Rather than stay in the Freedom Caucus’ cage, Mike Johnson has used it to govern. Instead of simply accepting the lot of a frozen House, he has assembled those majorities by reaching across the aisle to Democrats.
Joe Biden’s best chance – and 2024’s biggest wildcard – is the pro-abortion ad drop in October.
Trump has promised the “largest deportation programme in American history”. To citizens it sounds sensible: current polling shows the idea is backed by Republicans, independents, and Democrats alike.
There are eight months to go. Most of the fundamentals still look better for Trump than Biden. But the President made himself interesting again last Thursday.
Imagine Conservative Party Conference but with more red hats, less drinking, and people actually attending the main speeches (unless Liz Truss is on stage).
His stubbornness – which made him President – may now be his undoing.
For him and his team, the border will be a key priority. It could be the thing that propels them to the White House. In the last month alone, there were an estimated 300,000 illegal crossings across the southern border.
The best chance to beat Trump has been the same since the start of the contest: not via Nikki Haley, but through Ron DeSantis. Polls show he is the only candidate who can win Trump supporters as well as Trump sceptics.
Republican challengers are putting their own egos ahead of any coordinated effort to beat the former president, whilst any move against Biden are likely to come later, at the Democratic National Convention.
It looks like there is a deal to be done where the proposed $60 billion package is paired with major reform of America’s porous southern border.
In domestic policy, we are headed for the real deal. Trump’s campaign staff have been briefing for months that, this time, deep state officials will not stand in their way.
This difference is not just attitudinal – there is a lot more space in the States for one thing. But absent in the British mindset, at least at the moment, is this hunger for more, this urge to grow, that embodies the American psyche.
The new Speaker of the House of Representatives must tread a tightrope – getting Democrats on side without alienating his divided Republican colleagues.
Our Atlantic partners might be a bit mad, but they still care – about their country, about its future. Polarisation has its many negative effects, but one of its positives is its ability to galvanise that passion.
Lewis Goodall is wrong. Here in Britain, it isn’t the right that runs the risk of leading us down to polarisation. It is the left.