Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, speaks during Faith & Freedom Coalition’s God & Country Breakfast on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee.
| Photo Credit: AP

J.D. Vance, the Republican candidate for U.S. Vice President, weaved the story of his childhood struggle in a decrepit white working class community in Ohio into America First politics, vowing to regenerate manufacturing jobs in the country and avoid U.S. entanglement in global conflicts. “Our jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war,” Mr. Vance, 39, who has emerged as the poster boy of the American working class, told the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

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His Indian-origin wife Usha introduced the VP candidate — U.S. Senator from Ohio — at the convention as someone who realised the American dream. “He has the same ambition for all Americans,” she said recalling how Mr. Vance learnt to cook Indian vegetarian food and embraced her family of Indian immigrant parents and sister. “That JD and I could meet and fall in love is testament to this great country,” she said.

The couple met as classmates at Yale Law School. Mr. Vance blamed illegal inflow of people into the U.S. for a runaway crisis in housing and inflation even as he made it clear that immigration was integral to being American. “We are a people with a shared history and a shared future. In short, we are a nation… As part of that tradition, we welcome newcomers. When we allow newcomers into our American family, we allow them on our terms — that is the way we preserve the continuity of this project,” Mr. Vance said, pointing out that his wife’s family “genuinely enriched” the U.S.

Mr. Vance was raised by his grandmother who he said loved God and the F word. His single mother had fallen to addiction even as jobs and factories disappeared from the community to global trade. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Vance linked the decline of his family and the community directly to U.S. President Joe Biden.

Forgotten by rulers

“It was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America’s ruling class in Washington. When I was in grade four, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported NAFTA — a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to Mexico. When I was a sophomore in high school that same career politician named Joe Biden gave China a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good American middle class manufacturing jobs; when I was a senior in high school that same Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq and at each step of the way in small towns like mine and Ohio or next door in Pennsylvania or Michigan in States all across our country, jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war,” Mr. Vance said, as the crowd chanted “Joe must go.” The America First nationalism mobilised by Mr. Trump has found a perfect champion in Mr. Vance, who dialled up the anger against trade and war with his personal tales of struggle and survival. Mr. Vance’s 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy was a bestselling book and later a film.

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Mr. Vance, who served as a marine in Iraq, said American soldiers would be sent to war only when they must. Allies will have to pay a fair share for joint defence, and there will be “no more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the American tax payer”. The VP candidate has been a strong opponent of U.S. aid to Ukraine, and Mr. Trump has said Taiwan will have to pay the U.S. for its defence. “From Iraq to Afghanistan… America’s ruling class wrote the cheque and communities like mine paid the price,” said Mr. Vance, adding that a new Trump presidency will be focused on the welfare of the American working class.

Cutouts depicting U.S. President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump are displayed in a souvenir shop in Washington, U.S.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of invective against U.S. President Joe Biden on July 9, mercilessly assailing the embattled Democrat as he faces down calls to end his re-election bid after a disastrous debate performance.

Mr. Trump’s speech in Florida was his first public appearance since the clamour for Mr. Biden’s withdrawal began gaining momentum, and the gloves were emphatically off as the Republican accused Democrats of lying to protect the President.

“It’s the biggest cover up in political history,” Mr. Trump thundered near the start of a 75-minute speech, which focused almost entirely on his 81-year-old election rival.

“As you know, they are all co-conspirators in the sinister plot to defraud the American public about the cognitive abilities of the man in the Oval Office.”

Commentators have noted how Mr. Trump, 78, has appeared relatively restrained in recent days, stepping back from the limelight to allow the full glare of the media to stay on the Democratic leadership crisis.

But he dispensed with any pretence at restraint as he characterised Mr. Biden as a “corrupt, incompetent, cognitively impaired” leader who was barely aware of his own policies or record in office.

In a typically bombastic speech peppered with multiple exaggerations and falsehoods, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Biden of going missing regularly from the Oval Office while his son Hunter, a convicted felon, runs the government aided by First Lady Jill Biden.

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For much of the rally at his Doral National golf resort in Miami, Mr. Trump ran through his usual stump speech, characterising America as teetering on the edge of catastrophe and describing a world facing a race against the clock to avert nuclear armageddon.

But there were multiple departures as Mr. Trump skewered Mr. Biden — and kept twisting — over numerous public statements from elected Democrats in recent days questioning his ability to carry the party to victory in November.

Golf challenge

The former President dared his successor to another debate without moderators and, in a lighter moment that raised a smile from audience members baking in 103-degree Fahrenheit (39-degree Celsius) heat, challenged him to a round of golf.

“It will be among the most watched sporting events in history, maybe bigger than the Ryder Cup or even the Masters,” he deadpanned.

“And I will even give Joe Biden 10 strokes a side… and if he wins, I will give the charity of his choice, any charity that he wants, $1 million. And I bet you he doesn’t take the offer.”

The pair had previously sparred over who had a better long game during the debate, and the Biden campaign’s response to the latest challenge came in the form of a golf pun.

“Joe Biden doesn’t have time for Donald Trump’s weird antics — he’s busy leading America and defending the free world,” it said.

“Donald Trump is a liar, a convict, and a fraud only out for himself par for the course.”

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is a frontrunner in the contest to be named Mr. Trump’s running mate at next week’s Republican nominating convention in Milwaukee, and he was in the front row to cheer on Mr. Trump and deliver brief remarks of his own.

Nearby, a digital billboard underscored the evolution that the Republican Party has undergone under Mr. Trump, playing 2016 footage of Rubio eviscerating the man he is hoping to work with for the next four years.

“You all have friends that are thinking about voting for Donald Trump,” the now staunchly loyal Mr. Rubio was seen telling a crowd in Texas. “Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Hungary’s right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban lent his support to long-time ally Donald Trump’s bid to return to White House after meeting the former U.S. president in Florida late on Friday.

The two discussed “a wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the United States, including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation,” according to a statement from Mr. Trump’s campaign.

Mr. Orban has long been at odds with his fellow European Union members over a range of issues, including refusing to send weapons to Kyiv and keeping up economic ties with Moscow since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Mr. Orban has said only the return of Republican candidate Mr. Trump to the White House could bring peace in Ukraine.

“We need leaders in the world who are respected and can bring peace. He is one of them! Come back and bring us peace, Mr. President!,” Mr. Orban said in a post on X after the meeting.

Mr. Orban, admired by many conservatives in the United States for his tough policies on immigration, his family support schemes and his vocal stance on national sovereignty, said in a video on his Facebook page that under Mr. Trump’s 2017-2021 presidency there was peace in the Middle East and also Ukraine.

“Viktor is a Great Leader, respected all over the World,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday in a post on his Truth Social messaging platform, saying it had been an honour to host Mr. Orban.

“Hungary is a Safe Country because of his Strong Immigration Policies, and as long as he is in charge, it always will be!” Mr. Trump added.

Mr. Orban has regularly been at loggerheads with the EU over his anti-immigration campaigns and moves to put the judiciary, NGOs, and media under more state control, which critics say have eroded democracy in Hungary.

Mr. Orban has also criticised EU sanctions against Russia, although never vetoed them in the end, and held up an EU decision on granting new aide for Ukraine last December until finally agreeing to it early this year.

U.S. President Joe Biden from the Democratic Party and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump have swept in their parties’ presidential nomination primaries held in 15 states across the country, paving the way for a rematch between them in November and putting pressure on Indian-American candidate Nikki Haley to quit.

After Super Tuesday’s election results, Mr. Trump, 77, is hoping to establish a commanding lead in the delegate count and vanquish his only Republican opponent, Ms. Haley.

Seeking his re-election, Mr. Biden, 81, swept almost all the Democratic primary states.

He lost to Jason Palmer in American Samoa.

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“Joe Biden isn’t facing any major competition in the primary cycle, and has won all the Democratic contests so far tonight, CNN projects, as he gears up for a likely rematch with Mr. Trump in November,” CNN said.

Ms. Haley, 52, the former U.S. envoy to the U.N. failed to make a mark Tuesday even as she showed strong support in the states of Vermont, where she won.

That victory, however, will do little to dent Mr. Trump’s primary dominance.

Mr. Trump prevailed in most of the Super Tuesday states: California, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Utah, Minnesota, Colorado, Arkansas and Maine.

Super Tuesday is an important phase of presidential primaries when the early contests are over, and voters from multiple states cast ballots in primaries timed to occur on the same date. Almost all the results were one-sided in favour of Trump except for Vermont, where the winning difference was about one per cent.

More than a third of all the Republican delegates were at stake on Super Tuesday, the biggest haul of any date on the primary calendar.

To win the presidential nomination of the Republican party, either of the two candidates needs 1,215 delegates, who are elected during the primaries. Before Super Tuesday, Mr. Trump had 244 delegates in his kitty, while Ms. Haley had 43.

Speaking from Palm Beach, Florida, Mr. Trump claimed that “we have a very divided country,” and vowed to unify it soon.

“This was an amazing night and an amazing day, it’s been an incredible period of time in our country’s history,” Mr. Trump said at his election night watch party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

“We have a very divided country. We have a country [where] a political person uses weaponisation against his political opponents,” he said.

He compared the state of the U.S. political system to “third-world countries”.

“Never happened here. It happens in other countries, but they’re third-world countries. And in some ways, we’re a third-world country.” Talking up some of his achievements from his time in office, notably the half-built border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, Mr. Trump claimed he delivered “the safest borders in the history of our country” and went on to rail against what he described as “migrant crime”, without citing any evidence.

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“And so the world is laughing at us, the world is taking advantage of us,” he said.

He goes on to describe his aims to make the U.S. “energy independent and energy dominant”.

“All the… tragedy, you will not have to think of it. All of the problems we have today, we would not have had any of them,” he said.

“You would only have success and that is what ultimately going to unify this country and unify this party,” he added.

‘Trump driven by grievance and grift’: Biden

Earlier, Mr. Biden touted the work his administration has accomplished in its first term in office while issuing a stark warning that a second Trump term would mean a return to “chaos, division, and darkness.” “Four years ago, I ran because of the existential threat Donald Trump posed to the America we all believe in,” Mr. Biden wrote in a statement, highlighting progress under his administration on jobs, inflation, prescription drug prices, and gun control.

He then warned that if Mr. Trump returns to the White House, the progress his administration has made will be at risk.

“(Mr. Trump) is driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people,” Mr. Biden noted.

‘Haley getting nowhere’: Trump

Ms. Haley, the former South Carolina governor, said she has not made a final decision as to whether or not she would endorse her ex-boss Mr. Trump if she ends her presidential bid, but her campaign is receiving a lot of feedback on the subject, sources familiar with recent discussions tell CNN.

People who are close to Ms. Haley have different opinions. Some believe that it would be good for her to back Mr. Trump because she would be viewed as a team player. Others ardently oppose her endorsing him because that would give Ms. Haley the freedom to be critical of Mr. Trump and build her own movement. They have shared those opinions with Ms. Haley and her campaign in recent days and weeks, sources said, CNN said.

Ms. Haley herself has recently said she is not focused on endorsing anyone because she is focused on winning herself.

Mr. Trump, however, in an interview on Tuesday bashed Ms. Haley, saying she was angry because her campaign is “just getting nowhere.” CNN reported earlier this evening that Mr. Trump’s team is aware he won’t cross the delegate threshold tonight to become the presumptive Republican nominee, but the hope is that he secures enough delegates to ensure he does meet that milestone as early as next Tuesday, March 12.

Mr. Trump’s campaign is also hoping that a definitive win in Super Tuesday will effectively force Ms. Haley to drop out of the race.

“President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump romped through the opening contests of Super Tuesday, piling up wins in states including Texas, the second-largest delegate prize of the night, as they moved inexorably toward their parties’ nominations and a rematch for the White House in November,” The New York Times reported.

“Former president Donald Trump and President Biden are dominating Super Tuesday contests with roughly one-third of the delegates at stake that will determine the Republican and Democratic party nominations. Voters in 15 states are participating in primaries or caucuses,” The Washington Post said.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va.
| Photo Credit: AP

Former President Donald Trump continued his march toward the GOP nomination on Saturday, winning caucuses in Idaho and Missouri and sweeping the delegate haul at a party convention in Michigan.

Mr. Trump earned every delegate at stake on Saturday, bringing his count to 244 compared to 24 for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. A candidate needs to secure 1,215 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination.

The next event on the Republican calendar is Sunday in the District of Columbia. Two days later is Super Tuesday, when 16 states will hold primaries on what will be the largest day of voting of the year outside of the November election. Mr. Trump is on track to lock up the nomination days later.

The steep odds facing Ms. Haley were on display in Columbia, Missouri, where Republicans gathered at a church to caucus.

Seth Christensen stood on stage and called on them to vote for Ms. Haley. He wasn’t well received.

Another caucusgoer shouted out from the audience: “Are you a Republican?” An organiser quieted the crowd and Mr. Christensen finished his speech. Ms. Haley went on to win just 37 of the 263 Republicans in attendance in Boone County.

Here’s a look at Saturday’s contests:

Michigan

Michigan Republicans at their convention in Grand Rapids began allocating 39 of the state’s 55 GOP presidential delegates. Mr. Trump won all 39 delegates allocated.

But a significant portion of the party’s grassroots force was skipping the gathering because of the lingering effects of a monthslong dispute over the party’s leadership.

Mr. Trump handily won Michigan’s primary this past Tuesday with 68% of the vote compared with Ms. Haley’s 27%.

Michigan Republicans were forced to split their delegate allocation into two parts after Democrats, who control the state government, moved Michigan into the early primary states, violating the national Republican Party’s rules.

Missouri

Voters lined up outside a church in Columbia, home to the University of Missouri, before the doors opened for the caucuses. Once they got inside, they heard appeals from supporters of the candidates.

“Every 100 days, we’re spending $1 trillion, with money going all over the world. Illegals are running across the border,” Tom Mendenall, an elector for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, said to the crowd. He later added: “You know where Donald Trump stands on a lot of these issues.”

Mr. Christensen, a 31-year-old from Columbia who came to the caucus with his wife and three children ages 7, 5, and 2, then urged Republicans to go in a new direction.

“I don’t need to hear about Mr. Trump’s dalliances with people of unsavoury character, nor do my children,” Mr. Christensen said to the room. “And if we put that man in the office, that’s what we’re going to hear about all the time. And I’m through with it.”

Supporters quickly moved to one side of the room or the other, depending on whether they favoured Mr. Trump or Ms. Haley. There was little discussion between caucusgoers after they chose a side.

This year was the first test of the new system, which is almost entirely run by volunteers on the Republican side.

The caucuses were organised after GOP Gov. Mike Parson signed a 2022 law that, among other things, cancelled the planned March 12 presidential primary.

Lawmakers failed to reinstate the primary despite calls to do so by both state Republican and Democratic party leaders. Democrats will hold a party-run primary on March 23.

Mr. Trump prevailed twice under Missouri’s old presidential primary system.

Idaho

Last year, Idaho lawmakers passed cost-cutting legislation that was intended to move all the state’s primaries to the same date in May. But the bill inadvertently eliminated the presidential primaries entirely.

The Republican-led Legislature considered holding a special session to reinstate the presidential primaries but failed to agree on a proposal in time, leaving both parties with presidential caucuses as the only option.

“I think there’s been a lot of confusion because most people don’t realise that our Legislature actually voted in a flawed bill,” said Jessie Bryant, who volunteered at a caucus site near downtown Boise. “So the caucus is really just the best-case scenario to actually get an opportunity to vote for a presidential candidate and nominate them for the GOP.”

One of those voters was John Graves, a fire protection engineer from Boise. He said the caucus was fast and easy, not much different from Idaho’s usual Republican primary. He anticipated the win would go to Mr. Trump.

“It’s a very conservative state, so I would think that Trump will probably carry it quite easily,” Mr. Graves said. “And I like that.” The Democratic caucuses aren’t until May 23.

The last GOP caucuses in Idaho were in 2012, when about 40,000 of the state’s nearly 200,000 registered Republican voters showed up to select their preferred candidate.