Hold On to Your Maga Hats... - ... it's Trump 2.0, and this time there are no guardrails and nobody to stand in his way. Jon Sopel reports on an American revolution
The London Standard|November 07, 2024
Soon after Joe Biden had become president, I travelled with him to Carbis Bay in Cornwall to the G7 summit. It would be the new president's first major outing onto the world stage, and he had a message to deliver to his allies in Europe: "America is back" - American leadership internationally would resume.
By Jon Sopel
Hold On to Your Maga Hats... - ... it's Trump 2.0, and this time there are no guardrails and nobody to stand in his way. Jon Sopel reports on an American revolution

Soon after Joe Biden had become president, I travelled with him to Carbis Bay in Cornwall to the G7 summit. It would be the new president's first major outing onto the world stage, and he had a message to deliver to his allies in Europe: America is back - American leadership internationally would resume.

The leaders who were gathered there on the Cornish coast breathed a huge sigh of relief America would be looking out again across that big Atlantic Ocean. But one of the leaders with whom I caught up for a drink whispered to me: That's all very well, but for how long?

This week the American people delivered a brutally straightforward answer: four years. And no more. Could it be that Biden was the blip and outlier? Could it be that Donald Trump, Trumpism and the Maga majority are the new normal? It certainly looks like it after the astonishing scale of his victory, because not much stands in his way. And this is profoundly different to when Trump took up the presidency in 2017.

Then, Trump had given little thought to what America First - a phrase coined by the isolationists before the Second World War - meant in practice. Sure, he had a set of instincts but not much more. He never thought he was going to win in 2016, and hadn't spent much time thinking about how he would govern and with what policies. It really did feel like he would see a general in uniform and say, "Oh, you can be my national security adviser. Yeah, and you the multimillionaire Goldman Sachs investment banker, you be my treasury secretary."

But he would later find that these strong, independent-minded people would act as a block on him. He came to loathe the so-called grown-ups in his administration who would impede and thwart his wilder ambitions.

Esta historia es de la edición November 07, 2024 de The London Standard.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición November 07, 2024 de The London Standard.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE THE LONDON STANDARDVer todo
Kylie Minogue loves the bar at Louie, startling Beefeaters and snooping in The Conran Shop
The London Standard

Kylie Minogue loves the bar at Louie, startling Beefeaters and snooping in The Conran Shop

Currently it’s largely suitcase-based as I’ve been doing so much travel for work, but Melbourne, Australia, is home.

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
Are Spurs willing to invest what it takes to win trophies?
The London Standard

Are Spurs willing to invest what it takes to win trophies?

Criticism of the manager for the club's struggles misses the point-whatever he says, he's not been given a squad ready to push for the biggest honours

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
Crowning glory awaits Britain's golden girl
The London Standard

Crowning glory awaits Britain's golden girl

Odds-on favourite to win BBC Sports Personality, Keely Hodgkinson never doubted she was ready to conquer the world

time-read
6 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
Residents at war over £10 billion 'Shanghai-style' Earl's Court plan
The London Standard

Residents at war over £10 billion 'Shanghai-style' Earl's Court plan

Controversial proposals are causing a huge furore in west London

time-read
4 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
The secrets of selling the capital's £40m homes
The London Standard

The secrets of selling the capital's £40m homes

Armed security, NDAs, a gold temple...inside the world of ultra high-end property deals

time-read
4 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
Jenny Packham on Amsterdam why is truly magical at Christmas time
The London Standard

Jenny Packham on Amsterdam why is truly magical at Christmas time

The designer gets lost in the cobbled streets and is entranced by the city’s twinkling lights and unique spirit

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
Alfies Antique Market
The London Standard

Alfies Antique Market

Here is a place to blindly lose oneself in a labyrinth of staircases and thresholds.

time-read
3 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
Decline and fall: what comes after peak wellness?
The London Standard

Decline and fall: what comes after peak wellness?

The social elite are obsessed with devices that track their health but the backlash is building

time-read
2 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
The newest AI can arrange your holiday- but will it be a strictly woke one?
The London Standard

The newest AI can arrange your holiday- but will it be a strictly woke one?

A lightning-quick artificial megabrain with an appetite for social justice? WILLIAM HOSIE has a chat with Claude Al

time-read
4 minutos  |
December 12, 2024
'Fame just isn't healthy
The London Standard

'Fame just isn't healthy

Mercury Prize-winning band English Teacher on the pressure of success, trying not to burn out and the challenges black women face in indie music

time-read
5 minutos  |
December 12, 2024