Malcolm X's politics are still driving us apart
In the summer of 1963 hundreds of people began to gather in the streets on the approach to Harlem's Salem Church, and many more hung out of windows, keen to catch a glimpse of that Sunday's preacher. Dr Martin Luther King Jr was on his way.
King had already become a symbol of the civil rights movement and within a few weeks would deliver one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century. And he had just a few days earlier been rehearsing some of its themes and rhetoric, telling audiences of his 'dream', one in which his children would be judged 'on the content of their character, not on the colour of their skin'.
On this day in Harlem there were the usual cheers
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Daily Mail
15 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The real inspiration of terrifying attacks on US soil... and an ex-FBI chief's warning the worst is yet to come
Heinous attacks in Colorado and Washington DC show a new face of US political violence that's closer to last year's college campus radicalism than the Islamist extremism of yesteryear, lawmen and experts told the Daily Mail. Chris Swecker, an assistant FBI director in the 2000s, and others said the recent spate of outrages, often aimed at Israelis or Jews, marks a departure from the global wave of jihadist violence of the 9/11 era. Recent strikes were instead inspired by the protests against Israel 's war in Gaza that upended Harvard, Columbia, and other top schools in the months after Hamas militants launched their 7 October, 2023, raids, Swecker said. He spoke after the outrage in Boulder, Colorado, where an attacker tossed petrol bombs at supporters of Israeli hostages, and a deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC. The suspects in those attacks both yelled 'Free Palestine' before they were arrested — echoing the chants from US college campuses and anti-Israel rallies in the months since fighting erupted there in October 2023. Together with the arson attack on the residence of Pennsylvania 's Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, again over the Israel-Hamas war, they may showcase a paradigm shift in political violence in America. Swecker says the men behind these attacks were likely answering the calls to 'Free Palestine from the river to the sea,' and for a 'global intifada' that rang out across US college campuses under the Biden administration. 'The universities have become incubators and enablers,' said Swecker, who led the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division from 2004-2006. 'They are creating an environment that seems to be activating people on the fringes. They hear this coded language of 'Free Palestine,' and they're going to act on it.' He added: 'It's not subtle, we know what it means. It means we're going to kill Jews.' America's so-called 'student intifada' began in earnest at Columbia University last April and spread to some 60 campuses. Students, egged on by radical professors and outside anti-Zionist groups, erected encampments and brought campuses to a standstill as the Gaza war escalated. Some Jewish students described being attacked, harassed and intimidated. Activists say there's a disproportionate use of force in the decades-long territorial conflict. Palestinian Hamas fighters left some 1,200 dead and took 251 others as hostages during their macabre raids on southern Israel. A few dozen remain in Gaza. Israel's assault on Hamas-run Gaza, however, has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, flattened whole towns, and left the population in famine-like misery, leading to credible allegations of war crimes. Estimates of the actual death toll vary widely. That logic appears to have motivated Mohamad Sabry Soliman, 45, the married Egyptian dad-of-five accused of the Boulder attack. Police say he lobbed Molotov cocktails and used a homemade flamethrower to burn attendees of a Jewish demonstration in support of those taken hostage by Hamas, injuring a dozen. He reportedly yelled 'Free Palestine' and 'end Zionists' during the attack. Still, he has not professed a link to ISIS or another jihadist group, and yelled political, not religious slogans, such as the 'Allahu Akbar' often associated with Islamists. Soliman faces federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder that could see him caged for life. His wife and children, dependents on his visa, face deportation. There are similarities to Elias Rodriguez, the college-educated Chicago man accused of shooting and killing two Israeli Embassy workers outside a Jewish museum in Washington DC on May 21. Rodriguez likewise shouted 'Free Palestine,' and also held a red keffiyeh during the attack, it is claimed. His Latino, rather than Muslim, heritage, and long track record as a social justice warrior point to a political motivation. The 31-year-old was in the past aligned to the anti-war Answer Coalition, and the ultra-progressive Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — groups that led pro-Palestine rallies across the US, including on college campuses. He faces two counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. The diplomatic workers were a couple; Lischinsky had bought a ring and was set to propose marriage to Milgrim on a trip to Jerusalem the following week. The trend may also encompass Cody Balmer, the man accused of setting Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro's residence ablaze in Harrisburg in April. The 38-year-old is charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, and related offenses. Balmer wrote extensively about Israel's war in Gaza before the attack and reportedly described Shapiro as a 'monster' who had 'plans' to harm Palestinians. Balmer also has a track record of minor crimes, mental illness, and marital strife. Julio Rosas, author of Fiery But Mostly Peaceful, a study on far-left activism, said recent attacks show how radical groups are 'elevating their tactics' to stop Israel's 19-month-old assault on Gaza. Activist leaders regularly urge rally attendees to 'bring the war home to the United States' — language that he says barely disguises a blatant call for violence. 'They've been protesting and marching, but the war in Gaza hasn't stopped, so they have to do more radical things to get what they want,' Rosas said. He blamed Answer, PSL, and the Democratic Socialists of America, which have staged protests both on and off college campuses, and which all describe themselves as non-violent movements. Those pro-Palestine campaign leaders 'overlap' with those who once coordinated Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and other far-left causes of recent years, he said. 'Whether it's Gaza, immigration, or George Floyd, the grievances they hyperventilate about are all the same,' he added. 'It's white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism.' Ian Miles Cheong, a social commentator and influencer, blames police, politicians and academics for keeping their 'hands off' the rabble rousers who've pushed their followers toward violence. 'Too few college administrations are willing to speak out against them because they're afraid of being canceled,' Cheong said. He, Rosas, and other conservatives praise the Trump administration for cracking down on campus activism, restricting visas for foreign students, and other steps to stop dangerous immigrants from entering the US. 'Protest is fine, but there's nothing peaceful about harassing Jewish students or blockading classrooms and libraries,' said Cheong.
Telegraph
44 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Trump's tax bill is undermining the foundations of global finance
For decades, investors have been able to rely on a simple truth: the US bond market is a safe place to put money. When wars broke out, economies crashed or other calamities struck, money flowed into US Treasuries, as Washington's bonds are known, to protect wealth. As a result, the US has been able to rely on a ready supply of investors willing to fund the country's ever-increasing appetite for tax cuts and public spending. Investors wanted US debt and the federal government was only too happy to provide it. Not even half a year into Donald Trump's presidential term, however, decades of orthodoxy are being turned on their head. 'The US has generally benefited from demand for Treasuries from overseas investors. It's viewed as the global risk-free asset,' says John Stopford, a fund manager at Ninety One. 'The concern is that a lot of those beliefs or tenets about the US are being called into question, in terms of how reliable, how safe an investment are US Treasuries?' Offshore investors, battered by volatility and bewildered by uncertainty since Trump took office, are becoming increasingly wary of the US bond market. Returns have suffered as Trump's trade policies have weakened the dollar and the president's planned debt splurge has raised questions about just how sustainable US borrowing really is. The latest flash point is Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax and spending bill, which the Congressional Budget Office said would add $2.4 trillion (£1.8 trillion) to the deficit over the next decade. Elon Musk might have hogged the headlines this week with his outbursts against the bill but investors and traders are airing the same concerns, especially as higher deficits mean the US treasury will be asking them to buy more and more of its bonds. 'We're seeing it in the asset management community, some insurance funds, some pension funds, and foreign investors overall as well. It's just more caution in the buying, rather than a full-blown 'sell everything',' says Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities. A crisis in the US bond market, or even just a slow ebbing of investor confidence and faith, could be the most profound and revolutionary legacy of Trump's second term. The US market and its currency might no longer offer the safe haven against risk, nor the anchor for markets worldwide. An end of this financial exceptionalism would mean higher borrowing costs for the US and pose a challenge to the entire American economy model. Moody's became the last major credit rating agency to strip the US of its gold-plated borrower status last month and analysts have raised the prospect of Trump facing his own ' Liz Truss moment ' as investors baulk at his spending plans. For now, concern is centred around where all this fiscal ill-discipline will leave the US in the 2030s and beyond. So investors are shying away from longer-dated Treasuries with terms such as 10, 20 or 30 years, and parking their money in shorter-term bonds that mature in one or two years. 'I see investors who are even cautious about the five to 10-year space,' Goldberg says. If this caution turns to panic, then a meltdown – with worldwide consequences – isn't out of the question. 'If there was a big deleveraging that happened – and there was a big source of selling, whether it's from foreign investors or hedge funds or levered investors or basis investors – it could potentially overwhelm the system,' Goldberg says. Foreign investors are also having to contend with a big drop in the US dollar, which is reducing their returns. 'It's fine to see bond yields rise if the currency is stable or appreciating. That's not what we're seeing at the moment. We're seeing bond yields rise in the US, and actually the currency, on a broad basket, is about 10pc down from its highs last year,' says James Ringer, a Schroders fund manager. The lack of buyers and the potential glut of bonds raises the possibility, or 'tail risk', that the market could cease to function properly. 'That would mean sellers overwhelming buyers,' says Goldberg. This could drive a sharp surge in rates and force an emergency intervention from the Federal Reserve. 'That is the risk going forward – that the system is unable to function if something goes wrong,' he adds. At the moment, there's little prospect of a panicked sell-off – mainly because investors have so few genuine alternatives. America's star may be on the wane but it is still the brightest light in the sky. 'The US is absolutely a mass market in terms of marketable debt. The second and third closest markets are an order of magnitude smaller, so that makes it really difficult for a lot of these investors to really get away from dollars,' says Goldberg. 'There's just no place for them to go.' But equally, with Trump at the helm, nobody is ruling anything out. 'Even if it's a tail risk or something that's unlikely, because it's there at the back of people's minds, potentially they do begin to change their behaviour,' Stopford says. 'They do begin to think, 'OK, well, I should have less exposure to the US, I should have less exposure to the dollar, I should be looking for alternatives that are safer, more reliable.' 'That's not bond vigilantes speculating. That's just people making rational decisions based on concerns about risk.' Scott Bessent began the week by telling the world: 'The United States of America is never going to default. That is never going to happen.' were meant to reassure. But the sheer fact that the US treasury secretary had to spell out something that has been taken for granted for decades highlights the fact that the fundamentals of the US financial system have been shaken. Whether they go on to crumble depends on what Trump does next.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Karoline Leavitt weighs in on the Trump-Musk feud
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made it clear that she's team Trump amid the president's nasty public break-up with Elon Musk. One week before, she and longtime Trump aide Margo Martin had posed in the Tesla that's parked outside the White House, which the president said he was purchasing as Musk's electric car company was taking a hit over his MAGA ties and work at DOGE. But on Thursday Leavitt shared one of Trump's Truth Social messages the president dished out about Musk - after first taking on the Tesla and SpaceX CEO in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump had written, 'I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago.' 'This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It's a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. If this Bill doesn't pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that,' Trump wrote. 'I didn't create this mess, I'm just here to FIX IT. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' the president added. Musk's spat with Trump got so brutal on Thursday that he claimed that the president 'is in the Epstein files' - attempting to connect the commander-in-chief with the serial [expletive] who died in prison in 2019. Leavitt pushed back on that too, telling the Daily Mail in a statement: 'This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,' Leavitt added. Trump didn't directly respond to Musk's Epstein charge, instead posting the Truth Social message that Leavitt shared. Later Trump ignored shouted questions from reporters on Musk's Epstein charge as he hosted the National Fraternal Order of Police executive board in the State Dining Room. A source familiar pointed out to the Daily Mail that 'everyone knows President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his Palm Beach Golf Club.' 'The Administration itself released Epstein files with the President's name included. This is not a new surprise Elon is uncovering. Everyone already knew this,' the source continued. The source also mused, 'If Elon truly thought the President was more deeply involved with Epstein, why did he hangout with him for 6 months and say he "loves him as much as a straight man can love a straight man?"' The Musk-Trump break-up had started over the bill, which is now going through the U.S. Senate, which Musk complained added to the deficit and reversed the work he had done leading DOGE, the Trump-created Department of Government Efficiency. But it quickly turned personal once Trump floated that he wasn't sure the relationship between the two billionaires could be saved. 'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will any more, I was surprised,' Trump told reporters as he was seated alongside Germany's leader. The president suggested that Musk was angry - not over the bill ballooning the deficit - but because the Trump administration has pulled back on electric vehicle mandates, which negatively impacted Tesla , and replaced the Musk-approved nominee to lead NASA , which could hinder SpaceX's government contracts. Musk then posted that Trump would have lost the 2024 election had it not been for the world's richest man - him. 'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' Musk claimed. 'Such ingratitude,' the billionaire added. After the Oval Office meeting Trump took to Truth Social Thursday afternoon and asserted that he had asked Musk to leave his administration and said the billionaire went 'CRAZY!' 'Elon was "wearing thin," I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!' Trump wrote. The president then threatened to pull SpaceX and Tesla's government contracts. 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Trump wrote. It ratcheted up even more, with Musk saying he could decommission the only rocket ships that are currently hauling U.S. astronauts and their supplies to the International Space Station. Musk also made the Epstein charge and later said he would back Trump's impeachment, saying he was for Vice President J.D. Vance taking the president's place. Steve Bannon, a longtime adviser of Trump and a leader of the MAGA movement, pushed that the South African-born Musk be investigated - and maybe even deported. Last Friday, Trump had heralded Musk in the Oval Office, gifting him a golden key and giving him a send-off from DOGE, as the billionaire headed back into the private sector. As Thursday evening approached, Trump's Tesla remained parked on West Executive Avenue, just steps away from the West Wing.
