Fist raised, bleeding and defiant - that was the image of Donald Trump beamed around the world in the seconds after an assassination attempt was made on his life. Trump was lucky to get away with a bloody ear - it could have all been very different. The shooting could be a pivotal moment in the US election campaign, with Trump continuing with the Republican Convention, promising to unite the nation, taking a decidedly more considered approach post-attack to the usual refrains of ‘drain the swamp’. What has the reaction to the attack on Trump told us about the tenor of US political debate? And how might calls to ‘tone down the rhetoric’ have an effect on freedom of speech in the remaining months of campaigning?
Across the pond, the UK elections produced a huge Labour parliamentary majority. While not a surprise to most, the election results themselves were interesting - there were independents elected on pro-Gaza tickets, five Reform MPs, a disaster for the SNP and Lib Dem gains. Yet the overall picture was coloured by low turnout. This was particularly true for Labour, which garnered its worst vote share in decades despite winning a huge majority. And while not yet at US levels of political polarisation, what of the serious complaints of physical intimidation by Islamist activists made by former MPs such as Jonathan Ashworth and Thangam Debbonaire? What should we make of all of this, and what kind of signals are we getting from our new government?
And overseas yet again, what the hell is going on in France? After two shock votes - the first with gains for the right, the second with a victory for the left coalition - France is no closer to an agreement on who will take the reins. The French find themselves in unchartered territory, with much of the final vote being defined by an ‘anyone but Le Pen’ sentiment rather than a positive ballot and leaving a National Assembly with a multitude of parties with little in common. What does this mean for the future of French politics? Will Macron’s unwitting shakeup be good for opening up a populist space, or is this chaos merely another expression of technocratic failure?
Listen to the latest - and last in the election series - from the Podcast of Ideas team. We’ll continue to bring you regular podcasts on everything and anything that catches our eye, as well as tasters for the upcoming Battle of Ideas festival on the 19 & 20 October this year.
Podcast of Ideas: Labour's win, Trump's near miss and France's mess