Make America Great Again

Ukraine recap: prospect of renewed US funding a boost for beleaguered Zelensky

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 15, 2024

We had just published a piece by two security analysts from the Paris-based research university Sciences Po, who had outlined three possible scenarios for the 12 months ahead.

Key Points: 
  • We had just published a piece by two security analysts from the Paris-based research university Sciences Po, who had outlined three possible scenarios for the 12 months ahead.
  • The first two options were major military setbacks for Russia or Ukraine, with major losses of troops and territory.
  • Months of bitter, attritional fighting resulted in few Ukrainian gains at a significant cost in terms of both manpower and precious materiel.
  • But, as Stefan Wolff and Tetyana Malyarenko point out, Syrskyi is also associated with the defence of Bakhmut, a battle that consumed so many lives on either side.
  • But fresh supplies of weapons and ammunition from the EU and the US began to dry up in 2023, seriously hamstringing the Ukraine army’s ability to gain the initiative on the battlefield.
  • You can also subscribe to our fortnightly recap of expert analysis of the conflict in Ukraine.
  • After months of bitter debate the bill finally passed the senate this week.
  • Read more:
    Ukraine war: what the US public thinks about giving military and other aid

Friends and enemies

  • One of Trump’s greatest allies in the media, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, sat down with Putin for a two-hour interview last week.
  • Inderjeet Parmar, an expert in US politics at City, University of London, watched the interview and gives us his verdict.
  • He concludes: “Putin’s early history of Ukraine is part of a Russian imperialist story that has been told for centuries.
  • He says more than 7,000 criminal cases have been opened accusing Ukrainians of giving aid to the enemy.
  • Others are less so: people who continued to do their jobs after their town was occupied: local government officials, garbage collectors and the like.

Tucker Carlson’s Putin interview gave Russian leader a platform to boost his own cause – and that of Donald Trump

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

Carlson, who has consistently argued Russia’s case for its invasion of Ukraine, posted his interview on both his own site and on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter).

Key Points: 
  • Carlson, who has consistently argued Russia’s case for its invasion of Ukraine, posted his interview on both his own site and on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter).
  • There – according to Kremlin mouthpiece Pravda – it chalked up more than 90 million views within hours of being posted.
  • Discussing US politics, Putin touched on Elon Musk, Donald Trump and what he called the warlike “mindsets” of US foreign policy elites.

Nato slammed, Maga boosted

  • When it came to the war in Ukraine, predictably the Russia president blamed what he identified as Nato expansionism and threats to his country’s security.
  • He recounted how he had offered a hand of friendship to the US: “Please don’t [expand Nato eastward].
  • Also predictably, both interviewer and interviewee took the opportunity to boost Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (Maga) voter base.
  • So, it sounds like you’re describing a system that is not run by the people who are elected, in your telling.”

Talking to an America in turmoil

  • The controversial interview comes at a time of great turmoil, in the US and internationally.
  • The US Supreme Court will also rule on whether Trump should be removed from the ballot altogether due to charges of insurrectionary conduct on January 6 2021.
  • Congress also remains at loggerheads over providing further financial support to Ukraine.
  • Biden – and Trump, as a matter of fact – campaigned on the idea of ending America’s “forever wars”.


Inderjeet Parmar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Bidenomics: why it's more likely to win the 2024 election than many people think

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, September 16, 2023

During an address in Maryland, the president contrasted Bidenomics with Trumpian “MAGAnomics” that would involve tax-cutting and spending reductions.

Key Points: 
  • During an address in Maryland, the president contrasted Bidenomics with Trumpian “MAGAnomics” that would involve tax-cutting and spending reductions.
  • He decried trickle-down policies that had, “shipped jobs overseas, hollowed out communities and produced soaring deficits”.
  • Changing voters’ minds about the economy is one of Biden’s biggest challenges ahead of the 2024 election.
  • Even 60% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning respondents were “seriously” concerned he would lose in 2024.

What is Bidenomics?

    • His answer, repeated in his Maryland speech, is to grow the economy “from the middle out and the bottom up”.
    • To this end, Bidenomics is centred on three key pillars: smarter public investment, growing the middle class and promoting competition.
    • On investment, Biden’s approach fundamentally challenges the argument by the right that increasing public investment “crowds out” more efficient private investment.
    • Bidenomics argues that targeted public investment will unlock private investment, delivering well paid jobs and growth.

The results so far

    • Over 13 million new jobs have been created, though much of this can be perhaps attributed to workers resuming employment after COVID.
    • Total US jobs The IMF predicts the US economy will grow 1.8% in 2023, the strongest among the G7.
    • The US also has the group’s lowest inflation rate, although it rose in August.
    • On the closely watched core-inflation metric, which excludes food and energy, the US is mid-table, though improving.
    • One consolation to the Democrats is that voters’ gloom is partly related to interest rates, which are probably close to peaking.

First Republican debate set to kick off without Trump – but with the potential to direct the GOP's foreign policy stance

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Republican leaders are sharply divided over how the United States should position itself in the world.

Key Points: 
  • Republican leaders are sharply divided over how the United States should position itself in the world.
  • While some Trump supporters are pressing for the U.S. to pull back from world affairs, more traditional Republicans are calling for robust international engagement.
  • Ever since the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, most Republican leaders have supported an active U.S. role in the world.
  • In my own research on U.S. foreign policy, I have found that most Republican politicians continued to support international engagement after the Cold War ended in 1991.
  • The Republican primary campaign will help determine the GOP’s foreign policy platform and course.

Trump’s split from the GOP

    • As president, he pulled out of several international treaties and councils that are part of the United Nations.
    • He toyed with exiting NATO and tried to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
    • He has promised to resolve the conflict within “24 hours” by talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
    • Trump, for example, proposed in each year of his presidency to slash the State Department’s budget by about one-third.

Republicans distancing themselves from Trump

    • Nine Republican candidates have qualified for the Aug. 23 presidential debate, and eight of them – all but Trump – are likely to be on the debate stage.
    • Trump has said that he will not participate in the debates.
    • While the top GOP presidential candidates are largely united in favoring a tough stance toward China, they differ sharply on Ukraine.
    • Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, advocate strong U.S. support for Ukraine.

The topic is: Ukraine

    • When foreign policy comes up in Milwaukee or at future Republican primary debates, it will be telling whether candidates say they still strongly back U.S. efforts to help Ukraine, or not.
    • If some of them hold firm on their support, it will be a sign that the Republican debate over foreign policy remains alive.
    • Beyond the war in Ukraine, America’s global role is at stake this election season.
    • If they make this case effectively, the GOP debate over foreign policy will be primed to continue well beyond 2024.

Trump's political action committee wants a $60 million refund on paying his legal fees – 3 key things to know about PACs

Retrieved on: 
Friday, August 4, 2023

Save America, one of former President Donald Trump’s political organizations, is seeking a US$60 million refund from Make America Great Again, Inc., another Trump political organization that is less strictly regulated by federal rules.

Key Points: 
  • Save America, one of former President Donald Trump’s political organizations, is seeking a US$60 million refund from Make America Great Again, Inc., another Trump political organization that is less strictly regulated by federal rules.
  • Save America has paid Trump’s legal fees connected to multiple investigations into alleged criminal activities and is now down to less than $4 million in its account, The New York Times reported on July 31, 2023.
  • Trump’s use of political action committees, often known as PACs, to pay his mounting legal fees has raised questions about these organizations and how they spend money.

1. PACs are not all made equal

    • Corporations, labor unions and other ideological groups originally set up PACs many decades ago as a way to participate in federal elections.
    • Most PACs today are either connected to a sponsor organization or have a particular issue agenda.
    • Federal law caps individual donations to most PACs, including leadership PACs, at $5,000 per year.
    • Because contribution limits do not apply to super PACs, they have become an essential component of election campaigns over the last 13 years.

2. PACs can sometimes pay legal fees

    • It is illegal to use campaign money to pay for personal expenses that would have occurred whether or not the candidate was running for office.
    • The Federal Election Commission has ruled that campaign funds can be used to pay a candidate’s legal fees if an investigation relates directly to the election or the candidate’s time in political office.

3. Trump’s case enters murky territory

    • But money raised for a campaign could probably not cover the Department of Justice’s Mar-a-Lago documents case, which does not involve either Trump’s campaign or his time in office.
    • So, campaign money might be used in the Mar-a-Lago case.
    • What’s unclear – and possibly unlawful – is whether Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, can pay for Trump’s legal expenses.

Could Trump turn his politics of grievance into a get-out-of-jail card? Neither prosecution nor even jail time have prevented former leaders in Israel, Brazil and Kenya from mounting comebacks

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Donald Trump has declared, “I am your retribution,” and it appears to be a guiding theme of his 2024 campaign.

Key Points: 
  • Donald Trump has declared, “I am your retribution,” and it appears to be a guiding theme of his 2024 campaign.
  • There’s likely to be an additional indictment from Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutor Fani Willis.
  • Is a campaign based on grievance and retribution likely to sway voters?

Political muscle can trounce a prosecution

    • Candidates under investigation can leverage their political muscle to run for office – and as a means to avoid prosecution.
    • Members of both factions were investigated, and Kenyatta and Ruto were personally charged with organizing the violence among their supporters.
    • This flexing of political muscle, a crusade questioning the ICC’s legitimacy and grassroots mobilization led to their eventual victory.

Undermining accountability

    • A novel legal strategy for Trump would be to try to apply this also to state jurisdictions like New York and Georgia.
    • Additionally, precedent and legal scholarship also suggest that the court would deem at least some of these actions constitutional.
    • Beyond ending immediate prosecutions, victorious candidates can use winning office to further erode democratic institutions and the rule of law.
    • That potentially undermines the independence and functioning of everything from the State and Justice departments to local law enforcement.

Comebacks follow prosecutions

    • Examples from other countries show that prosecution or even jail time does not prevent former leaders from mounting comebacks.
    • Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected once again in 2022 after his conviction and imprisonment.
    • He argued that a judge who was in cahoots with prosecutors, and who became Lula’s predecessor’s justice minister, revealed the politicized nature of Brazil’s justice system.

Albertans have more in common than recent elections suggest

Retrieved on: 
Monday, July 17, 2023

And the environment appears to be getting increasingly hostile, with the common ground between progressives and conservatives shrinking election by election.

Key Points: 
  • And the environment appears to be getting increasingly hostile, with the common ground between progressives and conservatives shrinking election by election.
  • After four decades of Progressive Conservative governments, Albertans appeared to swerve left in 2015 by electing the New Democrats led by Rachel Notley.

Return of the Conservatives

    • The status quo appeared to return, however, when Jason Kenney’s new United Conservative Party (UCP) took back control of the provincial government in 2019.
    • Under new leader Danielle Smith, the UCP retained power with a narrow majority, losing most of their seats in Calgary while tallying massive victories in rural areas.
    • Ongoing Common Ground research conducted by our University of Alberta research team suggests: in some ways, yes.
    • Regardless of their own political leanings, most Albertans see their community as overwhelmingly conservative and resistant to change.

Albertans more united than it appears

    • This is true in both urban and rural areas, as Albertans are more united than meets the eye.
    • A full 40 per cent of Albertans believe government should be spending more on social programs, while only one in 10 think the province should be spending less.
    • Results from the same survey show that many Albertans simply don’t view their broader community in the same progressive terms.
    • This sort of factionalism breeds instability, as witnessed in countries like the United Kingdom via Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement in the United States.

Talking to Albertans

    • Over the past four years, we’ve been impressed at the level of civility and moderation displayed by everyday Albertans.
    • There’s more that unites Albertans than election results and political rhetoric suggests.

Donald Trump Jr. joins America First Insurance Group!

Retrieved on: 
Monday, November 14, 2022

DALLAS, Nov. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --America First Insurance Group is pleased to announce that Donald Trump Jr. has joined America First Insurance Group as a Brand Ambassador and partner in the company.

Key Points: 
  • DALLAS, Nov. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --America First Insurance Group is pleased to announce that Donald Trump Jr. has joined America First Insurance Group as a Brand Ambassador and partner in the company.
  • America First Insurance is America's ONLY Conservative Insurance Group!
  • "-Donald Trump Jr.
    Tony Lani, CEO says, "We're thrilled to welcome Donald Trump Jr. to the America First Insurance family!
  • Donald Trump Jr. will serve as a marketing partner, promoter and endorser of America First Insurance Group, while still acting astrusteeand executive vice president ofThe Trump Organization, running the company alongside his younger brother, Eric Trump.

America's Conservative Insurance Group Created Specifically for Patriots!

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 3, 2022

DALLAS, Oct. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --As America'sconservative insurance group, America First Insurance is committed to providing, simple, high quality, and affordable insurance solutions, while fighting tirelessly for the shared values we collectively believe in.

Key Points: 
  • DALLAS, Oct. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --As America'sconservative insurance group, America First Insurance is committed to providing, simple, high quality, and affordable insurance solutions, while fighting tirelessly for the shared values we collectively believe in.
  • Tony Lani, America First Insurance Group's CEO stated: "We are so excited to announce the signing of David J. Harris Jr.!
  • Listeners appreciate his honest and relatable approach to topics focusing on conservative culture".
  • For more information, please visit the America First Insurance Group's website http://www.americafirstinsurance.org that officially went "live" on the 4th of July, 2022.

Joe Budd for Congress Announces Endorsements

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 5, 2022

"Greetings South Floridians, I was once honored to be your US Congressional District 22 representative. Now, it is my honor to offer this statement of support to my good friend Joe Budd who is seeking to be the next Florida Congressional district 23 representative. With all that we are facing in our beloved America -- the exorbitant inflation and economic woes, the shift from being energy independent to crushing fuel prices, the drug, human, and sex trafficking crises emanating from an open border, the rising crime scourge due to insidious criminal release policies and defunding of law enforcement, the declining regard of US foreign policy and national security posture -- it is time to have a committed constitutional conservative voice representing the interests of South Florida. I have known Joe Budd for over a decade, he is the right person at this crucial time. The failed philosophy of governance known as progressive socialism has proven once again it does not work. Joe Budd will stand upon principle, not politics, and will do South Floridians proud. He will defend your individual rights, freedoms, and liberties and promote the success of your small businesses and end the advance of this woke ideology that even threatens our most vulnerable, our children. God's blessings to Joe in this endeavor!"

Key Points: 
  • Joe Budd is gaining significant support in his run for Congress in Florida's District 23.
  • Now, it is my honor to offer this statement of support to my good friend Joe Budd who is seeking to be the next Florida Congressional district 23 representative.
  • I have known Joe Budd for over a decade, he is the right person at this crucial time.
  • "I'm proud to endorse my friend, Joe Budd, in the Republican primary for Congressional District 23.