If you're right, we can also hope Farage doesn't understand how damaged he will be when, hopefully, Trump falls from power. In Napoleon Bonaparte's words, "when your enemy is making a mistake, it's rude to interrupt him".

They are in the ascendancy here on the Isle of Wight, partly because there are no Greys.

I much fear that if the mid-terms are suspended or grossly manipulated, many Americans will rightly feel no alternative but to take to the streets and blood will flow. Globally, this outcome suits Putin and other authouritarian dictators because it 'legitimises' what they've been doing for decades.

As a brit, I have no direct stake in this, but what happens this year affects the whole world, not just America. If the mid terms are held, free and fair, democracy may yet be saved and that's what Americans should strive for. If not, insurrection beckons, and God help the world, not just the USA.

It surely can't be real but if it is, even as a european with the Atlantic ocean between me and him, I'm scared of Donald Trump.

Serious question from a curious foreigner. If, after a properly conducted free and fair referendum, a significant majority in, say, Minnesota voted to secede from the Union and either join Canada or become independent, can this be done legally and constitutionally ?

Garson also offered his legal expertise in arranging people's asylum applications, presumably for a suitable fee, and offered to train and arm them in the use of firearms. Like everybody else around Trump, he sees the current state of the world primarily in terms of opportunities for personal gain.

Serious question from a concerned foreigner. What is the likelihood Trump will manufacture some pretext on which he will try to postpone mid-term elections ?

....apart, of course, from those big chunks of the midwest that belong to the Sioux, Araphaho, Crow, etc.

"When America shines brightly, the world shines brightly" That's because it's in flames, Donald.

There is one good thing about Trump's utterance. By acknowledging he feels unconstrained by any law, procedure, or precedent, up to & including the constitution, it means nobody opposing him need feel bad or guilty about ignoring these constraints either.

Genuine question from an ignorant foreigner. Why would a ban on Mail-in voting benefit the Republicans rather than the Democrats? Is it simply that more Dems. use-mail in voting, and if so, why ?

Trump has said the US might retaliate with force if Iranian authorities used violence against civilian demonstrators on the streets of Tehran. Perhaps the Iranian miltary could step in to protect the people of Minneapolis against ICE.

I take your point, but Starmer is now in the position of Chamberlain in 1938/9.... what will be Trump's 'invasion of Poland', and can we rely on Starmer to stand up and be counted when that happens ?

This just makes Cooper's mealy mouthed refusal to condemn the US over their military action in Venezuala even more hypocritical. She's willing to take a principled stand to defend the sovreignity of fellow europeans from US rapacity, but not Latin Americans.

As a Brit., I feel for the many decent Americans who look on in distress and disbelief as Trump makes their country so hated and mistrusted in one year that it will take a decade, maybe two, for the world (except Russia and Israel), to accept them again .

I take your point. Although I know Green membership is increasing, they still have only four MPs. To have any hope of making a difference at the next election, the priority for which must be to keep Reform out, they will have to join a coalition. Do you agree ?

Education per se is always good, but may produce unanticipated results, e.g. Boris Johnson. We (i.e any liberal democracy) must find a way to make the electorate politically aware enough to want to participate in the democratic process. Compulsory voting, (with a formal abstention clause) maybe ?

Do you have short-term strategy ?

"the best option"..... to form the next government ?

So what do you suggest instead ?

I agree. The closer Farage allies himself to Trump the more he will be damaged if, hopefully when, Trump and Trumpism collapses.

Amusingly, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England who died in 1658 was present when he was tried for the murder of King Charles 1st...in 1661. His disinterred cadaver was found guilty and hanged. Those Cavaliers knew how to harbour a grudge.

Assuming the OP and the two responses above are not satire, any Americans who think it's desirable for them to be feared need not worry. Believe me, you are, you sad brutal bastards.

Sustaining a democracy against the corrupt and malevolent also requires an electorate that is reasonably politically engaged and aware, and willing to actively participate in the democratic process. Do we have that ?

Agreed. Starmer, or any successor for some years to come, cannot afford to cut ties with the US, much as we may wish it. This needs to be a gradual process of UK reintegrating with Europe and becoming militarily more self-sufficient.

Lie down with the dogs, you catch their fleas.

The rest of us outside the US hope so too.

Stephen Miller bemoans the jury's lack of shared values and of beliefs. I'd argue the opposite, the jury showed a commendable support for the decent values and beliefs most American people share. It's Stephen Miller who's out of step here, not the jury.

Their platform is the narrow anti-immigration protest vote, little else. If there were an election now, they'd win tons of seats, but I doubt a clear majority. If it's in three years and immigration is less of an issue, they will decline, especially if Trump, Farage's mentor, has fallen by then.