad an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th. Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous. I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the U.S to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada. If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada. Those cars can easily be made in the USA!
Ontario’s addition of a 25% electricity surcharge affects New York, Minnesota and Michigan, which receive electricity from the province.
#News #Canada #USA #TheGuardian
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Arab Leaders have an alternative to Trump's GAZA plan - "Draft" statement obtained by the BBC
A $53bn (£41.4 billion) reconstruction plan to rival President Donald Trump's idea for the US to "take over Gaza" and move out more than two million Palestinians has been approved by Arab leaders at an emergency summit in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
"The Egypt plan is now an Arab plan," announced the secretary general of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the end of this hours-long gathering.
Without referring specifically to President Trump's ideas, he underlined that "the Arab stance is to reject any displacement, whether it is voluntary or forced".
Egypt had produced a detailed blueprint, with a 91-page glossy document including images of leafy neighbourhoods and grand public buildings, to counter a US scheme labelled as a "Middle East Riviera" which shocked the Arab world and beyond.
#USA #US #GAZA #Egypt #News #BBC
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