Latest editorial
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer
MICHIGAN Governor Gretchen Whitmer has accused US President Donald Trump of issuing a “rallying cry” to extremists after police foiled a plot to kidnap her.
Six men have been charged over the plot to abduct Ms Whitmer, a Democrat, and hold a mock “treason trial” that would put her to death for imposing lockdown restrictions due to coronavirus.
Ms Whitmer pointed to Mr Trump’s presidential debate instruction to the white supremacist Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” saying “hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry... when our leaders meet, encourage or fraternise with domestic terrorists, they legitimise their actions.”
International solidarity can ensure that Trump and his machine cannot prevail without a level of political and economic cost that he will not want to pay, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Nigeria’s presidential spokesman grovels to the West in response to Washington intimidation, writes PAVAN KULKARNI
Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
From terrifying the children of immigrants to pepper-spraying frogs, the US under Trump is rapidly descending into mayhem, writes Linda Pentz Gunter