US news | The Guardian
· collected 2026-09-04 · by Jonathan Freedland
What is Donald Trump playing at?
asserted
Trump → play → What
If it’s true that the best way of understanding the behaviour of an organisation is to assume it’s controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies, perhaps that same logic extends to the current conduct of the president of the United States.
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logic → ’ → States
Maybe he secretly wants Republicans to lose the looming midterm elections that will decide the balance of power in the US for the next two years and for which the first postal ballots were sent out today.
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ballots → want → which
That’s not as mad a theory as it sounds.
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it → ’ → ?
Indeed, there are at least two reasons why Trump might either be unbothered by Republican defeat in November or even covertly desire it.
uncertain
Trump → be → it
We’ll come to those, but let’s start with a pattern of behaviour that is hard to explain as anything other than calculated self-sabotage.
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that → come → sabotage
At the centre of it is the single act that is already defining Trump’s second term: his reckless, failed war of choice against Iran.
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that → define → Iran
No matter how many times he declares mission accomplished or claims to have destroyed the Iranian military or to have reopened the strait of Hormuz, the facts keep telling a different story.
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facts → declare → story
In the past week, the two sides shifted from an economic standoff back to a shooting war, with the US firing on Iranian targets that included a wedding party, killing four, and Tehran striking out all over the neighbourhood, hitting Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain.
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Tehran → shift → Iraq
The impact on US voters is severe, felt most directly through rising petrol prices and grocery bills.
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impact → feel → prices
look at the graph measuring the cost the US government must pay to borrow money: it’s been a steep upward climb since 28 February, the day the war began, hitting a fresh high on Tuesday.
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war → look → Tuesday
For consumers, that rise translates into an expected jump in interest rates.
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rise → translate → rates
It means that many of those casting ballots are likely to be doing so just as they start paying more on their credit card bills and mortgages.
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they → mean → bills
Given that Trump was elected in November 2024 on a promise to bring down inflation, it’s hard to think of a worse environment for a governing party about to face the voters’ verdict.
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it → give → verdict
And that’s before you consider the disenchantment of the Maga faithful, who thought the whole point of Trump was an end to forever wars in the Middle East.
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point → ’ → East
He is, and it would once have been absurd to write this sentence, leading his country into a state of war with … Canada.
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it → write → Canada
It’s easy to laugh at the petty gestures, such as Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario as Lake America, a move shamefully followed, and therefore endorsed, by Apple and Google in their map apps.
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It → ’ → apps
For which US states are hit hardest by Canada’s “dollar-for-dollar” response to Trump’s tariffs?
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states → hit → tariffs
Why, it’s Michigan, Ohio, Maine, Iowa and Texas, all of which just happen to have key senate contests this year.
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all → ’ → contests
Republican candidates in those states now have to explain why a crucial and previously friendly export market – Canada takes nearly a third of Iowa’s exports, for example – has suddenly turned icy.
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Canada → have → example
What’s odd is that Trump’s trade wars are also wars of choice, and they are hurting especially badly what should be a reliable Republican constituency: farmers.
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what → ’ → farmers
Take Iowa: Democrats have not won a senate seat in that farming state for nearly 20 years, yet now, thanks to Trump’s tariffs, they have a genuine shot.
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they → take → shot
Still, perhaps the most egregious illustration of Trump’s apparent determination to ruin Republican chances in the midterms is his support for datacentres.
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illustration → ruin → datacentres
Few issues have seen their salience rise so quickly and in such a clear direction: almost overnight, they have become objects of fear and loathing across the country and across the political spectrum, with seven in 10 Americans saying they would not want one anywhere near where they live.
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they → see → one
For others, datacentres have become a lightning rod for a broader anxiety over AI and what it may do to our jobs and our lives.
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it → become → jobs
So where does Trump stand?
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Trump → stand → ?
“The only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want data centres is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” the president posted on Monday.
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president → want → Monday
In that remark, he not only put himself at odds with most US voters, he insulted them too.
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he → put → them
It’s almost a talent, this ability of Trump’s to land on the wrong side of so-called 80/20 issues, siding with one-fifth of the electorate against the rest.
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It → ’ → rest
Likewise, strong majorities oppose his vanity projects, whether demolishing the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom or putting his signature on the dollar bill, yet he persists not only in doing them but in talking about them constantly.
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he → oppose → them
And all the while, he has hobbled his party by endorsing radioactively unpopular candidates.
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he → hobble → candidates
Few politicians in the US are more tainted than Ken Paxton, who as attorney general of Texas was impeached by his fellow Republicans on a long list of charges that included bribery and abuse of public trust.
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that → impeach → trust
Yet who did Trump back as the Republicans’ senate choice in Texas?
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Trump → do → Texas
Put it all together, and these look like the actions of a man who has no fear of the blue wave that seems to be coming and who could not care less if it sweeps away the Republicans’ current majorities in Congress.
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it → put → Congress
That’s curious, given how useful it has been for Trump to have Capitol Hill serve as a rubber stamp that, combined with a largely pliant supreme court, has allowed him to rule with the scarcely fettered power of a would-be autocrat.
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him → ’ → autocrat
What could explain the insouciance?
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What → explain → insouciance
One answer is that Congress’s most potent weapon – the power of subpoena and investigation – holds no terror for Trump because he knows that the House and Senate have no means to enforce their will.
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House → hold → will
They have no police or troops at their command.
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They → have → command
They can issue their writs and summonses, and he will simply ignore them – comforted by the near-blanket immunity he has already been granted by the supreme court.
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he → issue → court
If Congress goes after his aides and advisers, he will instruct them to follow his lead, on the promise of a comprehensive presidential pardon protecting them from any and all legal consequences.
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he → go → consequences
…and 8 more, not listed.
