Mallen Baker: Faultlines

The UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer has gone to great lengths to stay on the right side of President Trump since he was re-elected. All the usual flattery, plus an unprecedented second state visit, with all the pomp and pageantry. But it was always obvious that sooner or later, Donald Trump would cross a line too far, and push the 'special relationship' into crisis. We learned this week that the...

On one level, the BBC made some pretty evident mistakes on impartiality - and most damagingly on a documentary on Trump, the echoes of which quickly reverberated across the Atlantic. And as a result, Tim Davie, the Director General had to resign. But there's a lot more to the story than that - and the truth is that the institution has been under attack for the last few years as political polarisat...

President Trump just unleashed a barrage on social media where he railed against the Supreme Court, against anyone and everyone who is against tariffs - and then he, apparently by-the-by, said that everyone would be getting a $2000 payment. It's not the first time such things have been suggested as a result of the income from tariffs - but it was a very specific promise at this very specific momen...

In this news round-up of the week, Russia considers giving Maduro its latest hypersonic missiles to use to defend himself against Trump's America, even as China is protesting about his threats to its strategic partner Nigeria. The administration has begun a charm offensive to persuade its supposed allies that it really CAN be trusted when it comes to intelligence sharing. And Elon Musk is granted...

Political fortunes can turn on a dime. One second, a major figure can seem immovable, all powerful - then suddenly something shifts and they're left trying to hold it all together as it slips from their grasp. This week has seen a series of failures for Trump that has dented his projected image of power, and reminded Congressional Republicans that politics-as-usual probably still applies, and in t...

The lower courts have both ruled that the bulk of Trump's tariffs are plainly unconstitutional. Now it has come to the Supreme Court, and it's arguably the moment the Conservatives on the court have been dreading. The case seems legally very clear that Trump has no case. The hearing that took place today sounded very much like a majority of them were sceptical of the arguments put before them. But...

The Trump MAGA base - with its mix of personality cultists, conspiracy theorists and uneasy traditional Republicans - is in uproar right now as Tucker Carlson's recent interview with Nick Fuentes was seen by many to breach the line. The fight over what can, or cannot, be normalised is an early sign of the fight for the future soul of MAGA for the post-Trump era. Meanwhile, the other part of MAGA -...

Two stories came out today. One - it's becoming clear just how aggressively the Trump administration threatened delegates to the International Maritime Organisation to push them not to vote for the net zero carbon tax on international shipping. Two - we have Trump threatening Nigeria with an armed incursion by American forces in the face of what Trump rather absurdly suggests is an 'existential' g...

In this news round-up of the week, Trump orders a resumption to nuclear testing - a move that would have major global consequences, and apparently he did so on a complete misunderstanding of reality. The Netherlands election shows that far-right populism can be reversed where it is taking hold in Europe. A MAGA-friendly major German influencer is the first to take up Trump's invitation to seek asy...

President Trump's much-anticipated summit with China's Xi Jinping has confirmed what was already obvious to all but the most MAGA-faithful - Trump lost the trade war he picked with China. The threat of crippling restrictions on strategically essential rare earth minerals will be held over America's head to be reviewed every year. Donald Trump thought he held all the cards, but it turns out he badl...

Headlines are on all the major news sites - Bill Gates just did a major u-turn on climate change. He now says it's NOT the end of the world. He says the United Nations needs to pivot. And he says all this just a week before the next COP climate conference is due to start in Brazil. What's going on? Well, the headlines - most of them - are not telling the accurate story. And few of them are tracing...

We know that Trump would LOVE to run for a third term - not least because he keeps telling us so. And now some of his people, such as Steve Bannon, are saying that it's all possible, although they won't yet say how. It could well just be trolling, but let's say for a moment that they're right. It's possible. There's a pretty good rationale for why it would potentially wreck their movement, and des...

President Trump has arrived in Malaysia for his tour of Southeast Asia. Pausing in Malaysia only to do some embarrassing dancing and signing supposed peace deals, he will be heading to Japan to give new Prime Minister Takaichi her first real test, and then to South Korea where the highlight will be an in-person summit meeting with Xi Jinping. Scott Bessent said that positive progress has been made...

In this news round-up of the week - Trump declares sanctions against the two biggest Russian oil companies - will it finally push China and India away from Putin? The president also attacks Canada for - um - quoting Ronald Reagan entirely accurately when it comes to tariffs, and declares that the trade negotiations are OVER. But it seems likely the outrage over the ad is just a cover. And Trump sh...

Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, in service of President Trump, is on a mission to de-wokify the US armed forces. Well, okay. But what else? The top generals and other senior leaders expect their leader to focus on strategy and big-picture stuff. So imagine how underwhelmed they must have been when he gathered them all together for a big talking to - only to tell them to lose weight and get a ha...

President Trump's America is making a thing out of lecturing its allies about the importance of free speech. And yet while doing this, they spread toxic disinformation over and over again, and you quickly realise that America believes - uniquely of any country currently in the world - that 'free speech' means the 'right to lie'. But this definition is a relatively recent one. So let's discuss how...

The planned second summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin is suddenly off - following the realisation that Russia has no intention of negotiating, it is only interested in surrender. This is a massive humiliation to Trump having come off all the hubris around the Middle East peace deal, to find that he isn't being given the time of day by the one dictator he truly admires. But at the sa...

We knew that Trump had been somewhat swayed by Russia's Vladimir Putin in their phone call last Thursday, but it has just been revealed today just how much Trump threw Putin talking points verbatim at Ukraine's President Zelensky when they met at the Oval Office on Friday. All the progress of recent weeks, where Trump had become more positive towards Ukraine, seem to have been reversed. Instead, T...

President Trump is used to getting his way - with just about anyone (except possibly Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping). In particular, he's used to being able to threat tariffs or other measures and have most of the countries of the world falling in line, doing whatever he demands in order to avoid his wrath. But this week, the world is about to agree a measure that introduces a global tax - and eve...

While Trump was being treated as an all-conquering hero in the Middle East, he had hanging over him the one fight he just realised he can't win - his renewed trade blow-up with Xi Jinping's China. Having threatened yet another bombastic massive tariff barrage in response to China's control of rare earth minerals, he quickly started to backpedal. Almost as though he remembered what happened the las...

Let's say that the 2028 Presidential Election goes ahead, and Trump has imploded over the course of his term, so that regardless of their various attempts to weight the scales in their favour, MAGA Republicans lose. The new incoming administration is going to face a remarkably transformed America. And they will have to have a very clear idea of the spirit, and the detail, of how they hope to move...

In this news round-up of the week, China stuns the West and infuriates Trump by expanding its tight control over more of its rare earth minerals - with particular implications for Western militaries. Trump's many court cases are starting to get more and more pushback from judges exasperated with the administration's arrogance and incompetence, just as another vengeance indictment is brought agains...

It may only be the first part that will be implemented, but even so the Trump peace deal for Gaza represents - against all the odds - a real breakthrough. Both parties have swallowed a starting position that crosses their previous red lines. But while families are anxiously awaiting the release of hostages, and everyone is celebrating as though peace has finally been delivered, the truth is that t...

The US / EU trade deal was always tricky - within hours of it being signed the two sides were giving radically different interpretations of what it covered. Well, now - unsurprisingly - President Trump is back and he has the EU's regulations in his sights. Specifically, any regulations that get applied to American companies, such as the tech giants. He has environmental rules in his sights, as wel...

French President Emmanuel Macron's fifth prime minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned after just a couple of weeks in post, as it became obvious that the task was simply impossible. This leaves France in a political mess, largely because of its ongoing economic mess. However, this goes way beyond France. Arguably, Macron's France is just the advance guard for the political upheavals that are coming t...