Trump to sign bill on Friday at 5 p.m., White House says
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The Guardian
12 minutes ago
- The Guardian
This Fourth of July, the world declares its independence from America
This year, like every other year, Americans will celebrate Independence Day with flag-waving, and parades, and fireworks. The political system the flag and the parades and fireworks are supposed to represent is in tatters, but everybody likes a party. It was 249 years ago, when the United States separated from the British Empire. Over the past year it has separated from the world order it built over those 249 years, and from basic sanity and decency as well. For Americans, the madness gripping their country is a catastrophe. For non-Americans, it is an accidental revolution. This Independence Day, the world is declaring its independence from the US. As the United States retreats from the world, it is reshaping the lives of its former trading partners and allies, leaving huge holes in its wake. For Canada, where I live, the sudden absence of a responsible United States has been more shocking and more terrifying than for other countries. Americans are our friends and neighbours, often our family. We have been at peace with them for 200 years, integrating with their security apparatuses and markets. Now they are explicitly planning to weaken us economically in order to annex us. The Canadian strategy, undertaken with vigor by the newly elected government of Mark Carney, has been clear in spirit at least: a polite 'go fuck yourself.' After you've told America to fuck off, though, the real work starts. You have to figure out how to live without them. Carney has already signed major pieces of legislation to lower trade barriers inside the country, to create new trading partners, and to cement security arrangements with the European Union. But those are only the obvious beginnings. Since Donald Trump's inauguration, I have been working on Gloves Off, an audio series trying to figure out how Canada can navigate the post-American world. I've been shocked by how much needs to be done. Canada is like a beautiful mansion with huge chunks of the foundation missing. We don't even have our own secret service, just an internal security apparatus. Our military would be comically unprepared for an American annexation. Large scale-changes to national life – becoming a nuclear power, undertaking a whole society defense – may be required to survive a neighbour who is backsliding into authoritarianism every week. Under protection from America, under the assumption that its economy was globally dominant, Canada has never had to ask itself hard questions. Now we're facing a pop quiz with terrifying consequences. The decline of America leaves a psychological gap, too. America, for all its problems, was aspirational. It was easy to poke holes in its claims to exceptionalism, but it genuinely served millions of people, myself definitely included, as a beacon of freedom and openness. But I keep thinking of that line from No Country for Old Men, just before Anton Chigurh kills Carson Wells in a hotel: 'If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?' Its great founders knew America's vulnerabilities from inception. Washington predicted, almost exactly, the effects of partisanship the country is undergoing today: 'The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism,' he wrote in his Farewell Address. 'But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.' Abraham Lincoln saw it all coming: 'If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.' The suicide is tackier than anyone imagined, but it's been predicted since 1776. One of the great ironies of history is that the triumph of Maga has led to the piecemeal destruction of everything that once made America great, and on every level. Its power derived from a reliable trade network, with logistical chains that were the wonders of the world, combined with a huge alliance network, and the greatest scientific and technological institutes in the world. It is systematically destroying all of those strengths far more thoroughly than any enemy could. America is turning away from itself, and the rest of the world must follow. The new independence requires frankness, even brutality. There is no such thing as a deal with America any more. Canada and Mexico made one with Trump in 2018. He broke it at the first possible opportunity. Their national word is worthless. They understand only force and money, and increasingly not even those. Their military actions are more or less random, half-considered, about as deep and significant as a social media rage post. They instantly forget who helped or hurt them. All those Afghans who saved American lives a decade ago have lived to regret it, being deported, just for the spectacle of it all, back to their torturers. There is exactly no security in being their ally. If the American government declares war on something – poverty, drugs, Islamic terrorism, anti-democratic governments – you can be quite sure that whatever they're opposed to will be much stronger by the end of the fighting. US scholars of fascism are fleeing to Toronto, and the city has become a kind of lens through which to see the American collapse. Canada sees what America is becoming. Travel from Canada to the United States is down 45% year over year which is partly a political statement by way of boycott, but it's also a demonstration of common sense: America has made it perfectly clear that foreigners are unwelcome and subject to violence with total impunity. But the simplest way to explain the need to step away from the United States is the most basic: no problem the world faces has an answer that can be found in America. Not politically, not economically, not socially, not culturally. It is clear that we have to start looking for answers to the world's problems elsewhere, in ourselves and in others. There is a celebration of independence this Independence Day and it is real; it's just for countries other than America. The lesson the Americans once taught the British, they are teaching the rest of the world: there are no necessary nations. There are no exceptional countries. There are no permanent global orders. There's just more history, and trying to survive to stay yourself it. Stephen Marche lives in Toronto and is the author of The Next Civil War and On Writing and Failure
Leader Live
12 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Trump criticised for using antisemitic term to describe money lenders
Mr Trump told reporters early on Friday after returning from an event in Iowa that he had 'never heard it that way' and 'never heard that' the term was considered an offensive stereotype about Jews. Shylock refers to the villainous Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice who demands a pound of flesh from a debtor. The Anti-Defamation League, which works to combat antisemitism, said in a statement that the term 'evokes a centuries-old antisemitic trope about Jews and greed that is extremely offensive and dangerous. President Trump's use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible'. Democrat Joe Biden, while vice president, said in 2014 that he had made a 'poor choice' of words a day after he used the term in remarks to a legal aid group. Mr Trump's administration has said cracking down on antisemitism is a priority. His administration said it is screening for antisemitic activity when granting immigration benefits and its fight with Harvard University has centred on allegations from the White House that the school has tolerated antisemitism. But the Republican president has also had a history of playing on stereotypes about Jewish people. He told the Republican Jewish Coalition in 2015 that 'you want to control your politicians' and suggested the audience used money to exert control. Before he kicked off his 2024 presidential campaign, Mr Trump drew widespread criticism for dining at his Florida club with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist. Last year, he made repeated comments accusing Jewish Americans who identify as Democrats of disloyalty because of the Democratic leaders' criticisms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Critics said it perpetuated an antisemitic trope about Jews having divided loyalties and there being only one right way to be Jewish. On Thursday night in his speech in Iowa, Mr Trump used the term while talking about his signature legislation that was passed by Congress earlier in the day. 'No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing some from, in some cases, a fine banker and in some cases shylocks and bad people,' he said. When a reporter later asked about the word's antisemitic association and his intent, Mr Trump said; 'No, I've never heard it that way. To me, a shylock is somebody that's a money lender at high rates. I've never heard it that way. You view it differently than me. I've never heard that.' The Anti-Defamation League said Mr Trump's use of the word 'underscores how lies and conspiracies about Jews remain deeply entrenched in our country. Words from our leaders matter and we expect more from the President of the United States'.
The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Branding Palestine Action terrorists ‘completely ludicrous', say supporters
Supporters of Palestine Action have described the Government's intention to brand the group as terrorists 'completely ludicrous' and said ministers are 'desperate to stifle free speech'. Hundreds gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Friday where Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, is asking the High Court to temporarily block the Government from proscribing the group as a terrorist organisation. Among the fluttering flags of green, black, white and red were demonstrators holding signs saying 'Free Palestine' and 'We are all Palestine Action'. Others masked themselves in sunglasses and a keffiyeh while speakers took turns to address the crowd through a PA system. Sara, who was standing on the edge of the crowd, said many of the supporters present were carrying 'a lot of rage and anger' about the violence in Gaza. She said: 'We think that the British Government needs to stop funding the genocidal regime in Palestine against Palestinians. 'They need to listen to protest groups instead of this massive overreach which is trying to stifle legitimate resistance and protest against one of the most horrific instances of violence against humanity in our time.' One woman, who preferred not to be named, stood in the shade next to a pile of pink boxes containing cupcakes decorated with Palestinian flags. She said she was raising money to send to a friend in Gaza because the price of basic food there has become so high. Speaking outside court, she said: 'I think it's completely ludicrous that the Government is, rather than stopping supporting a genocide that is happening, they would rather criminalise people who are trying to stop it on the Government's behalf, seeing as though they are not doing anything. 'They have a legal obligation under the Genocide Convention to do all they can to prevent genocide. And they are choosing to, rather than follow their obligations, remain an active participant in this genocide. 'So civilians of conscience have decided to take up the mantle instead and do what they can.' David Cannon, chairman of the Jewish Network for Palestine, stood wearing a sunhat and bore on his shoulder a white banner adorned with a Palestine flag and the name of his organisation. His Jewish upbringing made him proud of Israel, he said, until he realised that the conflict in Gaza has been a 'slow-burn genocide for the last 80 years'. He said: 'Israel is founded on stolen land and stolen lives. It has not only stolen Palestinian land and lives, it has also stolen the identity of Jewish religion. 'So it's vital that there is a Jewish voice saying there is nothing Jewish about apartheid, nothing Jewish about ethnic cleansing, nothing Jewish about genocide. 'The (UK) Government are desperate to stifle free speech which is trying to point out the truth. It's a desperate action and it may well backfire.' Not every protester outside the court building was there in support of Palestine Action. A small group stood across the street, next to several police officers, holding up a blue and white banner that said 'there is no genocide in Gaza'. Mark Birbeck, from the pro-Israel group, called Our Fight, said they do not support the aims of Palestine Action but neither do they support them becoming a proscribed terrorist organisation. Speaking on the street, he said: 'We don't actually support proscribing Palestine Action. 'We don't think they are a terrorist organisation, and in fact our argument is that it makes a mockery of what terrorism is. 'It's bizarre that (the Government) is presenting this as some kind of aggressive step. 'My suspicion is that Palestine Action are going to run rings around them. 'These people know what they are doing. 'I don't agree with them, I don't agree with their politics, but they've been doing this for years. 'Our argument against Palestine Action though is not that they are terrorists, but what we do believe they are doing is trying to claim the moral high ground and effectively they are doing that to isolate Israel.'
