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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Jacob Heilbrunn |Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |James R. Snell
Once upon a time America practiced ping-pong diplomacy to try and improve ties with Mao’s China. Now Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are talking about organizing hockey matches in America and Russia to bolster relations. Given that the two sides would be playing in ice rinks, it would be hard to say that Russia, which has been banned from the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup ever since its invasion of Ukraine, is coming in from the cold.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |James R. Snell |Jacob Heilbrunn
The White House’s Presidential Personnel Office is ticking off Republicans with some of its policy hires – or rejections. While President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are dead set on slashing government jobs via the Department of Government Efficiency, some in the GOP are frustrated that PPO is rejecting political appointees with apparently sterling MAGA credentials. They feel that PPO is flexing its muscles over both agency heads and Republican senators.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Lisa Haseldine |Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |James R. Snell
It may be taking him longer than the 24 hours he pledged on the campaign trail, but it appears that US President Donald Trump might be getting somewhere on halting the war between Russia and Ukraine: following a call lasting an hour and a half, he has persuaded Vladimir Putin to agree to a partial ceasefire in the conflict. According to the statements beginning to emerge from the Kremlin and White House, the call appears to have gone well.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Freddy Gray |John Steele Gordon |Ben Domenech |James R. Snell
Can you pass the MAGA moral purity test? The White House’s Presidential Personnel Office is ticking off Republicans with some of its policy hires – or rejections. Mischief, mayhem and Washington gossip from The Spectator’s intrepid beat reporter. While President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are dead set on slashing government jobs via the Department of Government Efficiency, some in the GOP are frustrated that PPO is rejecting political appointees with apparently sterling MAGA credentials.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Freddy Gray |James R. Snell |Jacob Heilbrunn |Kate Andrews
Almost exactly seven years ago, on Monday March 19, 2018, Donald Trump decided he wanted to telephone Vladimir Putin to congratulate the Russian president on his re-election. The call was set up for the following day, though Trump’s then national security advisor, HR McMaster ordered his team to give the President helpful note cards. The first said, in capitals: ‘DO NOT CONGRATULATE ON ELECTION WIN.’ Of course Trump completely ignored the instruction and applauded Vladimir on his triumph.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Freddy Gray |James R. Snell |Jacob Heilbrunn |Kate Andrews
Almost exactly seven years ago, on Monday March 19, 2018, Donald Trump decided he wanted to telephone Vladimir Putin to congratulate the Russian president on his re-election. The call was set up for the following day, though Trump’s then national security advisor H.R. McMaster ordered his team to give the President helpful note cards. The first said, in capitals: “DO NOT CONGRATULATE ON ELECTION WIN.”Of course Trump completely ignored the instruction and applauded Vladimir on his triumph.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | James R. Snell |Jacob Heilbrunn |Daryl McCann |Juan P. Villasmil
Fans of South Park are familiar with the long-running gag involving the show’s portrayal of Canadians as crudely animated, detail-less animated cutouts, perpetually outraged — almost always an overreaction to something America has done.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | James R. Snell |Paul Wood |Jacob Heilbrunn |Rupert Shortt
The United States has begun what may well prove to be a long — and likely doomed — campaign of airstrikes against Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, in Yemen. For a year and a half since October 2023, the Houthis have been highly successful in disrupting shipping in the Red Sea, launching missiles and drones at cargo ships, oil tankers, and passenger vessels — hitting some, sinking fewer, and inconveniencing millions.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | James R. Snell |Ben Domenech |Jacob Heilbrunn |Kate Andrews
The United States has begun what may well prove to be a long — and likely doomed — campaign of airstrikes against Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, in Yemen. For a year and a half since October 2023, the Houthis have been highly successful in disrupting shipping in the Red Sea, launching missiles and drones at cargo ships, oil tankers, and passenger vessels — hitting some, sinking fewer, and inconveniencing millions.
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1 month ago | 
thespectator.com | Paul Wood |Rupert Shortt |James R. Snell |Niall Ferguson
No one covers up their war crimes any more. They film them, celebrate them, post them on X. So we have videos from Syria this week showing Islamist fighters making terrified Alawite men get on their hands and knees and howl like dogs. In one video, the victims crawl along a street spattered with blood and gore as a bearded gunman clubs them with a wooden pole. The camera comes to rest on half a dozen bodies. Then we hear rifle shots.
