US President Donald Trump has highlighted a new type of protective tent, contrasting it with traditional shelters made from plastic or canvas.

Trump said traditional tents can offer limited protection from ammunition and described the new tents as significantly stronger. He claimed the new shelters could withstand even powerful rounds, including AK-47 fire.

The comments come as Trump discusses the development and use of more protective temporary shelters. His remarks have drawn attention to the design, materials and claimed protective capabilities of the new tents.

Watch this report for the latest details and Trump’s remarks on the new protective tents and their claimed resistance to gunfire.

 Trump Unveils New Bullet-Resistant Tents, Says They Can Stop AK-47 Fire

U.S. President Donald Trump has defended the newly announced 14-point Memorandum of Understanding with Iran amid criticism from political opponents and foreign policy experts. The agreement aims to reduce tensions, reopen key trade routes and establish a framework for future negotiations. Trump's comments come as debate intensifies over the deal's long-term impact on regional security, missile development and America's Middle East strategy.

U.S. President Defends 14-Point MoU With Iran 

US President Donald Trump described his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “good” while commenting on the ongoing Ukraine conflict. Trump called the war in Ukraine the “most difficult to end” and shared insights on his diplomatic approach.

Trump Says Meeting with Zelensky “Good” | Ukraine War Most Difficult to End

US President Donald Trump held a Board of Peace ceremony, highlighting his initiatives on global peace and security. In his address, Trump claimed that his administration has successfully stopped 100% of illegal drugs from entering the United States.

Trump Holds Board of Peace Ceremony, Highlights Drug Control Success

Oklahoma US Presidential Election 2024: On November 5, 2024, voters in Oklahoma cast their ballot to elect the next United States president in a battle between former president Donald Trump (Republican) and Vice President Kamala Harris (Democrat). The state has seen a Republican winning streak, with Republican nominees receiving at least 65 per cent of the votes in the last five elections.

In 2016, Trump won his third-best victory margin in Oklahoma against Democrat Hillary Clinton, which marked the biggest win for a Republican in the state since 1984. The state has not voted for any Democratic presidential nominee for 60 years. Additionally, no Democrat has won any county in the state since 2000.

Eight states in the US, including Oklahoma, saw&nbsp;a state question on their ballot to amend the state constitution, limiting only US citizens to vote in the state.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/north-dakota-us-presidential-election-2024-voting-result-info-candidates-and-all-you-need-to-know-772102">North Dakota US Presidential Election 2024: Voting, Result info, Candidates and all you need to know</a>

<h2>How many Senate seats are going for election in the state? Who are the candidates?</h2>

The 2024 Oklahoma elections were&nbsp;held on November 5, 2024, in which voters elected state senators in half of the 48 Senate districts.

<h2>How many House of Representatives seats are going for election in the state?</h2>

Oklahoma elected five politicians&nbsp;for the 2024 US House of Representative elections on November 5, 2024.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ohio-us-presidential-election-2024-voting-result-info-candidates-and-all-you-need-to-know-772105">Ohio US Presidential Election 2024: Voting, Result info, Candidates and all you need to know</a>

<h2>Who won the presidential election in the state in 2020?</h2>

In the 2020 presidential elections, Republican Donald Trump secured victory in Oklahoma by winning&nbsp;65.4 per cent of votes against Democrat Joe Biden.

<h2>Results of 2024 election</h2>

Trump won Oklahoma, securing seven&nbsp;electoral votes, according to the news agency Associated Press. Republicans won the five&nbsp;US House seats in the state.

(With inputs from agencies)

Oklahoma US Presidential Election 2024: On November 5, 2024, voters in Oklahoma cast their ballot to elect the next United States president in a battle between former president Donald Trump (Republican) and Vice President Kamala Harris (Democrat).

Oklahoma US Presidential Election 2024: On November 5, 2024, voters in Oklahoma cast their ballot to elect the next United States president in a battle between former president Donald Trump (Republican) and Vice President Kamala Harris (Democrat). The state has seen a Republican winning streak, with Republican nominees receiving at least 65 per cent of the votes in the last five elections. In 2016, Trump won his third-best victory margin in Oklahoma against Democrat Hillary Clinton, which marked the biggest win for a Republican in the state since 1984. The state has not voted for any Democratic presidential nominee for 60 years. Additionally, no Democrat has won any county in the state since 2000. Eight states in the US, including Oklahoma, saw a state question on their ballot to amend the state constitution, limiting only US citizens to vote in the state. Also read | North Dakota US Presidential Election 2024: Voting, Result info, Candidates and all you need to know How many Senate seats are going for election in the state? Who are the candidates? The 2024 Oklahoma elections were held on November 5, 2024, in which voters elected state senators in half of the 48 Senate districts. How many House of Representatives seats are going for election in the state? Oklahoma elected five politicians for the 2024 US House of Representative elections on November 5, 2024. Also read | Ohio US Presidential Election 2024: Voting, Result info, Candidates and all you need to know Who won the presidential election in the state in 2020? In the 2020 presidential elections, Republican Donald Trump secured victory in Oklahoma by winning 65.4 per cent of votes against Democrat Joe Biden. Results of 2024 election Trump won Oklahoma, securing seven electoral votes, according to the news agency Associated Press. Republicans won the five US House seats in the state. (With inputs from agencies)

Oklahoma US Presidential Elections results 2024: House, Senate, local elections - What we know

The independent Oversight Board has announced to delay its decision on former US President Donald Trump`s ban from Facebook and Instagram that will now arrive "in the coming weeks". 
 
The board, constituted by Facebook with 20 members from across the world last year, said it is reviewing more than 9,000 responses before it delivers the verdict on Trump`s ban on the social media giant. 
 
"We extended the public comments deadline for this case, receiving 9,000+ responses. The Board`s commitment to carefully reviewing all comments has extended the case timeline, in line with the Board`s bylaws," the Board said in a tweet late Friday. 
 
Facebook banned Trump from its platforms after the Capitol Hill attack on January 6. 
 
Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that "the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great". 
 
Trump is still banned from using Facebook and its other platforms. 
 
The Board said it will announce "its decision on the case concerning former US President Trump`s indefinite suspension from Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks". 
 
Earlier this week, the Board noted that it will begin accepting cases from Facebook and Instagram users who believe the company wrongfully allowed harmful content to remain on its platforms. 
 
The content eligible for review includes posts, status updates, photos, videos, comments, and shares. 
 
Decisions made through the Board`s independent judgment are binding on Facebook. 
 
The Oversight Board on January made 17 recommendations, based on the six cases, for Facebook to improve its content moderation. 
 
Since October 2020, users have been able to appeal to the Oversight Board about their own content being removed. 
 
So far, the Board has received over 300,000 user appeals and thousands of public comments.

The independent Oversight Board has announced to delay its decision on former US President Donald Trump`s ban from Facebook and Instagram that will now arrive "in the coming weeks".

The independent Oversight Board has announced to delay its decision on former US President Donald Trump`s ban from Facebook and Instagram that will now arrive "in the coming weeks". The board, constituted by Facebook with 20 members from across the world last year, said it is reviewing more than 9,000 responses before it delivers the verdict on Trump`s ban on the social media giant. "We extended the public comments deadline for this case, receiving 9,000+ responses. The Board`s commitment to carefully reviewing all comments has extended the case timeline, in line with the Board`s bylaws," the Board said in a tweet late Friday. Facebook banned Trump from its platforms after the Capitol Hill attack on January 6. Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that "the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great". Trump is still banned from using Facebook and its other platforms. The Board said it will announce "its decision on the case concerning former US President Trump`s indefinite suspension from Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks". Earlier this week, the Board noted that it will begin accepting cases from Facebook and Instagram users who believe the company wrongfully allowed harmful content to remain on its platforms. The content eligible for review includes posts, status updates, photos, videos, comments, and shares. Decisions made through the Board`s independent judgment are binding on Facebook. The Oversight Board on January made 17 recommendations, based on the six cases, for Facebook to improve its content moderation. Since October 2020, users have been able to appeal to the Oversight Board about their own content being removed. So far, the Board has received over 300,000 user appeals and thousands of public comments.

Oversight Board delays decision on Donald Trump's Facebook ban

A recording of former US President Donald Trump urging a state investigator to look for voter fraud in certain countries was recently found in the “trash” of the officer’s computer.

Trump had urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger office’s lead investigator Frances Watson on December 23 to look for voter fraud in specific counties, reportedly telling her that she would receive praise after the “right answer” is out in public domain.

The existence of a recording was first reported by The Washington Post in January, following which The Wall Street Journal published the audio last week. During the emergence of the first report of a recording in January, state officials said no such recording existed.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/trump-downgrade-former-us-president-travels-in-run-of-the-mill-plane-twitter-explodes-370521" hreflang="en">Trump downgrade: Former US president travels in 'run-of-the-mill' plane, Twitter explodes</a>

Officials told The Washington Post that the recording was located on the trash folder of Watson’s device and was found while responding to a request for public records.

In the November elections, Trump lost the state of Georgia by almost 12,000 votes but continued to claim that the vote was rigged, and that the election was stolen - without offering any evidence.

Trump asked Watson to check signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes and compare them to signatures from two years ago, especially in Fulton County.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/biden-admin-to-reconsider-objections-to-h1b-visas-during-trump-regime-370100" hreflang="en">Biden admin to reconsider objections to H1B visas during Trump regime</a>

Trump allegedly&nbsp;intended to inflate the number of non-matching signatures in an area led by Democrats. In 2018, many ballots in Georgia and Florida were rejected when officials matched signatures and found that the signatures of the voters had evolved.

Watson reportedly told Trump that she was “honoured” but also “shocked” at him taking the time to do it. Trump’s supporters defend his actions by saying that the former president was simply attempting to check in on legitimate concerns of voter fraud - which have never been proven.

A recording of former US President Donald Trump urging a state investigator to look for voter fraud in certain countries was recently found in the “trash” of the officer’s computer.

A recording of former US President Donald Trump urging a state investigator to look for voter fraud in certain countries was recently found in the “trash” of the officer’s computer. Trump had urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger office’s lead investigator Frances Watson on December 23 to look for voter fraud in specific counties, reportedly telling her that she would receive praise after the “right answer” is out in public domain. The existence of a recording was first reported by The Washington Post in January, following which The Wall Street Journal published the audio last week. During the emergence of the first report of a recording in January, state officials said no such recording existed. Also read: Trump downgrade: Former US president travels in 'run-of-the-mill' plane, Twitter explodes Officials told The Washington Post that the recording was located on the trash folder of Watson’s device and was found while responding to a request for public records. In the November elections, Trump lost the state of Georgia by almost 12,000 votes but continued to claim that the vote was rigged, and that the election was stolen - without offering any evidence. Trump asked Watson to check signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes and compare them to signatures from two years ago, especially in Fulton County. Also read: Biden admin to reconsider objections to H1B visas during Trump regime Trump allegedly intended to inflate the number of non-matching signatures in an area led by Democrats. In 2018, many ballots in Georgia and Florida were rejected when officials matched signatures and found that the signatures of the voters had evolved. Watson reportedly told Trump that she was “honoured” but also “shocked” at him taking the time to do it. Trump’s supporters defend his actions by saying that the former president was simply attempting to check in on legitimate concerns of voter fraud - which have never been proven.

Recording of Trump calling Georgia election officials found in 'trash'

Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that crucial statements from the White House about the coronavirus pandemic were shaped by misinformation, denial about the severity of COVID-19 and the shadow of an upcoming election.

In an interview on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Birx said that from the outset, progress against the virus was impeded by inconsistent and inept public messaging that played down the gravity of the pandemic and the immediate need for safety precautions. In the White House, she said, “there were people who definitely believed that this was a hoax.”

That disbelief in turn was echoed in many pockets across the United States, she said, because at the beginning of the pandemic, public officials did not fully describe the spectrum of disease that the virus could cause.

“And so they saw people get COVID and be fine,” and that bred skepticism, she explained.

Incomplete messaging had devastating consequences, Birx said. While not specifically naming former President Donald Trump, who had initially labeled the pandemic a “hoax,” Birx noted: “Every time a statement was made by a political leader that wasn’t consistent with public health needs, that derailed our response. It is also why I went out on the road, because I wasn’t censored on the road.”

She traveled to several states in the summer and fall, speaking to governors and local officials.

Describing the flow of information to Trump about the virus as chaotic and uncoordinated, Birx said that to this day, she did not know the source of some of the data he was receiving.

“I saw the president presenting graphs that I never made,” she said.

Last spring, the White House was very focused on the pandemic. But as months passed and the economy continued to sag, she said, the administration routinely ignored her recommendations for “gating criteria” for activities like indoor restaurant dining. As a workaround, she said, she would speak regularly to state governors, repeating her advice.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was aware she was doing so, she said.

Birx came under intense criticism from public health experts for being a part of the Trump apparatus that was promoting misleading, and sometime completely erroneous, information and guidance. She was faulted for not countering Trump’s misinformation on the severity of the pandemic, or his promotion of certain bogus treatments, and for not adequately addressing the conflicting messages and approaches coming from the White House as the virus raged out of control.

“I was not able to do national press,” she said. “The other thing that was very important to me is, I was not going to go outside of the chain of command.”

Birx said that whenever she had a significant disagreement with coronavirus policy and practice announced by the White House, a negative report about that dispute would appear in the media within days.

But over the course of last year, Birx repeatedly declined repeated interview requests made by The New York Times as tensions developed between White House officials and Trump with the nation’s public health officials.

As the pandemic raged in the summer and the election approached, both Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke less frequently in public and were no longer appearing at White House briefings. Trump’s chief adviser in the fall instead became Dr. Scott Atlas, a Stanford radiologist who supported the benefits of pursuing herd immunity over imposing lockdowns, and who spoke disparagingly about the widespread use of masks.

Birx said that the only two people in the White House who regularly wore masks were herself and a person on her support staff, and she expressed frustration that the White House believed that the best way to protect the commander in chief from getting sick was to be tested regularly.

Birx, a career civil servant and an immunologist who worked extensively on international AIDS relief, is now a special adviser to the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said she planned to announce her retirement in four to six weeks.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that crucial statements from the White House about the coronavirus pandemic were shaped by misinformation, denial about the severity of COVID-19 and the shadow of an upcoming election.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that crucial statements from the White House about the coronavirus pandemic were shaped by misinformation, denial about the severity of COVID-19 and the shadow of an upcoming election. In an interview on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Birx said that from the outset, progress against the virus was impeded by inconsistent and inept public messaging that played down the gravity of the pandemic and the immediate need for safety precautions. In the White House, she said, “there were people who definitely believed that this was a hoax.” That disbelief in turn was echoed in many pockets across the United States, she said, because at the beginning of the pandemic, public officials did not fully describe the spectrum of disease that the virus could cause. “And so they saw people get COVID and be fine,” and that bred skepticism, she explained. Incomplete messaging had devastating consequences, Birx said. While not specifically naming former President Donald Trump, who had initially labeled the pandemic a “hoax,” Birx noted: “Every time a statement was made by a political leader that wasn’t consistent with public health needs, that derailed our response. It is also why I went out on the road, because I wasn’t censored on the road.” She traveled to several states in the summer and fall, speaking to governors and local officials. Describing the flow of information to Trump about the virus as chaotic and uncoordinated, Birx said that to this day, she did not know the source of some of the data he was receiving. “I saw the president presenting graphs that I never made,” she said. Last spring, the White House was very focused on the pandemic. But as months passed and the economy continued to sag, she said, the administration routinely ignored her recommendations for “gating criteria” for activities like indoor restaurant dining. As a workaround, she said, she would speak regularly to state governors, repeating her advice. Former Vice President Mike Pence was aware she was doing so, she said. Birx came under intense criticism from public health experts for being a part of the Trump apparatus that was promoting misleading, and sometime completely erroneous, information and guidance. She was faulted for not countering Trump’s misinformation on the severity of the pandemic, or his promotion of certain bogus treatments, and for not adequately addressing the conflicting messages and approaches coming from the White House as the virus raged out of control. “I was not able to do national press,” she said. “The other thing that was very important to me is, I was not going to go outside of the chain of command.” Birx said that whenever she had a significant disagreement with coronavirus policy and practice announced by the White House, a negative report about that dispute would appear in the media within days. But over the course of last year, Birx repeatedly declined repeated interview requests made by The New York Times as tensions developed between White House officials and Trump with the nation’s public health officials. As the pandemic raged in the summer and the election approached, both Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke less frequently in public and were no longer appearing at White House briefings. Trump’s chief adviser in the fall instead became Dr. Scott Atlas, a Stanford radiologist who supported the benefits of pursuing herd immunity over imposing lockdowns, and who spoke disparagingly about the widespread use of masks. Birx said that the only two people in the White House who regularly wore masks were herself and a person on her support staff, and she expressed frustration that the White House believed that the best way to protect the commander in chief from getting sick was to be tested regularly. Birx, a career civil servant and an immunologist who worked extensively on international AIDS relief, is now a special adviser to the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said she planned to announce her retirement in four to six weeks.

Trump’s virus task force adviser describes misinformation and denial

The youngest victim of the 2007 massacre in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, committed by Blackwater mercenaries whom Donald Trump pardoned Tuesday, was a 9-year-old boy named Ali Kinani.

In a 2010 documentary, journalist Jeremy Scahill interviewed Ali’s father, Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani, who spoke of how he’d welcomed the U.S. invasion of his country and brought along his son to greet U.S. soldiers. “The first day the American Army entered Baghdad, I handed out juice and candy in the street to celebrate our liberation from Saddam,” said Kinani. Scahill called him “that rare personification of the neoconservative narrative about the U.S. invasion.”

On Sept. 16, 2007, Kinani was driving toward the traffic circle at Nisour Square with his sister, her children and Ali when guards from Blackwater opened fire with machine guns and grenade launchers. (Blackwater, a private security company, has since changed its name to Academi.) Ali was one of 17 people killed. According to The Washington Post, a U.S. military report found that there had been no provocation. “It was obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong,” a military official told the paper. An FBI investigator reportedly described it as the “My Lai Massacre of Iraq.”

The U.S. Embassy offered Ali’s family a $10,000 condolence payment. After initially refusing the money, they donated half of it to the family of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. “They wanted to do that to honor and acknowledge the sacrifice of those men and women that had come over to Iraq to fight for them and free them from Saddam Hussein,” Paul Dickinson, a lawyer who represented Kinani and others in a civil suit against Blackwater, told me.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, then the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, wrote to Ali’s mother, “In the face of your family’s own personal tragedy, your act of kindness and compassion for grieving American families is truly remarkable.”

Until Tuesday, the American system worked to give Ali’s family a modicum of justice. Blackwater settled with the family. The guards were prosecuted criminally. The process was torturous, with several roadblocks, but powerful figures in the United States were determined to see it through. After a judge dismissed the charges on procedural grounds, Vice President Joe Biden promised, in a 2010 news conference in Baghdad, that there would be an appeal. “The United States is determined, determined to hold accountable anyone who commits crimes against the Iraqi people,” he said.

Eventually three of the Blackwater guards — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard — were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and other charges. A fourth, Nicholas Slatten, was convicted of murder and last year sentenced to life in prison. Kinani moved to America and became a citizen, though he was back in Iraq when the BBC reached him Wednesday. Until just days ago, he’d felt that the legal system in the United States had been “very fair with me,” he said.

Then came Tuesday’s pardon spree, which included the Blackwater killers along with some Russiagate felons, corrupt ex-congressmen and others. It was perhaps not surprising that the president acted to free the mercenaries; Trump’s enthusiasm for war crimes is well known, and last year he pardoned three men accused or convicted of them. Because of Biden’s words in 2010, some conservatives called the perpetrators of the Nisour Square massacre the “Biden four,” giving Trump an extra incentive to let them go. Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater, is a close Trump ally and the brother of his education secretary, Betsy DeVos.

Neither the predictability of these pardons, however, nor our dulled capacity for shock lessens their grotesqueness. The last days of Trump’s reign have been an orgy of impunity as he hands out indulgences like party favors and rubs America’s face in his power to put his supporters beyond ordinary law. On Wednesday, Trump pardoned even more cronies, including, most egregiously, his former campaign chair Paul Manafort, a likely reward for Manafort’s help undermining Robert Mueller’s investigation. But even in this low moment, the pardons of the Blackwater killers stand out for their depravity.

They also exemplify a core tenet of Trumpism: absolute license for some and absolute submission for others. Nowhere is that truer than in Trump’s conception of the relationship between U.S. soldiers and paramilitaries and foreigners.

Last year, Trump intervened to reverse a demotion of Eddie Gallagher, a Navy SEAL special operations chief who took a celebratory photo with a corpse and was described by men under his command as “freaking evil” and “toxic.” But the president didn’t just spare Gallagher. He lionized him, and his movement made him an icon. The New York Times described Gallagher “making appearances at influential conservative gatherings and rubbing elbows with Mr. Trump’s inner circle at Mar-a-Lago.”

You could argue that Trump has simply stripped pretense from the dynamics that always drove the “war on terror.” As Spencer Ackerman wrote in The Daily Beast, “Blackwater fed from the same American logic of occupation — the same impunity — that turned even those Iraqis willing to work for the U.S. into ‘local nationals’ who had to enter dining halls on U.S. military bases through separate doorways.”

But if the approach to Iraq that preceded Trump was infested with hypocrisy, that hypocrisy at least revealed an aspiration to a humane foreign policy. That aspiration did more than flatter the sensibilities of liberals and neoconservatives. It could be leveraged to allow a man like Kinani to make demands of the country that occupied his.

Trump’s pardon, Kinani told the BBC, made him feel as if Ali, who should now be 22, had been killed again. Before, he said, he felt that no one was “above the law.” No more.

“I feel I’m nothing today. I feel I’m nothing. I lost my son, and I feel I’m nothing,” Kinani said. By all indications, the president of the United States agrees.

The youngest victim of the 2007 massacre in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, committed by Blackwater mercenaries whom Donald Trump pardoned Tuesday, was a 9-year-old boy named Ali Kinani.

The youngest victim of the 2007 massacre in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, committed by Blackwater mercenaries whom Donald Trump pardoned Tuesday, was a 9-year-old boy named Ali Kinani. In a 2010 documentary, journalist Jeremy Scahill interviewed Ali’s father, Mohammed Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Kinani, who spoke of how he’d welcomed the U.S. invasion of his country and brought along his son to greet U.S. soldiers. “The first day the American Army entered Baghdad, I handed out juice and candy in the street to celebrate our liberation from Saddam,” said Kinani. Scahill called him “that rare personification of the neoconservative narrative about the U.S. invasion.” On Sept. 16, 2007, Kinani was driving toward the traffic circle at Nisour Square with his sister, her children and Ali when guards from Blackwater opened fire with machine guns and grenade launchers. (Blackwater, a private security company, has since changed its name to Academi.) Ali was one of 17 people killed. According to The Washington Post, a U.S. military report found that there had been no provocation. “It was obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong,” a military official told the paper. An FBI investigator reportedly described it as the “My Lai Massacre of Iraq.” The U.S. Embassy offered Ali’s family a $10,000 condolence payment. After initially refusing the money, they donated half of it to the family of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. “They wanted to do that to honor and acknowledge the sacrifice of those men and women that had come over to Iraq to fight for them and free them from Saddam Hussein,” Paul Dickinson, a lawyer who represented Kinani and others in a civil suit against Blackwater, told me. Gen. Raymond Odierno, then the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, wrote to Ali’s mother, “In the face of your family’s own personal tragedy, your act of kindness and compassion for grieving American families is truly remarkable.” Until Tuesday, the American system worked to give Ali’s family a modicum of justice. Blackwater settled with the family. The guards were prosecuted criminally. The process was torturous, with several roadblocks, but powerful figures in the United States were determined to see it through. After a judge dismissed the charges on procedural grounds, Vice President Joe Biden promised, in a 2010 news conference in Baghdad, that there would be an appeal. “The United States is determined, determined to hold accountable anyone who commits crimes against the Iraqi people,” he said. Eventually three of the Blackwater guards — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard — were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and other charges. A fourth, Nicholas Slatten, was convicted of murder and last year sentenced to life in prison. Kinani moved to America and became a citizen, though he was back in Iraq when the BBC reached him Wednesday. Until just days ago, he’d felt that the legal system in the United States had been “very fair with me,” he said. Then came Tuesday’s pardon spree, which included the Blackwater killers along with some Russiagate felons, corrupt ex-congressmen and others. It was perhaps not surprising that the president acted to free the mercenaries; Trump’s enthusiasm for war crimes is well known, and last year he pardoned three men accused or convicted of them. Because of Biden’s words in 2010, some conservatives called the perpetrators of the Nisour Square massacre the “Biden four,” giving Trump an extra incentive to let them go. Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater, is a close Trump ally and the brother of his education secretary, Betsy DeVos. Neither the predictability of these pardons, however, nor our dulled capacity for shock lessens their grotesqueness. The last days of Trump’s reign have been an orgy of impunity as he hands out indulgences like party favors and rubs America’s face in his power to put his supporters beyond ordinary law. On Wednesday, Trump pardoned even more cronies, including, most egregiously, his former campaign chair Paul Manafort, a likely reward for Manafort’s help undermining Robert Mueller’s investigation. But even in this low moment, the pardons of the Blackwater killers stand out for their depravity. They also exemplify a core tenet of Trumpism: absolute license for some and absolute submission for others. Nowhere is that truer than in Trump’s conception of the relationship between U.S. soldiers and paramilitaries and foreigners. Last year, Trump intervened to reverse a demotion of Eddie Gallagher, a Navy SEAL special operations chief who took a celebratory photo with a corpse and was described by men under his command as “freaking evil” and “toxic.” But the president didn’t just spare Gallagher. He lionized him, and his movement made him an icon. The New York Times described Gallagher “making appearances at influential conservative gatherings and rubbing elbows with Mr. Trump’s inner circle at Mar-a-Lago.” You could argue that Trump has simply stripped pretense from the dynamics that always drove the “war on terror.” As Spencer Ackerman wrote in The Daily Beast, “Blackwater fed from the same American logic of occupation — the same impunity — that turned even those Iraqis willing to work for the U.S. into ‘local nationals’ who had to enter dining halls on U.S. military bases through separate doorways.” But if the approach to Iraq that preceded Trump was infested with hypocrisy, that hypocrisy at least revealed an aspiration to a humane foreign policy. That aspiration did more than flatter the sensibilities of liberals and neoconservatives. It could be leveraged to allow a man like Kinani to make demands of the country that occupied his. Trump’s pardon, Kinani told the BBC, made him feel as if Ali, who should now be 22, had been killed again. Before, he said, he felt that no one was “above the law.” No more. “I feel I’m nothing today. I feel I’m nothing. I lost my son, and I feel I’m nothing,” Kinani said. By all indications, the president of the United States agrees.

Trump’s most disgusting pardons

President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he would delay a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, hours after The New York Times reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to its staff at a time when the first doses are generally being reserved for high-risk health care workers.

Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus in October and recovered after being hospitalized, also implied that he would get the vaccine himself at some point in the future, but said he had no immediate plans to do so.

“People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary,” Trump tweeted, hours after a National Security Council spokesperson had defended the plan. “I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!”

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-pence-among-top-us-officials-to-be-offered-covid-19-vaccine-on-priority-report-349600">Trump, Pence among top US officials to be offered COVID-19 vaccine on priority</a>

It was not immediately clear why the president decided to change the policy, or whether he had even been aware of it ahead of time. But White House staff members who work in close quarters with him had been told that they were scheduled to receive injections of the coronavirus vaccine soon, two people familiar with the distribution plans said.

The goal of distributing the vaccine in the West Wing was to prevent additional government officials from falling ill in the final weeks of the Trump administration. The hope was to eventually distribute the vaccine to everyone who works in the White House, one of the people said.

It was not clear how many doses were being allocated to the White House or how many were needed, since many staff members had already tested positive for the virus and recovered. While many Trump officials said they were eager to receive the vaccine and would take it if it were offered, others said they were concerned it would send the wrong message by making it appear as if Trump staff members were hopping the line to protect a president who has already recovered from the virus and bragged that he is now “immune.”

The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine left a facility in Michigan early Sunday, with UPS and FedEx teaming up to ship doses to all 50 states for distribution.

“Senior officials across all three branches of government will receive vaccinations pursuant to continuity of government protocols established in executive policy,” John Ullyot, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, had said in a statement earlier Sunday, defending the planned vaccinations. “The American people should have confidence that they are receiving the same safe and effective vaccine as senior officials of the United States government.”

The picture was murky on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have struggled for months to balance the need to carry on with legislative business despite fluctuating numbers of coronavirus cases in its own ranks. A congressional aide said Sunday evening that leaders on Capitol Hill had not yet been told how many doses would initially be available for lawmakers. Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician of Congress, has overseen the coronavirus response inside the Capitol complex, but he has yet to make public any plans for vaccine distribution there.

A spokesperson for President-elect Joe Biden declined to say whether Biden or incoming officials would receive early doses of the vaccine. But the president-elect said in a recent CNN interview that he would take the vaccine to serve as an example once Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said it was safe. “It’s important to communicate to the American people it’s safe; it’s safe to do this,” Biden said.

After months during which Trump and his senior advisers played down the virus, hosting campaign rallies and holiday parties where face masks were encouraged but never required, the news of White House officials suddenly taking the virus seriously enough to claim early doses of a vaccine was greeted by outrage from Democrats as well as the president’s longtime critics.

George T. Conway III, a prominent conservative lawyer and a vocal critic of Trump, noted that because the vaccine required a second dose 21 to 28 days after the first injection, there was little public benefit for White House staff members to receive them. The president has only 37 days left in office.

“If they were truly interested in protecting staffers,” Conway wrote on Twitter, “they would have been better off not holding super spreader events.”

Tim Hogan, a Democratic consultant and a former top aide to Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s presidential campaign, said that Washington “will not come close to covering every health care worker with its first allotment of the vaccine, but a White House that downplayed the virus and held a half-year nationwide superspreader tour gets to cut the line.”

He called the White House vaccinations “a final middle finger to the nurses and doctors on the front lines from the Trump administration.”

A senior administration official said that vaccinating officials was necessary for “providing visible leadership to the nation and the world, and maintaining the trust and confidence of the American people.” The official added that vaccinating West Wing officials would help to “continue essential operations, without interruption” to help continue to fight the pandemic nationwide.

There have been multiple outbreaks of the coronavirus at the White House in recent months. Trump, the first lady and a half-dozen advisers tested positive at the end of September and in early October. Fauci later called a Rose Garden ceremony to announce Trump’s choice of Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court a “superspreader event.”

A few weeks later, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and a group of other Pence staff members and advisers tested positive.

And a third wave hit the West Wing after the president’s election night party at the White House, where supporters gathered indoors and did not wear masks. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, got sick around that time, as did a number of other Trump advisers.

Most recently, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani tested positive, along with Jenna Ellis, another lawyer on the president’s legal team.

President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he would delay a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, hours after The New York Times reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to its staff at a time when the first doses are generally being reserved for high-risk health care workers.

President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he would delay a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, hours after The New York Times reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to its staff at a time when the first doses are generally being reserved for high-risk health care workers. Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus in October and recovered after being hospitalized, also implied that he would get the vaccine himself at some point in the future, but said he had no immediate plans to do so. “People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary,” Trump tweeted, hours after a National Security Council spokesperson had defended the plan. “I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!” Also read: Trump, Pence among top US officials to be offered COVID-19 vaccine on priority It was not immediately clear why the president decided to change the policy, or whether he had even been aware of it ahead of time. But White House staff members who work in close quarters with him had been told that they were scheduled to receive injections of the coronavirus vaccine soon, two people familiar with the distribution plans said. The goal of distributing the vaccine in the West Wing was to prevent additional government officials from falling ill in the final weeks of the Trump administration. The hope was to eventually distribute the vaccine to everyone who works in the White House, one of the people said. It was not clear how many doses were being allocated to the White House or how many were needed, since many staff members had already tested positive for the virus and recovered. While many Trump officials said they were eager to receive the vaccine and would take it if it were offered, others said they were concerned it would send the wrong message by making it appear as if Trump staff members were hopping the line to protect a president who has already recovered from the virus and bragged that he is now “immune.” The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine left a facility in Michigan early Sunday, with UPS and FedEx teaming up to ship doses to all 50 states for distribution. “Senior officials across all three branches of government will receive vaccinations pursuant to continuity of government protocols established in executive policy,” John Ullyot, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, had said in a statement earlier Sunday, defending the planned vaccinations. “The American people should have confidence that they are receiving the same safe and effective vaccine as senior officials of the United States government.” The picture was murky on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have struggled for months to balance the need to carry on with legislative business despite fluctuating numbers of coronavirus cases in its own ranks. A congressional aide said Sunday evening that leaders on Capitol Hill had not yet been told how many doses would initially be available for lawmakers. Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician of Congress, has overseen the coronavirus response inside the Capitol complex, but he has yet to make public any plans for vaccine distribution there. A spokesperson for President-elect Joe Biden declined to say whether Biden or incoming officials would receive early doses of the vaccine. But the president-elect said in a recent CNN interview that he would take the vaccine to serve as an example once Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said it was safe. “It’s important to communicate to the American people it’s safe; it’s safe to do this,” Biden said. After months during which Trump and his senior advisers played down the virus, hosting campaign rallies and holiday parties where face masks were encouraged but never required, the news of White House officials suddenly taking the virus seriously enough to claim early doses of a vaccine was greeted by outrage from Democrats as well as the president’s longtime critics. George T. Conway III, a prominent conservative lawyer and a vocal critic of Trump, noted that because the vaccine required a second dose 21 to 28 days after the first injection, there was little public benefit for White House staff members to receive them. The president has only 37 days left in office. “If they were truly interested in protecting staffers,” Conway wrote on Twitter, “they would have been better off not holding super spreader events.” Tim Hogan, a Democratic consultant and a former top aide to Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s presidential campaign, said that Washington “will not come close to covering every health care worker with its first allotment of the vaccine, but a White House that downplayed the virus and held a half-year nationwide superspreader tour gets to cut the line.” He called the White House vaccinations “a final middle finger to the nurses and doctors on the front lines from the Trump administration.” A senior administration official said that vaccinating officials was necessary for “providing visible leadership to the nation and the world, and maintaining the trust and confidence of the American people.” The official added that vaccinating West Wing officials would help to “continue essential operations, without interruption” to help continue to fight the pandemic nationwide. There have been multiple outbreaks of the coronavirus at the White House in recent months. Trump, the first lady and a half-dozen advisers tested positive at the end of September and in early October. Fauci later called a Rose Garden ceremony to announce Trump’s choice of Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court a “superspreader event.” A few weeks later, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and a group of other Pence staff members and advisers tested positive. And a third wave hit the West Wing after the president’s election night party at the White House, where supporters gathered indoors and did not wear masks. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, got sick around that time, as did a number of other Trump advisers. Most recently, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani tested positive, along with Jenna Ellis, another lawyer on the president’s legal team.

Trump rescinds plan for White House staff to be quickly vaccinated

With most of the slow-to-report votes tallied, we finally have a clearer picture of last month’s presidential results. Despite the high polarization in the country that carried over to the reaction to the results — with 70% to 80% of Republicans still saying they disbelieve that Joe Biden won — in some respects the vote itself was less polarized than in 2016.

Compared with 2016, in 2020 there was less difference by race or ethnicity, and urban areas and suburban areas voted more alike. But the economic and education partisan divides widened. Biden gained in well-educated suburbs and exurbs, often in places that have tended to vote Republican in recent decades, like the Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix areas.

In addition to these broad patterns, some specific shifts reflected local political loyalties.

As of Sunday, reporting was complete enough to look closely at nearly all individual counties and metropolitan areas (which consist of one or more counties). Though some important patterns may show up only in more fine-grained precinct or individual survey data, counties make it easy to compare the entire country, over time, though many lenses.

These near-final county totals confirm a few patterns in the 2020 vote.

Stability

For all the ways that this election broke with precedent, the county-level vote pattern in 2020 was overwhelmingly similar to that in 2016. The correlation between counties’ vote margins for President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 was 0.99. (A correlation of 1 represents a perfect relationship, and 0 represents no relationship.)

Strikingly, the vote was slightly less polarized than in 2016, breaking a pattern of increasing geographic polarization in the 2000s. The standard deviation measures how much an individual county’s vote typically deviated from the national average; this measure was a bit lower in 2020 after rising steadily from 2000 to 2016.

Furthermore, this year the vote in many counties was a small shift toward the center. The bigger that Trump’s victory was in 2016 in a given county, the more ground Biden picked up in 2020 relative to Hillary Clinton in 2016. In counties that voted for Trump in 2016, the 2020 margin shifted 3.2 percentage points toward Biden, versus a 1.9-point shift toward Biden in counties that voted for Clinton in 2016.

Education

Among metropolitan areas with a population over 250,000, three Colorado metros — fast-growing Colorado Springs, Denver and Fort Collins — topped the list for swings against Trump in two-party vote share. Colorado has one of the nation’s highest rates of people with a four-year college degree, and this year it solidified its status as a blue state. Colorado’s shift against Trump was 8.6 points, second only to Vermont’s 9 points.

A part of conservative-leaning Kentucky posted one of the bigger anti-Trump shifts. The Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky, metropolitan area, which flipped from red to blue and is home to the University of Kentucky, has the highest percentage of college graduates in the region and is in the top fifth of metros for college attainment.

And what about the big swing in the Huntsville area in deep-red Alabama? Fast-growing places with brighter economic prospects — correlated with a higher number of people with college degrees and more jobs in professional, tech and creative fields — moved toward Biden. A highly educated workforce in Huntsville, first put to use in industries like aerospace, has become attractive to other businesses in recent years.

Suburban areas in Nebraska swung significantly toward Biden. Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes well-educated Omaha, contributed one electoral vote to Biden’s tally. It “swung against Trump more than any swing state,” according to Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. The swing was 8.8 points, as the district flipped from red to blue.

The Hispanic Swing

Most metro areas swung Democratic, but the most extreme swings were toward Trump, and the biggest of those were in heavily Hispanic metros, like Miami and areas along the Texas border.

Initially it appeared that Trump’s strength in 2020 relative to 2016 in heavily Hispanic counties might have been specific to South Florida and Texas border areas, despite the very different national origins and identities in those two regions. But data from later-reporting counties points to a national trend.

The correlation between a county’s percent Hispanic population and its swing toward Trump was 0.41. Even excluding Miami-Dade County and all of Texas, the correlation is still 0.30. The Bronx, New York; Los Angeles; Osceola County near Orlando, Florida; and Hudson and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey are all at least 40% Hispanic and swung toward Trump by at least 5 percentage points.

Urban versus Suburban

Biden’s gains were largest in suburban areas, as was immediately apparent after the election. But because many urban counties have been among the slowest to report their votes, the picture in these counties has become clear only recently.

Trump did better in 2020 than 2016 not only in Miami-Dade, Los Angeles and the Bronx, but also in New York's Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the counties encompassing the cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, San Jose and San Francisco.

Though urban counties remain overwhelmingly Democratic, Trump’s margin improved by 1.1 percentage points in these counties — an even bigger pickup than Trump achieved in non-metropolitan counties, which are largely rural. Thus, the urban-suburban divide narrowed in 2020 — and the urban-rural divide did as well.

Regional Factors

Some regional and local patterns offer other possible explanations for 2020 swings.

— Home-state loyalties: Arkansas is one of only a half-dozen states that swung toward Trump. It’s possible that Clinton benefited in 2016 from some residual good feeling in the state based on her decadelong term as first lady of Arkansas — something that Biden couldn’t compensate for. (The Fort Smith, Arkansas, area was among the top 25 metro areas that swung toward Trump.)

On the other hand, Biden appeared to receive a home-state bonus in Delaware, which had the third-biggest swing against Trump of any state.

New Castle County, with Wilmington as its county seat, moved almost 8 points toward Biden. Why did the Salisbury, Maryland, metro area have such a big swing against Trump? One possible reason is that a little more than half of the population of the metro area is across the state border, in Sussex County in Delaware.

— Religion: Trump enjoyed big gains in the Utah metros of Provo-Orem and Ogden-Clearfield, but much of it can be explained by the drop in third-party voting. Evan McMullin won 21.5% of the vote in his home state in 2016, but he didn’t run this year. Utah, the home of a large Mormon population, had the largest decline in third-party vote share in the nation.

There were sizable swings toward Trump in areas with high percentages of Orthodox Jews, like Rockland County, New York, and parts of Brooklyn — perhaps because many Orthodox Jews were angered by coronavirus-related restrictions.

— Military presence: Overall, Biden performed well relative to Clinton’s 2016 showing in the Northeast, particularly in smaller metro areas, like in upstate New York and in places like Portland, Maine, and Norwich-New London in Connecticut. Connecticut and Maine each moved about 6 points toward the Democratic ticket.

But there’s another possible reason for the swing in Norwich-New London. New London County; the Bremerton, Washington, area; the Virginia Beach metro; and Colorado Springs (home of the Air Force Academy) have military bases and a fair share of military veterans. Counties classified as military posts by the American Communities Project swung by around 6 points against Trump, still voting for him in 2020 overall but by a smaller margin than in 2016.

Some of the correlations are hard to untangle. What we do know more clearly is that there has been about a 2.4-point swing nationwide toward Biden relative to Clinton’s 2016 showing and a similarly modest swing in many of the critical battleground states. But even modest shifts in a roughly evenly divided nation can be decisive.

With most of the slow-to-report votes tallied, we finally have a clearer picture of last month’s presidential results. Despite the high polarization in the country that carried over to the reaction to the results — with 70% to 80% of Republicans still saying they disbelieve that Joe Biden won — in some respects the vote itself was less polarized than in 2016.

With most of the slow-to-report votes tallied, we finally have a clearer picture of last month’s presidential results. Despite the high polarization in the country that carried over to the reaction to the results — with 70% to 80% of Republicans still saying they disbelieve that Joe Biden won — in some respects the vote itself was less polarized than in 2016. Compared with 2016, in 2020 there was less difference by race or ethnicity, and urban areas and suburban areas voted more alike. But the economic and education partisan divides widened. Biden gained in well-educated suburbs and exurbs, often in places that have tended to vote Republican in recent decades, like the Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix areas. In addition to these broad patterns, some specific shifts reflected local political loyalties. As of Sunday, reporting was complete enough to look closely at nearly all individual counties and metropolitan areas (which consist of one or more counties). Though some important patterns may show up only in more fine-grained precinct or individual survey data, counties make it easy to compare the entire country, over time, though many lenses. These near-final county totals confirm a few patterns in the 2020 vote. Stability For all the ways that this election broke with precedent, the county-level vote pattern in 2020 was overwhelmingly similar to that in 2016. The correlation between counties’ vote margins for President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 was 0.99. (A correlation of 1 represents a perfect relationship, and 0 represents no relationship.) Strikingly, the vote was slightly less polarized than in 2016, breaking a pattern of increasing geographic polarization in the 2000s. The standard deviation measures how much an individual county’s vote typically deviated from the national average; this measure was a bit lower in 2020 after rising steadily from 2000 to 2016. Furthermore, this year the vote in many counties was a small shift toward the center. The bigger that Trump’s victory was in 2016 in a given county, the more ground Biden picked up in 2020 relative to Hillary Clinton in 2016. In counties that voted for Trump in 2016, the 2020 margin shifted 3.2 percentage points toward Biden, versus a 1.9-point shift toward Biden in counties that voted for Clinton in 2016. Education Among metropolitan areas with a population over 250,000, three Colorado metros — fast-growing Colorado Springs, Denver and Fort Collins — topped the list for swings against Trump in two-party vote share. Colorado has one of the nation’s highest rates of people with a four-year college degree, and this year it solidified its status as a blue state. Colorado’s shift against Trump was 8.6 points, second only to Vermont’s 9 points. A part of conservative-leaning Kentucky posted one of the bigger anti-Trump shifts. The Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky, metropolitan area, which flipped from red to blue and is home to the University of Kentucky, has the highest percentage of college graduates in the region and is in the top fifth of metros for college attainment. And what about the big swing in the Huntsville area in deep-red Alabama? Fast-growing places with brighter economic prospects — correlated with a higher number of people with college degrees and more jobs in professional, tech and creative fields — moved toward Biden. A highly educated workforce in Huntsville, first put to use in industries like aerospace, has become attractive to other businesses in recent years. Suburban areas in Nebraska swung significantly toward Biden. Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes well-educated Omaha, contributed one electoral vote to Biden’s tally. It “swung against Trump more than any swing state,” according to Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. The swing was 8.8 points, as the district flipped from red to blue. The Hispanic Swing Most metro areas swung Democratic, but the most extreme swings were toward Trump, and the biggest of those were in heavily Hispanic metros, like Miami and areas along the Texas border. Initially it appeared that Trump’s strength in 2020 relative to 2016 in heavily Hispanic counties might have been specific to South Florida and Texas border areas, despite the very different national origins and identities in those two regions. But data from later-reporting counties points to a national trend. The correlation between a county’s percent Hispanic population and its swing toward Trump was 0.41. Even excluding Miami-Dade County and all of Texas, the correlation is still 0.30. The Bronx, New York; Los Angeles; Osceola County near Orlando, Florida; and Hudson and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey are all at least 40% Hispanic and swung toward Trump by at least 5 percentage points. Urban versus Suburban Biden’s gains were largest in suburban areas, as was immediately apparent after the election. But because many urban counties have been among the slowest to report their votes, the picture in these counties has become clear only recently. Trump did better in 2020 than 2016 not only in Miami-Dade, Los Angeles and the Bronx, but also in New York's Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the counties encompassing the cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, San Jose and San Francisco. Though urban counties remain overwhelmingly Democratic, Trump’s margin improved by 1.1 percentage points in these counties — an even bigger pickup than Trump achieved in non-metropolitan counties, which are largely rural. Thus, the urban-suburban divide narrowed in 2020 — and the urban-rural divide did as well. Regional Factors Some regional and local patterns offer other possible explanations for 2020 swings. — Home-state loyalties: Arkansas is one of only a half-dozen states that swung toward Trump. It’s possible that Clinton benefited in 2016 from some residual good feeling in the state based on her decadelong term as first lady of Arkansas — something that Biden couldn’t compensate for. (The Fort Smith, Arkansas, area was among the top 25 metro areas that swung toward Trump.) On the other hand, Biden appeared to receive a home-state bonus in Delaware, which had the third-biggest swing against Trump of any state. New Castle County, with Wilmington as its county seat, moved almost 8 points toward Biden. Why did the Salisbury, Maryland, metro area have such a big swing against Trump? One possible reason is that a little more than half of the population of the metro area is across the state border, in Sussex County in Delaware. — Religion: Trump enjoyed big gains in the Utah metros of Provo-Orem and Ogden-Clearfield, but much of it can be explained by the drop in third-party voting. Evan McMullin won 21.5% of the vote in his home state in 2016, but he didn’t run this year. Utah, the home of a large Mormon population, had the largest decline in third-party vote share in the nation. There were sizable swings toward Trump in areas with high percentages of Orthodox Jews, like Rockland County, New York, and parts of Brooklyn — perhaps because many Orthodox Jews were angered by coronavirus-related restrictions. — Military presence: Overall, Biden performed well relative to Clinton’s 2016 showing in the Northeast, particularly in smaller metro areas, like in upstate New York and in places like Portland, Maine, and Norwich-New London in Connecticut. Connecticut and Maine each moved about 6 points toward the Democratic ticket. But there’s another possible reason for the swing in Norwich-New London. New London County; the Bremerton, Washington, area; the Virginia Beach metro; and Colorado Springs (home of the Air Force Academy) have military bases and a fair share of military veterans. Counties classified as military posts by the American Communities Project swung by around 6 points against Trump, still voting for him in 2020 overall but by a smaller margin than in 2016. Some of the correlations are hard to untangle. What we do know more clearly is that there has been about a 2.4-point swing nationwide toward Biden relative to Clinton’s 2016 showing and a similarly modest swing in many of the critical battleground states. But even modest shifts in a roughly evenly divided nation can be decisive.

The places that had the biggest swings toward and against Trump

A day after the doctor of US President Donald Trump said that he was no longer a transmission risk for COVID-19, President Trump on Sunday (October 11) said that he was immune from the coronavirus and he has succeeded in beating this 'crazy horrible China virus'.

Trump Insists He'S Immune ' To The Virus Without Producing Any Evidence

Armed agents in riot gear used tear gas to rein in protesters in the United States but the anger of the people in Portland hasn’t diminished from the rich and famous to the common man.

It began on social media after the death of an unarmed man - George Floyd in police custody. Now, the "Black Lives Matter" movement has snowballed into a major political issue in America.

It has reached the doorstep of US President Donald Trump - quite literally. Civil rights activists gathered outside the Trump tower in New York and they painted a mural of their rallying cry.&nbsp;President Trump has been facing the wrath of the protesters.

Race tensions in America have taken a political colour. During the funeral of lawmaker and civil rights icon John Lewis, former US President Barack Obama took on his successor.&nbsp;

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"There are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service in the run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don't get sick," Obama said.

With less than 100 days to go for the presidential election, leaders on both sides are sharpening their rhetoric. President Trump backs the aggressive actions of security forces calling the protester's anarchists.

"So our people have done, homeland security have done a fantastic job. They went to Oregon a little more than a week ago. The place was a mess. The city, Portland, was just a disaster. You see it and a lot of people weren't reporting it. They tried to pretend it was a protest as opposed to anarchists and agitators,&nbsp;you understand what I'm saying, it's a mess," the US president said.

The America of today looks quite similar to what it was in 1968 which was one of the most turbulent years in American history. In April 1968, Dr Martin Luther King, the leader of the civil rights movement in America was assassinated, four months later presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was killed as violent clashes erupted across the United States mostly led by young African-Americans.

Fifty-two years later it's happening again. On June 6, nearly half a million people took to the streets in close to 550 locations across the country making the "Black Lives Matter" movement, perhaps the largest movement in American history.

More than a month later, the protests have not stopped neither have the political attacks. The United States is going to the polls as a deeply divided nation.

Armed agents in riot gear used tear gas to rein in protesters in the United States but the anger of the people in Portland hasn’t diminished from the rich and famous to the common man.

Armed agents in riot gear used tear gas to rein in protesters in the United States but the anger of the people in Portland hasn’t diminished from the rich and famous to the common man. It began on social media after the death of an unarmed man - George Floyd in police custody. Now, the "Black Lives Matter" movement has snowballed into a major political issue in America. It has reached the doorstep of US President Donald Trump - quite literally. Civil rights activists gathered outside the Trump tower in New York and they painted a mural of their rallying cry. President Trump has been facing the wrath of the protesters. Race tensions in America have taken a political colour. During the funeral of lawmaker and civil rights icon John Lewis, former US President Barack Obama took on his successor. × "There are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service in the run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don't get sick," Obama said. With less than 100 days to go for the presidential election, leaders on both sides are sharpening their rhetoric. President Trump backs the aggressive actions of security forces calling the protester's anarchists. "So our people have done, homeland security have done a fantastic job. They went to Oregon a little more than a week ago. The place was a mess. The city, Portland, was just a disaster. You see it and a lot of people weren't reporting it. They tried to pretend it was a protest as opposed to anarchists and agitators, you understand what I'm saying, it's a mess," the US president said. The America of today looks quite similar to what it was in 1968 which was one of the most turbulent years in American history. In April 1968, Dr Martin Luther King, the leader of the civil rights movement in America was assassinated, four months later presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was killed as violent clashes erupted across the United States mostly led by young African-Americans. Fifty-two years later it's happening again. On June 6, nearly half a million people took to the streets in close to 550 locations across the country making the "Black Lives Matter" movement, perhaps the largest movement in American history. More than a month later, the protests have not stopped neither have the political attacks. The United States is going to the polls as a deeply divided nation.

Black Lives Matter movement takes political colour as US elections near

US President Donald Trump is likely to travel to New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly session in September, the only world leader to address this year's virtual high-level week in person, the US envoy to the UN said.

We're hoping that President Trump will actually be speaking in person in the General Assembly.

He will be the only world leader to be speaking in person,&nbsp;US Ambassador Kelly Craft said Thursday at a virtual briefing.

Craft added that with the UN commemorating its 75th anniversary this year, that makes it even more special that we really take the virtual and amplify it to be able to celebrate the 75th and obviously we're going to be focused on human rights issues, on transparency, accountability because anytime during COVID where the American taxpayers have really stepped up on a personal level, it's now.

For the first time in the UN's 75-year history, the annual General Assembly session will be held virtually and Heads of State and Government will not be physically attending the annual gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic.

World leaders will submit pre-recorded video statements for the high-level week, the 193-member organisation had decided last week.

US is the host country of the United Nations and there is a possibility that Trump could travel to New York to address the General Debate of the 75th session of the Assembly on September 22.

The US is traditionally the second speaker at the debate after Brazil.

This would be Trump's final address to the General Assembly of the first term of his presidency before the US heads into elections in November and Trump could use the UN platform to highlight his foreign policy achievements while also tout his campaign agenda.

In taking the decision for a virtual UNGA, the General Assembly had noted with concern&nbsp;the situation regarding the coronavirus pandemic and the limitations recommended on meetings within the United Nations premises as precautionary measures aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19.

The new format will mean that it will be for the first time in the world organisation's 75-year history that Heads of State and Government and Ministers will not gather here for the high-level week that annually brings thousands of diplomats, government officials, civil society members and media persons from around the world to New York City.

Addressing a virtual press conference in June, General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande had said that world leaders cannot come to New York for the annual UN General Assembly session in September because of the COVID19 pandemic.

World leaders cannot come to New York because they cannot come as single individuals.

A president doesn't travel alone.

We don't expect therefore to have presidents here,&nbsp;Muhammad-Bande had said.

Farhan Haq, Deputy Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, responding to a question on Trump addressing the UNGA session in person, said that the UN Secretariat will be in touch, through the Office of the President of the General Assembly, with the member states on their representation.

When it comes to it, we have made clear what the conditions in the building are, what the need is for a scaled back ceremony.

the member states are aware that they have different options, including recorded messages, or in some cases, appearances.

We trust and expect that all member states will abide by the need to keep the numbers low, and we'll see what they do in terms of their preparations.

Haq added that the UN has made clear to all member states the need to keep the delegations' number low during the high-level week.There is an absolute upper limit of how many people we can safely accommodate, and all Member States have been made aware of that.

How they will adjust is a matter ultimately of discussion between the Member States and the United Nations.

Along with the General Debate and 75th anniversary commemoration, key high-level sessions will also be held virtually at the UN.

The Summit on Biodiversity will be held on September 30, high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women on October 1 and the high-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on October 2.

Member states will submit their pre-recorded video statements for these high-level meetings as well.

Each country would be encouraged to observe the time limit of 15 minutes in the General Debate that would include remarks in the Assembly Hall to introduce the pre-recorded video and the video itself.

Muhammad-Bande has told Member States that with a view to limit the footprint and the number of people into the UN building, physical access and presence will be limited to one or, if the situation allows, two delegates in the General Assembly hall.

Further, he said member states are encouraged to move all side events to virtual platforms to limit the footprint and number of people in the UN building.

US President Donald Trump is likely to travel to New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly session in September, the only world leader to address this year's virtual high-level week in person, the US envoy to the UN said.

US President Donald Trump is likely to travel to New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly session in September, the only world leader to address this year's virtual high-level week in person, the US envoy to the UN said. We're hoping that President Trump will actually be speaking in person in the General Assembly. He will be the only world leader to be speaking in person, US Ambassador Kelly Craft said Thursday at a virtual briefing. Craft added that with the UN commemorating its 75th anniversary this year, that makes it even more special that we really take the virtual and amplify it to be able to celebrate the 75th and obviously we're going to be focused on human rights issues, on transparency, accountability because anytime during COVID where the American taxpayers have really stepped up on a personal level, it's now. For the first time in the UN's 75-year history, the annual General Assembly session will be held virtually and Heads of State and Government will not be physically attending the annual gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic. World leaders will submit pre-recorded video statements for the high-level week, the 193-member organisation had decided last week. US is the host country of the United Nations and there is a possibility that Trump could travel to New York to address the General Debate of the 75th session of the Assembly on September 22. The US is traditionally the second speaker at the debate after Brazil. This would be Trump's final address to the General Assembly of the first term of his presidency before the US heads into elections in November and Trump could use the UN platform to highlight his foreign policy achievements while also tout his campaign agenda. In taking the decision for a virtual UNGA, the General Assembly had noted with concern the situation regarding the coronavirus pandemic and the limitations recommended on meetings within the United Nations premises as precautionary measures aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19. The new format will mean that it will be for the first time in the world organisation's 75-year history that Heads of State and Government and Ministers will not gather here for the high-level week that annually brings thousands of diplomats, government officials, civil society members and media persons from around the world to New York City. Addressing a virtual press conference in June, General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande had said that world leaders cannot come to New York for the annual UN General Assembly session in September because of the COVID19 pandemic. World leaders cannot come to New York because they cannot come as single individuals. A president doesn't travel alone. We don't expect therefore to have presidents here, Muhammad-Bande had said. Farhan Haq, Deputy Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, responding to a question on Trump addressing the UNGA session in person, said that the UN Secretariat will be in touch, through the Office of the President of the General Assembly, with the member states on their representation. When it comes to it, we have made clear what the conditions in the building are, what the need is for a scaled back ceremony. the member states are aware that they have different options, including recorded messages, or in some cases, appearances. We trust and expect that all member states will abide by the need to keep the numbers low, and we'll see what they do in terms of their preparations. Haq added that the UN has made clear to all member states the need to keep the delegations' number low during the high-level week.There is an absolute upper limit of how many people we can safely accommodate, and all Member States have been made aware of that. How they will adjust is a matter ultimately of discussion between the Member States and the United Nations. Along with the General Debate and 75th anniversary commemoration, key high-level sessions will also be held virtually at the UN. The Summit on Biodiversity will be held on September 30, high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women on October 1 and the high-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on October 2. Member states will submit their pre-recorded video statements for these high-level meetings as well. Each country would be encouraged to observe the time limit of 15 minutes in the General Debate that would include remarks in the Assembly Hall to introduce the pre-recorded video and the video itself. Muhammad-Bande has told Member States that with a view to limit the footprint and the number of people into the UN building, physical access and presence will be limited to one or, if the situation allows, two delegates in the General Assembly hall. Further, he said member states are encouraged to move all side events to virtual platforms to limit the footprint and number of people in the UN building.

US President Trump likely to be only world leader to address UN General Assembly session in person

Filmmaker Michael Moore took a sly dig at US President Donald Trump when he appeared on 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert'. 
 
Trump had earlier tweeted about 'liberating Michigan' and Moore, who is from Michigan stated that the people have been planning liberation there for a long time. 
 
"We've been planning our liberation for the last four years," said Moore. "Sadly, Michigan voted for Trump, so it was a huge embarrassment," the Oscar winner added. 
 
The documentary filmmaker joked that he and his friends already have "Liberation Day all set," which he revealed falls on Election Day, November 3, 2020. 
 
"The party starts around 8 p.m. that night. We'll have a parade," he added. 
 
He also questioned why Trump tweeted that he wanted to liberate Minnesota. "Who wants to liberate Minnesota? Why are they in on this?" he asked. Trump had also tweeted about Virginia and Minnesota. 
 
Colbert also asked Moore about coronavirus and the filmmaker lauded the work of essential workers that are keeping everyone safe during the coronavirus pandemic. 
 
He added that the thinks "we're going to be different people" following the pandemic and "we're never going to think that anybody should have to work for $7.25 an hour." 
 
Moore also said that there are three viruses in the United States. 
 
"The obvious one, the coronavirus, that we're all trying to survive," he said. "The second virus is the Trump virus that needs to be eradicated non-violently and legally at the polls." 
 
"The third virus is what I call the 'pre-Trump virus.' The one that we had for many years, long before Trump," he continued. 
 
"We had a number of things that we hadn't quite fixed yet in this country and they were causing us, still, a lot of pain and despair and whatever," the director added. 
 
The director though stated that the country should focus on the coronavirus and getting Trump out of office for the time being before we fixing the third 'virus'.

Filmmaker Michael Moore took a sly dig at US President Donald Trump when he appeared on 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert'. Trump had earlier tweeted about 'liberating Michigan' and Moore, who is from Michigan stated that the people have been planning liberation there for a long time.

Filmmaker Michael Moore took a sly dig at US President Donald Trump when he appeared on 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert'. Trump had earlier tweeted about 'liberating Michigan' and Moore, who is from Michigan stated that the people have been planning liberation there for a long time. "We've been planning our liberation for the last four years," said Moore. "Sadly, Michigan voted for Trump, so it was a huge embarrassment," the Oscar winner added. The documentary filmmaker joked that he and his friends already have "Liberation Day all set," which he revealed falls on Election Day, November 3, 2020. "The party starts around 8 p.m. that night. We'll have a parade," he added. He also questioned why Trump tweeted that he wanted to liberate Minnesota. "Who wants to liberate Minnesota? Why are they in on this?" he asked. Trump had also tweeted about Virginia and Minnesota. Colbert also asked Moore about coronavirus and the filmmaker lauded the work of essential workers that are keeping everyone safe during the coronavirus pandemic. He added that the thinks "we're going to be different people" following the pandemic and "we're never going to think that anybody should have to work for $7.25 an hour." Moore also said that there are three viruses in the United States. "The obvious one, the coronavirus, that we're all trying to survive," he said. "The second virus is the Trump virus that needs to be eradicated non-violently and legally at the polls." "The third virus is what I call the 'pre-Trump virus.' The one that we had for many years, long before Trump," he continued. "We had a number of things that we hadn't quite fixed yet in this country and they were causing us, still, a lot of pain and despair and whatever," the director added. The director though stated that the country should focus on the coronavirus and getting Trump out of office for the time being before we fixing the third 'virus'.

Michael Moore calls Trump a 'virus' as he discusses liberating Michigan with host Stephen Colbert

The White House confirmed on Sunday that US President Donald Trump will attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Howdy Modi!" event in Houston, Texas, on Sunday (September 22). Watch this video to know more.

US President Trump will attend 'Howdy, Modi' event in Houston, confirms White House

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a 32-minute telephonic conversation with US President Donald Trump on Monday, discussed three key issues — trade, cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan and developments in Afghanistan as the Afghan peace process enters its final stages. Watch this video to know more.

WION Dispatch: PM Modi dials Donald Trump to talk Af-Pak, trade

PM Modi dials Donald Trump to talk Af-Pak, trade

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Monday had a telephonic conversation for 30 minutes on regional and bilateral issues. Speaking on the regional situation, the Prime Minister stated that "extreme rhetoric and incitement to anti-India violence by certain leaders in the region was not conducive to peace".

Breaking News: PM and Trump speak for 30 minutes, discuss regional matters

PM Narendra Modi on Monday had a telephonic conversation with US President Donald Trump. Watch this video to know more.

Breaking News: Indian PM Modi speaks to US President Trump over phone

US President Donald Trump has announced tariffs on all Mexico goods. Watch this video to know more.

US President Trump announces tariffs on all Mexico goods

China Neglect US President Trump's Warning Not To Retaliate. Global Markets Are Struggling As Trade Disputes Between US & China Come To The Fore.

Gravitas: US-China Trade Tensions Escalate, China Announces Retaliatory Tariffs

US President Donald Trump's first ever speech at the UN general assembly in 2019 saw him call Iran, a cover for a corrupt dictatorship. Trump also aims to bring Iran's Oil exports down to zero. Watch full video to know more.

US President Donald Trump aims to bring Iran's Oil exports down to zero

US President Donald Trump gave a cautious response to North Korea&#39;s offer of talks Monday, saying they would take place &quot;only under the right conditions.&quot;

&quot;We have been very tough with them,&quot; Trump said at the White House, after Pyongyang signaled its willingness to return to the negotiating table.

Also&nbsp;read - <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/north-korea-willing-to-hold-talks-with-us-says-seoul-34014">North Korea willing to hold talks with </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/north-korea-willing-to-hold-talks-with-us-says-seoul-34014">US</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/north-korea-willing-to-hold-talks-with-us-says-seoul-34014">, says Seoul</a>

&quot;So they want to talk &quot; Trump said, claiming that as a &quot;first&quot; and adding &quot;we&#39;ll see what happens.&quot;

He did not spell out his conditions for talks.

North Korea&#39;s offer is a barbed one, coming as allies Seoul and Washington struggle to agree on how to deal with the rogue nuclear power.

US officials fret that the offer could be an effort to drive a wedge between the allies or to buy time.

Trump&#39;s administration has embarked on a policy of &quot;maximum pressure&quot; to convince the North to abandon threatening missile and nuclear programs.

Trump has pointedly refused to rule out military action, much to the concern of South Korea.

On Monday South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged the United States to &quot;lower the threshold for talks.&quot;

&quot;It&#39;s important that the US and the North sit together as soon as possible,&quot; Moon said.

Washington has long insisted that Pyongyang takes steps towards denuclearization before any talks take place.

'So they want to talk' Trump said, claiming that as a 'first' and adding 'we'll see what happens'

US President Donald Trump gave a cautious response to North Korea's offer of talks Monday, saying they would take place "only under the right conditions." "We have been very tough with them," Trump said at the White House, after Pyongyang signaled its willingness to return to the negotiating table. Also read - North Korea willing to hold talks with US, says Seoul "So they want to talk " Trump said, claiming that as a "first" and adding "we'll see what happens." He did not spell out his conditions for talks. North Korea's offer is a barbed one, coming as allies Seoul and Washington struggle to agree on how to deal with the rogue nuclear power. US officials fret that the offer could be an effort to drive a wedge between the allies or to buy time. Trump's administration has embarked on a policy of "maximum pressure" to convince the North to abandon threatening missile and nuclear programs. Trump has pointedly refused to rule out military action, much to the concern of South Korea. On Monday South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged the United States to "lower the threshold for talks." "It's important that the US and the North sit together as soon as possible," Moon said. Washington has long insisted that Pyongyang takes steps towards denuclearization before any talks take place.

North Korea talks only under 'right conditions': North Korea

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