The promise Donald Trump is sure to keep
He wants more freedom to fire civil servants, but he should weigh the long-term consequences
Donald Trump’s politics are so elastic that it is impossible to be certain what he means when he promises, as he did on election night, to “govern by a simple motto: promises made, promises kept”. Will he judge himself a failure if he does not end the war in Ukraine before he takes office?
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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “On his majesty’s civil service”
Back to the 1850s
Immigrant voters may have won America’s presidential election for the nativist candidate
Climate change and the next administration
There are obstacles to Donald Trump’s attempts to reverse progress
Senate Republicans flex their independence
Trump doesn’t weigh in on a leadership contest, but real conflicts will soon come
Republicans finally win the coveted trifecta
Yet the party’s grip on power could be less reliable than it appears
The man picked as defence secretary wants to purge the Pentagon
Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host, takes aim at “woke shit”
What Trump’s picks suggest about how his presidency will go
Loyalty, competence and an appetite for disruption are among the traits he is filtering for