Bill Clinton said on Wednesday that you “can’t take the politics out of” presidential pardoning decisions as he weighed in on Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son Hunter Biden.
“I wish he hadn’t said he wasn’t going to do it. I think it does weaken his case,” Clinton said of Joe Biden, who had vowed he wouldn’t pardon his son, who was found guilty in June of illegally owning a gun in 2018 and pleaded guilty in a tax case in September.
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Clinton, in remarks to Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, said the president had “reason to believe” his son would likely face “far stronger, adverse consequences” than the average person.
On Sunday, Biden said in a statement that his son was “unfairly” and selectively prosecuted, adding that he was “singled out” due to his ties to his father. The move by the president has led to bipartisan condemnation in the days since.
Clinton dismissed comparisons of Biden’s pardon to his own 2001 pardon of his half-brother Roger Clinton Jr, who was convicted of cocaine possession and drug trafficking in 1985.
“The real question was, would he ever be able to vote again? Would he ever be able to have normal citizenship responsibilities?” said the former president, who noted that his half-brother had already served a 14-month sentence in federal prison at the time.
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He continued, “And I’ve been sort of upset that there’s been almost no discussion about the larger problem, which is, does the pardon system we have work?”
Bill Clinton, who urged Americans to see Biden’s move in a “larger context,” then turned to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (Democrat, New York) call for the president to also pardon those “in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unjustly aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent offences.”
He said that Biden is “almost certainly right” that his son received “completely different treatments” than he would have otherwise.
But the issue over the pardon, he said, isn’t “way high” on his “hierarchy of things” he’s supposed to be upset about.
Sorkin later asked Clinton if Biden should pardon President-elect Donald Trump in what could be seen as a “balanced” move prior to the change in administrations.
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“Well, I do think we should stop trying to criminalise politics,” Clinton said.
He later continued, “Both of them. … And the people like it when they are not going along with it from right to left. On the other hand, you have to ask yourself, if you do this as a blanket thing, is there anything a president could do that he or she someday would get in trouble for?”
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If Vice President-elect JD Vance wants people to stop calling him weird, he might want to stop doing stuff like this.
On Thanksgiving, the Republican posted an edited image of Norman Rockwell’s 1943 Thanksgiving painting “Freedom From Want” on social media.
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The painting depicts a man and a woman at the head of a table where a family is seated for their holiday meal. The woman, wearing a frilly apron, is serving a turkey as the patriarch watches over her.
In Vance’s version, the man at the head of the table is Donald Trump, the woman is Vance, and the turkey is a Republican-dominated electoral map of the country.
Earlier, in the day, Vance had posted a more typical holiday missive, writing, “Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Despite our challenges, we remain the greatest nation in the world, and I’m very grateful for it — and for all of you!”
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It was certainly more festive than the president-elect’s own post, which, in accordance with his tradition, mostly focussed on attacking “Radical Left Lunatics.”
Social media users were truly baffled by Vance’s choice.
“I’ve seen a lot of embarrassing behavior on this app, but I have never seen anything quite like this,” wrote film executive Franklin Leonard.
Former Kamala Harris adviser Mike Nellis offered his own interpretation, speculating Vance was being obsequious to win back influence over Trump, who has been palling around with billionaire Elon Musk since the election.
“My head cannon for this is Vance is worried about Elon having more influence than him, so he thought posting this weird ass meme would win him favour again. Which… honestly might work because Trump is vain as hell and loves this stuff,” Nellis wrote on Bluesky.
Vance’s post evidently caught Musk’s eye; the SpaceX CEO reacted with a laughing emoji.
Check out the reactions on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky below.
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My head cannon for this is Vance is worried about Elon having more influence than him, so he thought posting this weird ass meme would win him favor again. Which… honestly might work because Trump is vain as hell and loves this stuff. 🤣
JD Vance posting an image of himself as Trump’s wife, and also with a map that doesn’t show people he and Trump won by one of the lowest margins in American history. https://t.co/Spl63RInyA
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JD Vance posting an image of himself as Trump’s wife, and also with a map that doesn’t show people he and Trump won by one of the lowest margins in American history. https://t.co/Spl63RInyA
","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Fred Guttenberg","author_url":"https://twitter.com/fred_guttenberg","cache_age":86400,"description":"Everything about this is just WEIRD! Is JD inferring he knows his place and in doing so, is he putting women down?For the less than 50% of America who voted for this, please help me understand how this helps you.— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) November 29, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_thread":{"label":"Hide previous Tweet in conversation thread","value":true},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Fred Guttenberg on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/fred_guttenberg/status/1862488688770335012","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"6749e6ebe4b0f0109e2ebb63","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/people-react-to-jd-vances-trump-loving-thanksgiving-post_uk_6749e6ebe4b0f0109e2ebb63","entryTagsList":"donald-trump,us-news,jd-vance,@nbc_link,@us_huffpost_now,@widget-imported","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":9},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"6749e6ebe4b0f0109e2ebb63","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","links":{"relativeLink":"news/donald-trump","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump"},"relegenceId":2789214,"section":{"title":"News","slug":"news"},"topic":{"title":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump/"},{"name":"us news","slug":"us-news","links":{"relativeLink":"news/us-news","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news"},"relegenceSubjectId":981465,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news/"},{"name":"jd vance","slug":"jd-vance","links":{"relativeLink":"news/jd-vance","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/jd-vance","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/jd-vance"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/jd-vance/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["
I don’t even have anything pithy to say about this pure foolishness. I’m just deeply sad that Americans have put utterly unserious, emotionally stunted people in charge of the very serious, world-impacting business of running our nation. https://t.co/KvKACi3gc9
","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Jennifer Erin Valent","author_url":"https://twitter.com/JenniferEValent","cache_age":86400,"description":"I don’t even have anything pithy to say about this pure foolishness. I’m just deeply sad that Americans have put utterly unserious, emotionally stunted people in charge of the very serious, world-impacting business of running our nation. https://t.co/KvKACi3gc9— Jennifer Erin Valent (@JenniferEValent) November 29, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Jennifer Erin Valent on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/JenniferEValent/status/1862487701632565739","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"6749e6ebe4b0f0109e2ebb63","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/people-react-to-jd-vances-trump-loving-thanksgiving-post_uk_6749e6ebe4b0f0109e2ebb63","entryTagsList":"donald-trump,us-news,jd-vance,@nbc_link,@us_huffpost_now,@widget-imported","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":9},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"6749e6ebe4b0f0109e2ebb63","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","links":{"relativeLink":"news/donald-trump","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump"},"relegenceId":2789214,"section":{"title":"News","slug":"news"},"topic":{"title":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/donald-trump/"},{"name":"us news","slug":"us-news","links":{"relativeLink":"news/us-news","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news"},"relegenceSubjectId":981465,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news/"},{"name":"jd vance","slug":"jd-vance","links":{"relativeLink":"news/jd-vance","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/jd-vance","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/jd-vance"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/jd-vance/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["
I don’t even have anything pithy to say about this pure foolishness. I’m just deeply sad that Americans have put utterly unserious, emotionally stunted people in charge of the very serious, world-impacting business of running our nation. https://t.co/KvKACi3gc9
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said he expects Donald Trump “will find a solution” on the Ukraine war, adding that he hopes the US president-elect recognises he is “not safe.”
Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan following a security summit, Putin said President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia could perhaps be part of an effort by Biden to create challenges for the incoming Trump administration.
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In either case, Putin said Trump “is an intelligent and already quite experienced person,” according to CNN.
“I think he will find a solution,” he said.
Trump, who has refused to answer whether it would be in the best interest of the US for Ukraine to defeat Russia, has said he could strike a deal between both sides in the conflict “within 24 hours” but has not explained what a potential agreement would entail.
During his remarks, Putin also referred to what he described as “uncivilised methods” deployed against Trump during the campaign, citing the attempts on his life.
“By the way, in my opinion, he is not safe now,” Putin said, according to Reuters.
“Unfortunately, in the history of the United States various incidents have happened. I think he is intelligent and I hope he’s cautious and understands this,” Putin added, the news agency reported.
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In July, a gunman targeted Trump while he was delivering a speech at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump’s ear was injured, and a rallygoer died in the attack.
Two months later, US Secret Service agents shot at a man who pointed a rifle through a fence at Trump’s West Palm Beach club as the then-presidential candidate was playing golf. Trump was unharmed.
The Russian leader also decried what he described as “humiliating, unfounded judicial procedures” against Trump, without going into further details on the criminal cases the president-elect has faced.
Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. The judge overseeing the case has postponed the sentencing hearing indefinitely.
Special counsel Jack Smith has also moved to dismiss the criminal cases he brought against Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House in January 2021.
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The only criminal indictment against Trump that is still technically proceeding is his Georgia racketeering case.
In the latest episode of his Kill Tony podcast, which was recorded the day after the rally but debuted on Monday, Hinchcliffe said the set was “about free speech” and rued being “under attack” by the pundits, celebrities and social media users who deemed the joke racist.
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“I referenced Puerto Rico, which currently has a landfill problem in which all of their landfills are filled to the brim,” said Hinchcliffe on the podcast, which was recorded at Joe Rogan’s comedy club in Austin, Texas. “I am the only person who knew about this, unfortunately.”
Environmentalist bloggers and regional outlets have noted that Puerto Rico does have an actual problem regarding its garbage, and that a goal set in 1992 to increase the recycling rate to 35% has reportedly only reached between 9% and 14%.
“With that said, I just want to say that I love Puerto Ricans, they’re very smart people — they’re smart, they’re street smart, they’re smart enough to know when they’re being used as political fodder,” said Hinchcliffe on the podcast. “Right now that is happening.”
Hinchcliffe had set his joke up by welcoming migrants “with open arms,” before laughingly using those arms to wave said migrants away. He then noted “there’s a lot going on,” like “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” and delivered the vexing punchline: “I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”
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“I apologise to absolutely nobody,” Hinchcliffe said on the podcast. “Not to the Puerto Ricans, not to the whites, not to the Blacks, not to the Palestinians, not to the Jews, and not to my own mother, who I made fun of during the set. Nobody clipped that.”
“No headlines about me making fun of my own mother,” he continued.
Hinchcliffe said Tuesday that “perhaps that … wasn’t the best fucking place to do this set at.”
Even Rogan, while certainly supportive of his arguable protégé, argued in the aftermath of the outrage that his stand-up should only be performed at comedy venues — and not at political rallies — but that Hinchcliffe merely delivered the crass humor he’s known for.
“Perhaps that venue at that time wasn’t the best fucking place to do this set at,” said Hinchcliffe during the podcast. “But in any matter, to the mainstream media and to anybody trying to slander me online: That’s what I do, and that’s never going to change.”
The shadow foreign secretary began her interview with the BBC presenter by slamming the Labour Party for previously insulting the president-elect on social media.
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However, Kuenssberg quickly reminded Patel how, the day after the January 6 2021 riots on the US Capitol, the Conservative MP said the scenes were “horrendous” at the “heart of democracy”.
At the time, Patel said: ”[Trump’s] comments of being associated with that violence, and he has failed to condemn that violence, and I think that is completely wrong. People have died.”
“There is no justification for it,” the then-home secretary said, adding that there is “clearly more he could have done and should have done.”
So on Sunday, Kuenssberg said: “I just wonder, after the Capitol riots – back in January 6 [2021] those famous days – you yourself said that Donald Trump’s comments directly led to violence and he did very little to de-escalate the situation.
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“Do you want to apologise to him for saying that, as you’re urging Labour politicians to do?”
Patel replied: “That was a major situation, I was home secretary at the time and I was obviously working with our US counterparts on security issues.
“No one wants to see violence after elections.”
Kuenssberg asked again if she stood by her comments, but Patel just repeated that it was a “serious situation” at the time.
“You clearly pointed the finger at Donald Trump for stoking that situation,” the presenter reminded her.
“Well, times have moved on,” Patel said, while saying that the riots “undermined democracy”.
“Do you stand by that? You were clearly very worried about democracy,” Kuenssberg pushed.
Patel replied: “We were absolutely worried at the time, I think those comments – in light of what happened – were absolutely right and fair and relevant.”
She then deflected back to Labour, saying: “The previous comments of our chief diplomat [David Lammy] were much more personal, much more personal and undiplomatic to the president-elect of the US.”
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The current foreign secretary David Lammy called him “neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” during Trump’s first administration – although he has since dismissed those comments as “old news”.
Patel also told the BBC that that she had a “very strong working relationship” with the US in the past, and one that is built on “trust and respect” – and claimed this government will have to work “harder” to earn that.
“Any violence of that scale is unacceptable,” she said. “Within that context, those comments were absolutely right and appropriate.”
🚨 NEW: Donald Trump says Nigel Farage, who is in attendance at one of his rallies in Pennsylvania tonight, was the ‘big winner’ in the UK general election pic.twitter.com/zetYUKtS6N
Nigel Farage’s latest stateside visit has everyone on social media asking the same question: what is he doing there, and not in his constituency?
The Reform party leader and MP for Clacton is in the US, again, supporting Donald Trump as Americans head to the polls today.
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The neck and neck race between the Republican nominee and his Democrat rival, vice-president Kamala Harris, is almost over after a long and turbulent campaign from both sides.
However, Farage is not a US citizen nor is he on Trump’s team (even though he briefly considered supporting it in the summer).
In the end, he actually decided to run as the Reform candidate in Clacton-on-Sea – and won.
That was a major victory for both his party, which only had one Tory defector in parliament during the last term, and for Farage personally, considering his seven previous unsuccessful attempts to get a seat in the Commons.
But the Clacton MP – who initially refused to hold face-to-face surgeries in his constituency, claiming he would be targeted – has just made his third trip to the States in four months.
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So, naturally, his critics were quick to call him out.
In fact so many people started to comment on Farage’s trip, they soon got the word “Clacton” trending on X…
It’s just been announced Nigel Farage is once again in the USA on another jolly. The good people of Clacton however are still waiting for their MP to set up a constituency office, to agree times and places for a surgery or even establish an email address or phone number. pic.twitter.com/W7pb4cfjEQ
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The good people of Clacton however are still waiting for their MP to set up a constituency office, to agree times and places for a surgery or even establish an email address or phone number. pic.twitter.com/W7pb4cfjEQ— RS Archer (@archer_rs) November 4, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"RS Archer on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/archer_rs/status/1853469572705239123","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"672a39e8e4b0ffe83cf1a7a1","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/farages-latest-us-trip-to-visit-trump-has-got-1-word-trending_uk_672a39e8e4b0ffe83cf1a7a1","entryTagsList":"us-news,nigel-farage,reform-uk,clacton","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb","clickToPlayPlayer":"5a777b9b-81fe-41a6-8302-59e9953ee8a2","videoPagePlayer":"19654b65-409c-4b38-90db-80cbdea02cf4"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":13},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"672a39e8e4b0ffe83cf1a7a1","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"us news","slug":"us-news","links":{"relativeLink":"news/us-news","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news"},"relegenceSubjectId":981465,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/us-news/"},{"name":"nigel farage","slug":"nigel-farage","links":{"relativeLink":"news/nigel-farage","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage/"},{"name":"reform uk","slug":"reform-uk","links":{"relativeLink":"news/reform-uk","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/reform-uk/"},{"name":"Clacton","slug":"clacton","links":{"relativeLink":"news/clacton","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/clacton","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/clacton"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/clacton/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["
It’s just been announced Nigel Farage is once again in the USA on another jolly. The good people of Clacton however are still waiting for their MP to set up a constituency office, to agree times and places for a surgery or even establish an email address or phone number. pic.twitter.com/W7pb4cfjEQ
Nigel, doing his bit for Clacton by hanging out with a group of demented lunatics who from tomorrow will never wield much influence over anything of consequence, ever again. pic.twitter.com/6tY96kPYbu
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Nigel, doing his bit for Clacton by hanging out with a group of demented lunatics who from tomorrow will never wield much influence over anything of consequence, ever again. pic.twitter.com/6tY96kPYbu
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Farage also attended the Republican National Convention in an effort to see Trump after the failed assassination attempt on the ex-president in July, and again in August to speak at an event called Keep Arizona Free Summit.
This latest trip saw Farage attend Trump’s last campaign rally before the polls closed.
He even got a shoutout from Trump as the “big winner” of the UK general election, despite his party only taking five MPs.
Unlike in 2016 and 2020, Farage did not get to speak at the rally, though.
It’s not known why he was relegated to just waving from the crowds this time – and described simply as a “man from Europe” by Trump.
It came hours after Farage told the press that, if the Republican were to lose this election, Trump should accept the loss and “go and play golf”.
According to the poll, just one in seven UK adults (15%) would trust Trump to babysit small children, compared to 59% who would trust Harris.
When it comes to planning a wedding, 55% trust Harris, compared to 16% who would choose Trump.
Harris is also more trusted to give good advice (54% to 22%), change a tyre (40% to 26%), assemble flat pack furniture (45% to 20%) and repay borrowed money (52% to 22%).
British women in particular do not appear to trust Trump, with only 9% saying they would let him babysit small children and 11% trusting him to plan a wedding.
Emma Levin, associate director at Savanta, said: “Clearly the UK public don’t have any kind of impact on the US election taking place, and if they did, I imagine the metrics for how they would judge the candidates would be more serious than whether they can assemble furniture.
“That’s not to say there aren’t insights in these figures. It’s very clear that women don’t trust Trump anywhere near as much as men – a dynamic playing out across the pond right now.
“We can also see on a whole host of personal skills, Harris beats Trump. We will have to see whether the US public agrees.”
Senator JD Vance (Republican, Ohio) would not concede that Vladimir Putin is an “enemy” of the United States during an interview broadcast on Sunday, claiming that the country needs to be strategic about the way it speaks about the Russian president.
The Republican vice presidential nominee told NBC’s Meet The Press Putin is “clearly an adversary” and a “competitor,” but suggested it would be wrong to antagonise him by using stronger language against him that could hinder diplomacy efforts when it comes to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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“Well, we’re not in a war with him, and I don’t want to be in a war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I think that we should try to pursue avenues of peace,” he said.
Vance noted the US “obviously” has “adversarial interests” with Russia.
“We can condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and I have, and of course the president has. But we also need to engage in some smart diplomacy if we’re ever going to get out of the mess that [Vice President] Kamala Harris has left us in and get back to a posture of peace,” he continued.
Former President Donald Trump has blamed both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Joe Biden for the war breaking out. He has also said negotiating a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine would be one of his first orders of business as president-elect if he secures reelection.
Trump has also criticised the Biden administration’s efforts to continue sending assistance to Kyiv, while reportedly maintaining a cozy relationship with Putin, fuelling concern among Democratic lawmakers and US allies about the future of US aid to Ukraine in the event that he wins in November. The two men allegedly spoke on the phone several times since he left office, and Trump reportedly sent Putin Covid tests for his “personal use” in 2020, according to journalist Bob Woodward’s new book War.
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While Trump’s campaign has denied the allegations contained in the book, the former president refused to answer whether he has spoken to Putin since January 2021.
“I don’t comment on that,” Trump told Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief John Micklethwait earlier this month. “But I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing. If I’m friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing and not a bad thing in terms of a country.”
Meanwhile, in the NBC interview, Vance insisted that the US would remain in the NATO military alliance under a Trump presidency.
But he also went on to say Americans “can’t be the policemen of the world,” claiming some NATO members, including Germany, need to spend more on defense, echoing Trump’s words.
“I think a very significant difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is Kamala Harris would like to use our tax dollars and our troops to subsidise Europeans not taking care of their own security,” Vance said. “Donald Trump wants Europe to step up big time to become a real ally of the United States and not just a dependent.”
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This year, Germany met NATO’s target for members to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence spending for the first time since the end of the Cold War in response to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, according to Reuters.
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We deliver the best in breaking news, live video coverage, original journalism and segments from your favorite NBC News Shows.\n\nConnect with NBC News Online!\nNBC News App: https://apps.nbcnews.com/mobile\nBreaking News Alerts: https://link.nbcnews.com/join/5cj/breaking-news-signup?cid=sm_npd_nn_yt_bn-clip_190621\nVisit NBCNews.Com: http://nbcnews.to/ReadNBC\nFind NBC News on Facebook: http://nbcnews.to/LikeNBC\nFollow NBC News on Twitter: http://nbcnews.to/FollowNBC\nFollow NBC News on Instagram: http://nbcnews.to/InstaNBC\n\n#jdvance #putin #republican","options":{"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"_end":{"label":"End on","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"_start":{"label":"Start from","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until 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Vladimir Putin has finally responded to the international claims he spoke to Donald Trump on multiple occasions after the latter left the Oval Office.
Journalist Bob Woodward claimed in his new book War that, according to a former White House aide, “there have been multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin, maybe as many as seven in the period since Trump left the White House in 2021”.
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Trump’s campaign said the claims were completely fabricated. His spokesperson replied: “None of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Putin has just replied to Woodward’s claim, which were first reported on October 8, today.
Responding to a reporter’s question at the BRICS conference in Kazan, the Russian president said: “It’s nonsense.”
He continued: “But when Trump says that he wants to put an end to the war in Ukraine, I think that he is sincere.”
The former US president has sparked concerns among Western officials over his stance towards the conflict.
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He has repeatedly said he wants the war to end but has refused to say who he wants to win, suggesting he may force Ukraine to cede land to Moscow.
Putin did use the press conference to confirm that he is in contact with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, over potentially deploying troops to fight alongside Russia.
Alluding to his defence pact with Pyongyang, he said: “We ratified the treaty on strategic partnership which contains Article 4 and we have never shied away from the fact that North Korea is serious about its commitment to us.
“It’s up to us how we implement Article 4. We are in contact with our North Korean partners.”
According to The Telegraph, he also chuckled when asked about troops already being deployed to fight in Russia, before adding: “The satellite images you spoke of, this is a serious allegation.
“It means that something is happening, but let me tell you one thing, it wasn’t the actions of Russia that led to the escalation in Ukraine.”
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It’s widely believed that Moscow invaded Ukraine and tried to seize Kyiv in 2022 in a land grab, although Putin blames NATO’s eastward expansion.
Former President Barack Obama said he gave ex-President Donald Trump a pandemic playbook when Trump took office — but he disregarded it.
“He ignored it,” Obama said during a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris in Las Vegas on Saturday. “And three years later, a pandemic hits.”
He said the Covid-19 pandemic was a “generational pandemic” and that any president would have had a hard time before noting how the United States’ death rate compared to countries like Canada that responded proactively to the global outbreak.
“But if you look at a country like Canada, their per capita death rate was 40% lower than it was here in the United States. So just do the math. That’s more than 400,000 people,” Obama said. “People’s grandmothers, people’s fathers, people’s moms who would have been alive if Donald Trump had just paid attention and tried to follow the plan that we gave him.”
He continued, saying it does matter and makes a difference to have a president who is “competent,” “cares about you” and “listens to people who are experts in these areas.”
“If you hear somebody say it doesn’t matter, it does matter,” Obama added. “And at some point, it will make a difference to them.”
In early 2020, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky) claimed that the Obama administration didn’t leave any pandemic playbook. Soon after that, Ronald Klain, the White House Ebola response coordinator from October 2014 to February 2015, posted the playbook on social media, while Nicole Lurie, an Obama administration official, confirmed its existence.
