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A TRAGEDY IN THE OVAL OFFICE Many people are tempted to qualify yesterday’s fiasco at the White House, which included the humiliation and berating of President Zelenskyy, as a historical event that will forever be remembered either as the worst day in US diplomacy or the day the US stood up for “America First,” depending on which side you butter your bread on.   In reality, it is not so much yesterday’s meeting that marks a historical moment as it is but the final bookend in a series of events that started notably with Vice President Vance’s dressing down of Europe at the Munich Security Conference, when he ironically professed his lack of love for the old continent on February 14th, whilst snubbing the German Chancellor be refusing to see him given his “busy” schedule. He did, however, have time to meet Ms Alice Weidel, leader of the Alternative für Deutschland, the most extreme far-right party in Europe and declare her his Valentine during a warm meeting if not of minds at least of intentions. The proverbial March Hare meeting Alice in Wonderland, so to speak. JD Vance lived up to expectations by displaying his raving mad temperament by provoking President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in his blatant attempt to curry favour from his Mad Hatter of a President.   February 2025 will go down in history as the moment when the United States formally ceased to be a shining city upon a hill so dear to President Ronal Reagan when the President of the US resigned from his role of leader of the free world and ultimately when all pretence at supporting the liberal democracies was abandoned. Over 80 years of consistent US policy exited shamefully right stage to be replaced by “America First”, brought back from the brink of death where it was left defeated in the 1930s,  dressed up in new boisterous Trumpian clothes and ready to be brandished as the latest weapon in America’s arsenal to glorify American power in the 21st century. Realpolitik à la Bismarck is decidedly back in fashion, with the sole aim of America First being to pursue, possess and apply power wherever and whenever necessary.   Such a fundamental shift in American foreign policy is a significant historical milestone. Coupled with the equally disruptive domestic policies implemented by President Trump in his second term, where the bedrock of Trump’s approach is retribution and revenge for perceived grievances, the combination makes the current period all the more remarkable.   With the wealthiest man in the world at his side, wielding a metaphorical chainsaw, Trump is dismantling the Federal government at an alarming speed, determined to change the American political system forever, promoting the “unitary executive theory” based on Article II of the American Constitution, whilst riding roughshod over Articles I and III, i.e. the legislative branch of government, namely the Congress and the judiciary branch of government, namely the federal judiciary. In simpler terms, the promotion of an authoritarian regime which implies the end of any genuine democracy, even if the trappings thereof are kept alive.   All roads lead not to Rome but seemingly to Berlin, albeit pre-second World War Berlin,  as Trumpism is seeking to introduce a hard-line Germanic version of fascism, with an American accent both in tone and style, creating a unique blend of a dangerous tyrannical philosophy dressed up in the more reassuring American values of “common sense” and good old fashioned Judaeo-Christian values.   It beggars belief that the dismantling of liberal democracy is happening inexorably before our eyes due to the histrionics of a one-time TV reality show presenter, hitherto known as a failed real estate developer, who, despite his criminal record and recent claim to fame as a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist, has managed to become for a second time arguably the most powerful man in the world. The cult of personality centred around Donald Trump is even more potent than those of the pre-Second World War fascist dictators, as it is fuelled and powered by modern means of communication, primarily the internet and the digital highway of social media. Mark Twain once remarked, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes,” when the Pony Express was considered the height of modernity. In today’s world, lies and disinformation travel so fast and spawn so many false versions that truth doesn’t stand a chance against the lies people want to believe. The main threat to stability and peace in the world is no longer just one man, Donald Trump, no matter how big his ego is, but rather the movement that carries his name, namely Trumpism, that has taken over and subjugated the Grand Old Republican party in the US.   Another cliché often quoted in this context is that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely, attributed to the obscure nineteenth-century English historian Lord Acton. In the case of Trump, it is better to refer to Hannah Arendt, the German American political philosopher who coined the phrase “the banality of evil,” which perfectly describes Trump and Trumpism. Power did not corrupt Trump. He was already corrupt by nature, and his political success is due to the support he is given by the ever-increasing number of politicians, mainly from the Republican party, who have not only bent the knee in front of Trump but have bent over backwards to accommodate him and who continue to do so. In essence, it doesn’t require much to create a class of snivelling sycophants and enablers attracted by the appearance of power and the trimmings that go with it. Betraying others is only the first step. The founding act is the betrayal of one’s conscience. Let us be under no illusion that the only qualification required to become part of Trump’s most cherished inner circle is mediocrity, upon which unquestioning loyalty can easily grow like coprophilous fungus on cow dung.   Add to the mix the swarm of wasps attracted by the golden pot of Trumpian honey, the modern tech oligarchs who have been so quick to accommodate the new Queen Bee, showering the new President with millions, and you have a recipe for disaster. As Russia has demonstrated, a dictator supported by oligarchs is a dangerous combination, with each side believing they have the upper hand until, eventually, the snake devours its tail. The lords of Silicon Valley would be well-minded to remember Trump’s favourite parable of the scorpion and the frog.   February 28th is the point of no return when our collective innocence is lost and democratic naivety has died. One only has to look at the cast of billionaires and Fox News-affiliated people that constitute Trump’s cabinet. Lincoln is famous for forming a cabinet of rivals, ensuring his three main rivals had a seat at the table. Trump has named a cabinet of accomplices selected not – Trump forbid – for their competence but for their loyalty who will gleefully aid and abet Donald Trump in his crazed destruction of American democracy as we know it.   We can no longer pretend that America is on the right side of democracy. We can no longer hope against reason that the worst can be avoided. We can no longer pray hopelessly for deliverance.   Our salvation is in our own hands. Not those of god, whichever one you choose to worship (including President Trump). Humility requires us to know that the future is uncertain and that there is no simple solution. All we can hope for is that a better future, forged in crisis, will lead us out of this quagmire. Suppose we can recognise the gravity of the situation and stop believing in the illusions of the past. In that case, we can start the necessary work to build a coalition of the willing on a global level to prevent the new world order from being held hostage by autocratic leaders. The world described by George Orwell in 1984 is looking more and more prescient, down to the advent of Newspeak and the rapid change of alliances. But it is still fiction. It is up to us all to ensure it does not become our reality.

JD Vance's spectacle in Munich: the end of Pax Americana It is tempting to fall into anti-Trump vitriol, given the spectacle his new administration has been offering the world over the past three weeks since his second inauguration. However, we must remember that he was duly re-elected in a free and fair election. Although the scale of his victory is qualified as a landslide, it is grossly exaggerated as Trump won the popular vote by a mere 1.5% and did not achieve 50% of the total vote with 49.8%. For reference, Biden won the popular vote in 2020 with a 4.5% margin over Trump at 51.3%. A shift of 120,000 votes over the three states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania would have changed the election in Harris's favour.   Nonetheless, Trump won fair and square and is entitled to implement his program. The fact that he has come out of the gates all guns blazing and is aggressively pursuing what in reality is the Project 2025 plan, contrary to his numerous pre-election assertions and promises, may come as a surprise to some Americans, in particular to some of his own voters, is not in itself disqualifying either.   It seems that most Americans went into this election with their eyes wide shut and believed the constant stream of lies and untruths that they were spoon-fed on a daily basis by the candidate himself. It comes to many observers as no surprise that the second coming of Trump is no messiah-like miracle and benediction for the incredulous and adoring masses. From the day he announced his decision to run again at Mar-a-Lago in November 2023, he let there be no doubt that this election was all about revenge and retribution. "I will be your retribution" is the cornerstone of his electoral campaign, although his aides did everything they could to temper this message, fearing that it would scare some voters away.   The additional wild card of the wealthiest man in the world, Elon Trump, rediscovering his South African roots and the political philosophy of South Africa pre-Nelson Mandela, supporting wholeheartedly Trump both with quasi-unlimited financing and a fiery, albeit somewhat quirky personal presence on the trail was enough to guarantee Trump's success. George W. Bush is well known for having given up on alcohol and his previous dissolute life to become a born-again Christian. Elon Musk trod the path in reverse by becoming a born-again Afrikaner nationalist in American attire, embracing his desire for political power and influence by hitching his wagon to Trump's neo-populist train.   The new version of Trump is as expected, unleashed, uncontrolled and free of any guardrails – ready to immediately challenge the democratic status quo in the United States to see just how far he can go in what he hopes will be his second but not last term – as he has "joked" several times over the past few weeks.   As much as the chaos and pain he is inflicting on the American people and society is distressing and a parade of horribles, each day worse than the previous day, the fact remains that it is too late for the American people to change course and complain about the decision they made barely a few months ago. The country has the government it wants, and some would say the government it deserves.   Unfortunately, for the rest of the world and in particular for the people of the countries still considered to be part of the liberal democracies of the so-called "free world" we had no say in the matter. We have to contend with a reinvigorated and revenge-seeking Donald Trump ready to start where he left off, and we all know, despite Trump's best efforts to promote "the Big Lie", his final acts in 2021 were not his finest hour.   Therein lies the rub. Europe, in particular, did not vote for Trump but is now confronted with the Trumpian tsunami of a trade war based on the new President's obsession with tariffs and an American President ready to ride roughshod over international law and recent history to satisfy his vanity. Rather than having his most extreme impulses tempered by his advisors, Trump is being egged on by his appointed group of ultra-loyalists, who have sold their souls to the devil such a long time ago that they have come full-circle and worship Trump blindly as their god-like Saviour. The new Vice President JD Vance of Hilly Billy Elegy fame is a case in point and represents the future of Trumpism: the same extremist and hateful ideology dressed up as an all-American hero, albeit with a razor-sharp mind and the advantage of youth to be able to plan long-term the durable regime change he craves in America.   It is the same JD Vance who strutted out on the stage of the Munich Security Conference in the quaint, old-fashioned Bayerischer Hof Hotel, not to address the most pressing issue of the times, i.e. the ongoing war in Ukraine, but to lecture the assembled European politicians that the greatest danger to Europe was the "enemy from within". Vance's lack of self-awareness was on full display, trying to make a joke comparing Greta Thunberg to Elon Musk (spoiler alert: there are about 220 billion reasons why this makes no sense). On a much more serious note, he had the gall to come to Munich of all places, a stone's throw away from one Prinzregenten Platz where a certain Adolf Hitler lived for many years, to emphasise the risk of the "enemies from within", to stress that in the 21st-century immigrants represented the main threat to democracy and that the European countries were guilty of becoming autocratic nations by stifling free speech and "not listening to their people".   Whilst refusing to meet the current elected Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, he instead deemed it necessary to have a meeting with Alice Weidel, the leader of Alternative für Deutschland (Afd), the right-wing neo-fascist party barely two weeks before a general election. The same Alice Weidel, who is greeted by her supporters with the chant of "Alice für Deutschland", eerily similar to the 1930 SA's slogan of "Alles für Deutschland". We are far beyond the realm of symbolism here and much more in the clear territory of election interference and poorly disguised support for right-wing extremism throughout Europe.   Once again, this must come as no surprise as birds of a feather flock together, and what is termed as Trumpism in one country is called national populism in another – the common denominator between all these denominations is their common core of good old-fashioned fascism, Prinzregentenplatz-style.   This is the reality the world is faced with, where a sitting US Vice President spends 90% of his speech attacking the allies of the United States for betraying their democratic values whilst he was elected on the same ticket as an election denier and felon who would have been forbidden to run again as an insurrectionist in most other democracies, promoting free speech at the same time when the Associated Press has been barred for the White House for the third day in a row, for refusing to adopt the new Trump given name of Gulf of America, and who finally barely mentioned Ukraine as an after-thought as if it were an irritating, misbehaved child gate crashing a formal meeting, similar to Elon Musk's four-year-old running around the Oval Office during an official press conference.   February 14th 2025, will be forever a milestone in world history, where JD Vance's choice of Valentine and his fiery diatribe clearly set the stage for the New World Order, the day when the fog lifted. The day when Europe and the erstwhile allies of the United States realised that America had ridden off into the blood-red sunset to court its new-found friends of a more similar nature, abandoning not only its allies but all its democratic values, the rule of law and humanistic principles, not only at home but abroad as well. The new Pax Americana does not include Europe or, for that matter, Ukraine and threatens to become a Bellum Americanum instead.

One happy camper Why did Kamala Harris lose the election ? Entire history books will be devoted to this question in the years to come and already barely a few months after the election, umpteen different theories and reasons have been advocated, from Bernie Sanders belief  “it should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.” [i] to the  BBC’s conviction that Harris did not distance herself enough from Biden. [ii] From my perspective, there is one overriding factor that tipped the scales in favour of Trump, and that is the fact that he got away with lying through his back teeth to an unprecedented extent and that the media, in general, did not hold him to account for his campaign based on outrageous propaganda. All the other very valid reasons for Harris’ defeat are secondary compared to this fundamental fact. The scope and scale of Trump’s victory were unexpected, and the much-feared prolonged wait to declare a winner did not materialise as Trump won all seven battleground States. Just after 1:30 am, the AP declared Trump the winner, and the fat lady had sung, albeit very much to a very different tune than most observers had expected. Trump quickly took to the floor, declared victory and wasted no time wallowing in his victory, saying he had “masterminded the greatest political movement of all time”. [iii] Contrary to 2016, he also won the popular vote, a significant fact in and of itself, as his victory cannot be tainted. The reaction to his victory on the Democrat’s side was equally subdued and contrary to 2017, there was no groundswell of protest, no resistance, and no women’s march with the famous “pussy hats”. The Democrats fell back on one of their bad habits, looking inward to play the blame game. To quote a Politico article: “The resistance is not coming to save you. It’s tuning out.” [iv] The immediate reaction to Trump’s victory was for Americans to tune out, take time off, and devote their energy to other matters after what had proved to be an exhausting political cycle. As further evidence of this, the viewership of both CNN and MSNBC plummeted dramatically after the election, respectively, by 16 and 36%. [v] During the last week of the campaign, Trump was continuously being branded as a fascist, but to suddenly become a respectable President-Elect only a few days later. Even Trump’s arch-enemies Mika Brezinski and Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe fame meekly capitulated and visited President-Elect Trump in Mar-a-Lago on Friday, November 15th,  “to restart communication between the three of them “ [vi] for the first time since March 2020. The symbol was not lost on everybody, as some of their colleagues at MSNBC, such as Katie Phang, remarked, “Normalizing Trump is a bad idea. Period”. [vii] The capitulation to Trump seems to go against the historian Tim Snyder’s recommendation regarding how to deal with potential fascist leaders: “Do not obey in advance”. [viii] After spending two years demonising Trump as the second coming of Adolf Hitler, it took Brezinski and Scarborough two weeks to change their minds. Seeing this as anything other than opportunistic and self-serving isn't easy. It is apparently better to avoid the wrath of the future President than to stay true to your values. Whilst it is easy to criticise talk show hosts and news commentators for their “flexibility” in all things Trump-related,  we cannot ignore what is a much more serious matter, namely the attitude of politicians, not only from America but the world over. Mar-a-Lago became the centre of the world virtually overnight, and the lack of engagement of the still-official President Biden made this all the more apparent. Under the American constitution, there can be only one President at a time, but in a typical Trumpian manner, this fundamental principle was quickly ignored, and Trump not only welcomed foreign dignitaries to his Florida headquarters but also called numerous world leaders to discuss matters of State. Mar-a-Lago quickly became the court of King Donald, with ultra loyalists and supporters vying for attention along with the usual cast of jesters. Elon Musk took up residence at the private club and was Trump’s shadow throughout the transition period, playing both kingmaker and the role of the Prince of Darkness as Trump’s most influential adviser.  On November 14th  Javier Milei, the right-wing Argentinian president, became the first foreign leader to meet Trump following the election nine days earlier when he attended a gala at Mar-a-Lago. On November 29th, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the trip after Trump threatened to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports. The trip mustn’t have gone too well as Trump took to referring to Trudeau as the “Governor of the 51st State”, and Trudeau has since then resigned. Many other foreign leaders followed suit, such as Trump’s old friend and supporter Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary on December 9th and Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister on January 4th 2025. Trump’s new popularity has transcended to the corporate world, particularly to the heart of the tech world in Silicon Valley. Ever since Elon Musk very publicly endorsed Trump in July 2024, bouncing around on stage like the South African version of the mad hatter, albeit a mad hatter with bottomless pockets willing to donate massively to the Trump campaign,  the importance of the tech world’s newfound love for Trump became more and more apparent. Musk took such a shine to his new pastime that he made sure Twitter, now known as X, would become an unofficial arm of the Trump campaign, allowing far-right ideas to spread exponentially across the platform under the guise of “free speech”. The tech CEOs knew which wind the wind was blowing, as illustrated by Jeff Bezos’ highly unusual decision not to allow the Washington Post, the newspaper he owned, to endorse Kamal Harris just before the election, demonstrating that the newspaper’s motto “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was no longer worth the paper it was printed on. Once Trump won the election, the tech CEOs pushed each other aside to visit Trump in his Florida court and kiss the ring. One by one, Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon promised to donate a million dollars each to Trump’s inauguration fund. Moreover, they were promised prominent access to the inauguration itself; even the CEO of TikTok, the much-maligned Chinese video platform, was welcomed to attend, despite the ban due to come into effect the day before on January 19th. More importantly, a few days before the inauguration on January 7th, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was closing down its third-party fact-checking program on Facebook, Threads and Instagram, a move destined to curry favour with the incoming president. But it is Elon Musk who has won the jackpot, at least at this initial stage, as he has been named responsible for the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he will be able to play Venetian head of State until his heart is content. Initially, Vivek Ramaswamy was to be co-chair of Doge. Still, in typical Venetian fashion, he was soon exiled and found himself scrambling for an alternative path forward, deciding to run for the Governor of Ohio instead. Musk’s influence was apparent during the negotiations to prevent a government shutdown just before Christmas, and soon, Musk was being touted as the real power behind the throne. Trump meekly defended himself by saying that Musk could never be president, as he wasn’t born in the United States. It remains to be seen how long this match in the heavens of Mars will last before Trump feels it is time to re-establish his place at the head of the food chain, but he may find that getting rid of Musk will not be so easy given the fact he is the wealthiest man in the world. However, the choice of Trump’s future cabinet provided the most entertainment as potential candidates scrambled for attention at Mar-a-Lago, and Trump was determined to prove just how different his second presidency would be by naming the most outrageous people possible to his cabinet and daring the Senate to refuse their nomination. The only acceptable and reasonable nomination was Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, but then Trump went full Alice in Wonderland. He first nominated Matt Gaetz as his Attorney General, rewarding him for his unwavering loyalty and particularly aggressive form of dedication to the MAGA cause and, by so doing, probably gave most members of Congress, including many Republicans, a mild heart attack given Gaetz’s reputation and popularity, or lack thereof. But faced with a damning ethical report, even Gaetz could not deny the allegations of promiscuity with underage young women and his affinity to taking class-A drugs; after all, only Donald Trump can escape scot-free from such dire straits. But no matter, buoyed by his supposed landslide mandate, Trump continued to upset the Washington apple cart by naming RFK Junior, or the prominent anti-vaxer, as health secretary, officially giving him “carte balance” to make the changes he felt were necessary. Trump continued in the same vein, naming Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host who once upon a time in the Army National Guard as Secretary of Defence and  Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Congresswomen and a  Russia sympathiser, as  Director of National Intelligence, to name but a few. All of these nominations have to be confirmed by the Senate, but with a 53-47 advantage, Trump will feel he has the latitude to bulldoze his nominations through the confirmation process and be damned those who dare oppose him. If there is one point that has been made abundantly clear during the transition period, it is that Trump has no constraints at all and that he intends to govern the way he pleases, privileging loyalty over competence above all. This is the fundamental difference between Trump in 2016 and Trump today. The normalisation of Trump has allowed him to impose his will to test the limits of executive authority. Never have the United States been so close to an Imperial Presidency as they are today. Victory is all that matters, and winning elections has consequences. The American people and the world, in very short order, will soon discover that it wasn’t about the price of eggs after all and that Project 2025 was merely the first draft of an aggressive fascist and anti-democratic plan that Trump fully intends to follow as soon as he sets foot into the White House again. Even before the inauguration, Trump declared that the Panama Canal belongs to the United States, that Greenland is essential to American national security [ix] and that Canada is only worthy of becoming incorporated into the United States as its 51st State. [x] The forthcoming presidency will be centred on retribution and vengeance against all of Trump’s enemies, real and perceived. Trump will undoubtedly, as of day one, do precisely what he promised to do, notably by rewriting history in pardoning all of the people convicted after the events of January 6 2021, thus freeing the so-called “hostages” and “political prisoners”. The world will look on in horror, and many Americans may quickly experience buyer’s remorse, but it will be too late. It took Hitler 53 days to dismantle and destroy the Weimar Republic. How long will it take for Trump to bury American democracy? [xi] [i]  Anthony Ardagna: “Bernie Sanders blasts Democratic Party following Harris loss”, Politico,  November 6, 2024, https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/06/2024-election-results-live-coverage-updates-analysis/bernie-sanders-election-response-00187980 [ii]  Courtney Subramanian: ”Why Kamala Harris lost: A flawed candidate or doomed campaign?”, BBC News , November 7, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr4l5j2v9do [iii]  Flynn Nicholls: “Donald Trump's Victory Speech in Full: Transcript”, Newsweek, November 6, 2024, https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-victory-speech-full-transcript-1981234 [iv]  Michael Schaffer: “The Resistance Is Not Coming to Save You. It’s Tuning Out.”. Politico,  November 15, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/11/15/trump-presidency-liberal-media-resistance-00189655 [v]  Ditto. [vi]  Andrew Howard: “‘Morning Joe’ hosts https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/18/congress/morning-joe-trump-meeting-joe-scarborough-mika-brzezinski-00190100 visited Mar-a-Lago for Trump meeting”, Politico , November 18, 2024, [vii]  Brian Stelter: “‘Morning Joe’ meeting with Trump was driven by fears of retribution from incoming administration, sources say”, CNN , November 19, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/19/media/morning-joe-trump-mar-a-lago-meeting-fears/index.html [viii]  Timothy Snyder (2017) On Tyranny, page 17, Random House LLC, New York [ix]  Shannon K. Kingston: “rump threatens land grabs of Panama Canal, Greenland, even by force. Can he?: ANALYSIS”, abc News , January 8, 2025, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-threatens-land-grabs-panama-canal-greenland-force/story?id=117428826 [x]  Julia Mueller: “What to know about Trump’s calls to make Canada the ‘51st state’”, The Hill , January 8, 2025, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5072926-trump-annexation-canada-trade-threat/ [xi]  Timothy W. Ryback: “How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days”, The Atlantic , January 8, 2025, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/hitler-germany-constitution-authoritarianism/681233/

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US Presidential Election Liam Devine Aug 29, 2024 14 min read Riding the Crest of Success The dismantling of Donald Trump by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Cutting him down to size. US Presidential Election Liam Devine Aug 16, 2024 8 min read Character is Destiny Character is destiny. Personalities matter. Politicians cannot rely solely on their policies, however innovative, brilliant, and successful US Presidential Election Liam Devine Aug 7, 2024 4 min read The Stage is Set for the Mother of all Presidential Elections Harris / Walz a true blue - blood democratic ticket to conquer Trump and Co. With the selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as the VP... LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Aug 6, 2024 3 min read 80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising 80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising : The tragic epitome of courage, self-sacrifice and valour. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Aug 1, 2024 8 min read A Week is a Long Time in Politics The four days that have changed the course of the presidential race. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 25, 2024 3 min read The Coalition for American Democracy The Coalition for American Democracy. Time to reach out far and beyond the traditional political boundaries. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 22, 2024 5 min read Onwards President Harris In this singular moment, the defence of democracy needed a true American hero, and the country found one in President Biden. Trump may prete LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 21, 2024 2 min read Plus ça Change, Plus C'est la Même Chose The 2024 Republican Convention : the Scorpion and the Frog Revisited. BRIEF COMMENTS Liam Devine Jul 19, 2024 2 min read High Noon at the OK Corral The writing is on the wall for Biden. BRIEF COMMENTS Liam Devine Jul 18, 2024 1 min read Trump Advances with J.D. Vance Trump advances with J.D. Vance as VP pick. BRIEF COMMENTS Liam Devine Jul 15, 2024 2 min read No Violence. Period. Full Stop. No violence. Period. Full stop. The assassination attempt on Trump changes everything. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 14, 2024 3 min read Is NATO a Boon or a Bane for International Relations? The 75th anniversary of NATO is an auspicious time to evaluate the role of the military alliance in today's world. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 11, 2024 11 min read Beware of False Equivalences Beware of false equivalences, which are the scourge of today's political debate. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 9, 2024 6 min read The Morning After: Herzlich Willkommen in Frankreich ? A new chapter for France - Macron remains in control in France IN DEPTH INSIGHTS Liam Devine Jul 8, 2024 1 min read A Political Imbroglio in France The first exit polls indicate that the National Rally has failed to win an absolute majority in France. BRIEF COMMENTS Liam Devine Jul 7, 2024 1 min read A Lose-Lose Situation for Everybody Except Trump No matter what Joe Biden does, it is no longer enough to calm down his detractors. BRIEF COMMENTS Liam Devine Jul 6, 2024 2 min read Prime Minister by Default? Starmer is faced with a daunting task to rebuild the UK after the Labour Party's resounding landslide victory. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 5, 2024 4 min read Sir Keir Starmer will be the next British Prime Minister As expected the Labour Party has won a landslide victory in the British general election. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 4, 2024 2 min read USA : Continued pressure on Biden to withdraw. Should I stay, or should I go? BRIEF COMMENTS Liam Devine Jul 4, 2024 1 min read UK: General Election Day. What is at stake in the UK General Election? BRIEF COMMENTS Liam Devine Jul 4, 2024 1 min read France: Will the National Rally win an Absolute Majority? What is at stake in the second round of the French legislative elections? BRIEF COMMENTS Liam Devine Jul 4, 2024 1 min read A Summer of all Dangers France, the UK and the US are in the eye of the political storm and much can change for better or worse in each respective country. IN DEPTH INSIGHTS Liam Devine Jul 3, 2024 9 min read Dictator For a Day; Emperor for Life The Supreme Court has paved the way for the advent of The Imperial Presidency. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jul 2, 2024 4 min read What Happens Now The shock results of the first round of legislative elections in France put the Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen on the cusp of power LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jun 30, 2024 5 min read We Need to Talk About Joe Biden The best path forward after the presidential debate debacle. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jun 30, 2024 5 min read Britain in Decline What are the reasons for the present decline of Britain, and can the damage of Brexit be reversed? "How They Broke Britain" by James O'Brien BOOK REVIEWS Liam Devine Jun 29, 2024 4 min read Is This the Beginning of the End for Joe Biden? Biden's performance on the Atlanta debate stage was an unmitigated disaster and will have unmeasurable consequences on democracy in the US. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Jun 28, 2024 4 min read The False Lure of Appeasement An uncanny similarity between Neville Chamberlain and Donald Trump. IN DEPTH INSIGHTS Liam Devine Jun 28, 2024 3 min read Browse by category Latest News - Updated third edition now availabe - 2024 A Call to Arms The Final Act BUY NOW NEW REVISED EDITION FOLLOWING TRUMP'S VICTORY AND RE-ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 5TH 2024. WHAT HAPPENS NOW ? A Unique Perspective on Donald Trump If a week is a long time in politics, a year is an eternity. 2004 is undoubtedly a year to be marked with a milestone in US and world history. Whilst Trump’s recent victory in the November 5th presidential elections is not a surprise, the road to victory was full of unexpected events. Who would have imagined in January 2024 that Joe Biden would be forced out of the race and that his vice president, Kamala Harris, would, like in the best “The West Wing” scripts, replace him on the Democratic ticket? However, one can presume that Aaron Sorkin would have written a different ending. As a neophyte author and political commentator, I couldn’t have hoped for a more dramatic series of events, and each month brought its own twists and turns to an already unpredictable plot. Unfortunately, we are not sitting comfortably in our living rooms watching a political series unfold in a fictional world. The events of 2024 are all too real and will have a fundamental impact on our lives, not just as individuals but as citizens of our respective countries. To quote Stefan Zweig, “It is an iron law of history that those who are caught up in the great movements determining the course of their own times always fail to recognise them in their early stages.” I can only hope that the three editions of “2024 A Call to Arms” will humbly enlighten you and allow you to see through the fog of political Newspeak and propaganda. As the second Trump presidency gets underway,we can only wait with bated breath to see if the Cassandra-like proclamations of Trump’s opponents will prove them right. For my part, I am convinced that 2024 will mark the end of “a” world, a world we have become so accustomed to since the end of the Second World War. I do not subscribe to the dystopian view that all is lost and that it is the end of “the” world. Anchor 1 VIDEOS Devine Commentary Production Devine Commentary Production Play Video Share Whole Channel This Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Search video... Now Playing 05:09 Play Video Now Playing 05:08 Play Video Now Playing 03:19 Play Video Now Playing 01:19 Play Video EXAMPLES OF ARTICLES (Go to the "ARTICLES" page for the complete list). The Point of No Return The consequences of the fiasco in the Oval Office LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Mar 1 5 min read 2 views 0 comments Post not marked as liked Farewell to our American friends. It's over. The fog has lifted on the new world order, and its not pretty. TRUMPWORLD 2025 Liam Devine Feb 15 5 min read 7 views 0 comments Post not marked as liked THE ECSTASY OF VICTORY The ecstasy of victory for Donald Trump TRUMPWORLD 2025 Liam Devine Jan 31 8 min read 4 views 0 comments Post not marked as liked TIKTOK PINTEREST INSTAGRAM Send us your feedback contact@devinecommentary.com First Name Last Name Email Message Send Thank you for your feedback Stay updated with political news and opinion pieces. Subscribe to our website to receive the latest articles. Email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! © 2024 by Devine Commentary.

Discover the latest news blog posts from Devine Commentary. For fresh, unique and inspiring commentary on current events. The Point of No Return The consequences of the fiasco in the Oval Office LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Mar 1 5 min read THE FUTURE IS EUROPE The future is Europe. After the US elections, Europe must seize the moment. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Nov 9, 2024 8 min read A VIEW FROM EUROPE It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.The rest of the world is looking on with disbelief at the recent developments in the United States. LATEST NEWS Liam Devine Nov 8, 2024 9 min read 1 2 3 4 5

A provocative and unique analysis of the 2024 presidential elections. New book by Liam Devine, independent political commentator. 2024 A Call to Arms The Final Act BUY NOW Everything you always wanted to know about Trump's 2024 campaign (but were afraid to ask) - a candid and provocative analysis of the 2024 US presidential elections, with an updated and revised version to reflect the final victory of Donald Trump on November 5th 2024. FAQ Why the subtitle "The Final Act" ? The US political scene witnessed an unprecedented historical occurrence when President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race on July 21st 2024. After three weeks of sustained pressure from the Democratic Party, he concluded that he was no longer in the position to lead his party to victory against Donald Trump. The origin of the major crisis was Joe Biden’s performance, or lack thereof, in the first presidential debate against former President Trump on June 27th in Atlanta, Georgia. This significant decision fundamentally changed the fundamentals and structure of the presidential race. It allowed Vice President Kamala Harris to take centre stage and become the official presumptive Democratic nominee within less than three weeks. This meteoric rise to prominence was anything but a foregone conclusion and reset the parameters of the election. On November 5th, Donald Trump prevailed and won an undisputable victory, redefining the political landscape in America for a generation. The final edition of the "2024 A Call to Arms" series explains why he won and what this means for the future of the United States and the new world order that is emerging. What are you trying to achieve ? The book's main title, "A Call to Arms," reflects its underlying philosophy. Despite not being American and not being able to participate directly in the forthcoming elections, we European citizens not only have the right but the duty to express our point of view. In the face of potentially world-shattering political changes, we cannot afford to ignore the dangers and hide from reality. Even if such a book may have had a very limited impact on American voters, it is nonetheless worthwhile to address the problem head-on and emphasise the gravity and urgency of the moment. A Unique Perspective on Donald Trump If a week is a long time in politics, a year is an eternity. 2004 is undoubtedly a year to be marked with a milestone in US and world history. Whilst Trump’s recent victory in the November 5th presidential elections is not a surprise, the road to victory was full of unexpected events. Who would have imagined in January 2024 that Joe Biden would be forced out of the race and that his vice president, Kamala Harris, would, like in the best “The West Wing” scripts, replace him on the Democratic ticket? However, one can presume that Aaron Sorkin would have written a different ending. As a neophyte author and political commentator, I couldn’t have hoped for a more dramatic series of events, and each month brought its own twists and turns to an already unpredictable plot. Unfortunately, we are not sitting comfortably in our living rooms watching a political series unfold in a fictional world. The events of 2024 are all too real and will have a fundamental impact on our lives, not just as individuals but as citizens of our respective countries. To quote Stefan Zweig, “It is an iron law of history that those who are caught up in the great movements determining the course of their own times always fail to recognise them in their early stages.” I can only hope that the three editions of “2024 A Call to Arms” will humbly enlighten you and allow you to see through the fog of political Newspeak and propaganda. As the second Trump presidency gets underway on this very day, Inauguration Day, the 20th of January 2025, we can only wait with bated breath to see if the Cassandra-like proclamations of Trump’s opponents will prove them right. For my part, I am convinced that 2024 will mark the end of “a” world, a world we have become so accustomed to since the end of the Second World War. I do not subscribe to the dystopian view that all is lost and that it is the end of “the” world. But we cannot succumb to democratic naivety anymore, and I, for one, have been guilty of that myself when I believed that the “Politics of Joy” espoused by Kamala Harris would vanquish Trumpism. The real world does not have happy endings, and the fight for freedom and democracy is precisely that: a battle that demands constant abnegation, resilience and effort. Trump has ushered in a new world inspired by the dictators of the 1920s and 1930s in Europe. The MAGA phenomenon is no longer a flash in the pan; it is a genuine political movement that has gained a prominent position in the American political landscape and that will influence political events the world over. Whether or not Trump is the reincarnation of Mussolini or of Hitler is ultimately a moot point. He is, first of all, himself and he has embodied a presence. Trump will never leave the political stage and will continue to embody the movement until his dying breath, and Trumpism will outlive him. Let us not be under any illusions. Trumpism is fascism, is fascism, is fascism. The wolf is back amongst us, albeit under a different guise and with a distinct American flavour and accent. As Europeans who have experienced first-hand the scourge of Nazism, it will be up to us to lead the charge against Trumpism and prevent it from engulfing all of Europe. There are important elections on the horizon in Europe. Germany will elect a new chancellor under the threat of the AfD, the neo-fascist party that has its stronghold in what used to be the old East-.Germany. Poland will hold its presidential election soon after, in May 2005 and on the horizon, France will have to choose whether or not the Rally for the Republic, born out of the ashes of the fascist National Front, will finally be able to take over the French presidency in 2027. The forthcoming Trump presidency will seek to stamp its authority with a black mark on the future of the world in general and of Europe in particular. It will be up to us to fight fascism, wherever it comes from and however it presents itself. We owe it to our forefathers who sacrificed their lives on the beaches of Normandy, on the plains of Ukraine and in the rubble of Warsaw less than a century ago. The Call to Arms to fight fascism is more critical today than it was a year ago. May we all have the wisdom and the courage to live up to what needs to be done to secure our future. The solution is more of Europe, a united, democratic Europe that will show the way forward out of the darkness and back into the light. Sneak Peek