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U.S. presidents usually pay lip service at least to being leaders of the free world, at the helm of a mighty democracy and military that allies worldwide can rally around and reasonably depend upon for support in return. Not so under President-elect Donald Trump, a critic of many existing U.S. alliances, whose win of a second term this week had close European partners calling for a new era of self-reliance not dependent on American goodwill. “We must not delegate forever our security to America,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at a European summit Thursday. Based on Trump’s first term and campaign statements, the U.S. will become less predictable, more chaotic, colder to allies and warmer to some strongmen, and much more transactional in picking friends globally than before. America’s place in world affairs and security will fundamentally change, both critics and supporters of Trump say. His backers say he simply will be choosier about U.S. alliances and battles than previous presidents. When it comes to the U.S. role on the world stage, no more talk of the country as leader of the free world, said Fiona Hill, a former Russia adviser to Trump and preceding U.S. presidents. Maybe “the free-for-all world, his leadership?” Hill suggested in a recent European Council for Foreign Relations podcast. “I mean, what exactly is it that we’re going to be leading here?” Trump, with varying degrees of consistency, has been critical of NATO and support for Ukraine and Taiwan, two democracies under threat that depend on U.S. military support to counter Russia and China. Trump has shown little interest in the longstanding U.S. role as anchor of strategic alliances with European and Indo-Pacific democracies. Before the election, partners and adversaries already were reevaluating their security arrangements in preparation for Trump's possible return. European allies in particular bolstered efforts to build up their own and regional defenses, rather than rely on the U.S. as the anchor of NATO, the mutual-defense pact both Trump and running mate JD Vance have spoken of scathingly. Within hours of Trump’s win over Vice President Kamala Harris this week, defense chiefs of France and Germany scheduled talks to address the impact. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin have appeared to shape war strategies with hopes that Trump could allow them freer rein. Victoria Coates, a security adviser to Trump in his first term, rejects any portrayal of him as isolationist. “I think he is extremely judicious about the application of the American military, and about potentially getting embroiled in conflicts we can’t resolve,” she said recently on a security podcast. As evidence of his engagement globally, Coates pointed to Trump's support of Israel as it wages wars against Iranian-backed militant groups in Gaza and Lebanon. She called Iran's nuclear program the “greatest concern” abroad and suggested its progress toward the possibility of nuclear weapons meant Trump might have to act more forcefully than in his first term, when he surged sanctions on Iran in what he called a “maximum pressure” campaign. Trump, long an open admirer of Putin, has been most consistent in pointing to U.S. support of Ukraine for possible policy change. Philip Breedlove, a former Air Force general and top NATO commander, said he can see both positive expectations and deep concerns for Ukraine and NATO in the next four years under Trump. While Trump’s NATO rhetoric during his first administration was often harsh, it didn’t lead to any actual U.S. troop reductions in Europe or decreased support for the alliance, Breedlove said. And 23 NATO nations are spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, compared with 10 in 2020 — a showing that now negates a persistent Trump complaint. More concerning, Breedlove said, is Trump’s vow to end the war in Ukraine right away. While that goal is noble, “ending wars on terms that are appropriate is one thing. Capitulating to an enemy in order to stop a conflict is a different thing. And that’s what worries me,” Breedlove said. He and others have warned that an end to the war that gives Russia additional territory in Ukraine will set a bad precedent. European nations fear it will embolden Putin to come after them. So do supporters of Taiwan, a democratically run island that China has said it will one day annex, by force if necessary. Trump has ranged from saying Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense support to claiming he could charm Chinese President Xi Jinping out of threatening Taiwan. “One thing that does make me nervous about Trump vis-à-vis the Taiwan Strait is his reliance on unpredictability, his reliance on being something of a chaotic actor in a situation that is finely balanced," said Paul Nadeau, an assistant professor of international affairs and political science at Temple University's Japan campus. The situation is one “that requires a profound reading of very subtle signals between Taiwan, between the United States, between China,” Nadeau said. The world that Trump will face has changed, too, with Russia, North Korea, Iran and China further consolidating in a loose, opportunistic alliance to counter the West, and particularly the U.S. In places where the U.S. has withdrawn, Russia, China and at times Iran have been quick to extend their influence, including in the Middle East. During his first term, Trump repeatedly vowed to pull all U.S. forces out of Iraq and Syria, at times blindsiding Pentagon officials with sudden statements and tweets that left officials fumbling for answers. A backlash from some Republican lawmakers and counterproposals by U.S. military leaders slowed those plans, including suggestions that some U.S. troops should remain in Syria to protect oil sites. The U.S. still has about 900 troops in Syria, which could plunge under Trump. The number of U.S. forces in Iraq is already dwindling based on a new agreement between the Biden administration and Baghdad. The plan would wrap up the U.S.-led coalition’s mission to fight the Islamic State group by next year but likely shift at least some U.S. troops to northern Iraq to support the fight against IS in Syria. Trump's first term — followed by Joe Biden's foreign policy increasingly becoming consumed by unsuccessful efforts to reach cease-fires in the Middle East — already have spurred allies to speak of building up their own military strength and that of smaller regional alliances for security. “Factored into calculations is there’s going to be less United States than before” on the world stage, Hill said. “There can’t be this dangerous dependency on what happens in Washington, D.C.”

As he bid farewell to Washington in January 2021, deeply unpopular and diminished, Donald Trump was already hinting at a comeback. “Goodbye. We love you. We will be back in some form,” Trump told supporters at Joint Base Andrews, where he'd arranged a 21-gun salute as part of a military send-off before boarding Air Force One. “We will see you soon.” Four years later, he's fulfilled his prophecy. With his commanding victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump achieved a comeback that seemed unimaginable after the 2020 election ended with his supporters violently storming the Capitol after he refused to accept his defeat. In the years that followed, Trump was widely blamed for Republican losses, indicted four times, convicted on 34 felony counts, ruled to have inflated his assets in a civil fraud trial and found liable for sexual abuse. He still faces fines that top more than half a billion dollars and the prospect of jail time. But Trump managed to turn his legal woes into fuel that channeled voters' anger. He seized on widespread discontent over the direction of a country battered by years of high inflation. And he spoke to a new generation — using podcasts and social media — to tell those who felt forgotten that he shared their disdain for the status quo. And he did so while surviving two attempted assassinations and a late-stage candidate replacement by Democrats. “This was a campaign of October surprises," Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita said hours after clinching victory. “When you think about it, whether it was indictments, convictions, assassination attempts, the switching out of the candidate — I mean it was a campaign of firsts on so many different levels.” ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ Trump had entered the general election after sweeping the GOP primaries and routing a crowded field of candidates. The indictments against him dominated news coverage and forced even his rivals to rally around him as he cast himself as the victim of a politically motivated effort to hobble his candidacy. A late June debate against President Joe Biden — which the Biden campaign had pushed for — ended disastrously for the president, who struggled to put words together and repeatedly lost his train of thought. When Trump arrived at the Republican National Convention to formally accept his party's nomination for the second time weeks later, he seemed unstoppable. Just two days earlier, a gunman had opened fire at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, unleashing a hail of bullets that grazed his ear and left one supporter dead. After the gunman had been killed, Trump stood, surrounded by Secret Service agents, his face streaked by blood, and raised his fist in the air — shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” — as the crow erupted into cheers. The moment became a rallying cry for his campaign. “If you want to make somebody iconic, try to throw them in jail. Try to bankrupt them. ... If you want to make somebody iconic, try to kill him," said Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative who has known Trump for 45 years and was pardoned by the former president. ”All of those things failed. They just made him bigger and more powerful as a political force. Every one of those things turbocharged his candidacy." A sudden reversal Trump had appeared to be on a glide path to victory. But just days later, Democrats, fearing a blowout loss and panicking over Biden's age and ability to do the job for another four years, successfully persuaded the president to step aside and end his bid, making way for Harris’ history-shattering candidacy. Trump campaign aides insisted they were prepared. Videos for the convention had been cut with two different versions: One featuring Biden, the other Harris, and versions attacking both were played on the big screens in Milwaukee. But the change sent Trump into a tailspin. He had spent millions, he complained, beating Biden, and now had to “start all over” again — this time facing a candidate who was not only nearly two decades younger, embodying the generational change voters had said they wanted, but also a woman who would have become the country's first female president. In one particularly hostile appearance, Trump questioned the racial identity of the first woman of color to serve as vice president and to lead a major-party ticket before the National Association of Black Journalists. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said of the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, who had attended a historically Black college and served as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. On his Truth Social site, he amplified a post that suggested Harris had used sexual favors to advance her career. Harris fails to make her case for change Trump's campaign aides quickly pivoted to taking Harris down. They belittled her as unserious, with ads focused on her laugh. They labeled her “dangerously liberal," highlighting the progressive policies she had embraced when she first ran for president in 2020. They argued her “joyful warrior” messaging was fundamentally at odds with the sour mood of the electorate, and responded gleefully to Harris telling voters “We are not going back" when many voters seemed to want just that. Though Trump had left office with a dismal approval rating, that number had ticked up considerably in the years that followed, amid concerns over high prices and the influx of migrants who entered the country illegally after Biden relaxed restrictions. Harris’ momentum was just a sugar high, they said. Tony Fabrizio, the campaign pollster, called it “a kind of out-of-body experience where we have suspended reality.” Soon, they predicted, what they dubbed the “Harris honeymoon” would subside. Trump’s campaign insisted they did not fundamentally change their strategy with Harris as their rival. Instead, they tried to cast her as the incumbent, tying her to every one of the Biden administration's most unpopular policies. Trump, the 78-year-old former president, would be the candidate of change — and one who had been tested. Harris played right into their hands. Asked during an October appearance on “The View" if there was anything she would have done differently than Biden over the last four years, she responded that there was “not a thing that comes to mind.” Trump's campaign rejoiced when they heard the clip, which they quickly cut into ads. Harris, they believed, failed to articulate a forward-looking agenda that represented a break from the unpopular incumbent. And she struggled to distance herself from some of the far-left positions she had taken during the 2020 Democratic primary — sometimes denying positions she was on record as having taken, or failing to offer a clear explanation for her change of heart. She spent much of the final stretch of the campaign reverting to Biden’s strategy of casting Trump as a fundamental threat to democracy. But the country made clear it was "ready to move in a different direction,” said longtime Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski. “They want someone who’s going to change. They don’t have to think back 20 or 30 years. They can think back to four and five years ago. And they want that back in the White House.” A new Republican coalition After his 2020 loss, Trump's campaign worked to grow his appeal beyond the white working-class base that had delivered his first victory. The campaign would court young people and Black and Latino men, including many who rarely voted but felt like they weren't getting ahead. They seized on divisions in the Democratic Party, courting both Jewish voters and Muslims. In a scene that would have seemed unthinkable eight years ago, Trump — the man who called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims" entering the country and later perused targeted travel bans — appeared onstage at his last rally of the campaign with Amer Ghalib, the Democratic, Arab American mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan. Days earlier, Trump had gone to the majority Arab American city of Dearborn, Michigan, for a campaign stop. “They saw him as their last hope to end these wars in the Middle East and bring back peace. And this was made very clear when he came to Dearborn," said Massad Boulos, the father of Trump’s son-in-law, who led Trump’s outreach with Arab Americans. He noted Harris "didn’t even come close to Dearborn.” Trump received another boost when the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse either candidate, citing a lack of consensus among its 1.3 million members. While much of the campaign's messaging centered on the economy and immigration, Trump also tried to court voters with giveaways, promising to end taxes on tips, on overtime pay and on Social Security benefits. And his aides seized on the culture wars surrounding transgender rights, pouring money into ads aimed at young men — especially young Hispanic men — attacking Harris for supporting “taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners," including one spot featuring popular radio host Charlamagne tha God that aired predominantly during football games. “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you," the narrator said. Trump's campaign succeeded in its mission, picking up a small but significant share of Black and Hispanic voters, and forging a new working-class coalition crossing racial lines. “They came from all quarters: union, non-union, African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, Arab American, Muslim American,” Trump in his victory speech. “We had everybody and it was beautiful. It was a historic realignment, uniting citizens of all backgrounds around a common core of common sense.” Podcast bros and Mickey D's The campaign decided early that it would focus much of its efforts on low-propensity voters — people who rarely turn out to the polls and are more likely to get their news from non-traditional sources. To reach them, Trump began a podcast blitz, appearing with hosts who are popular with young men, including Adin Ross, Theo Von and Joe Rogan. He attended football games and UFC fights, where audiences erupted into cheers at arrivals broadcast live on sports channels. The campaign also worked to create viral moments. Trump paid a visit to McDonald's, where he donned an apron, manned the fry station and served supporters through the drive-through window. Days later he delivered a news conference from the passenger seat of a garbage truck, while wearing a yellow safety vest. Clips of those appearances racked up hundreds of millions of views on platforms like TikTok, which Trump embraced, despite having tried to previously ban the app at the White House. The appearances helped to highlight an aspect of Trump's appeal that is often lost on those who aren't supporters. Jaden Wurn, 20, a student at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania who was casting his ballot for Trump, said he was drawn to the former president in part because of his sense of humor. “Trump is able to just chat," he said. “It can be policy. It can be culture. It could be golf. It could be whatever it is, and he’s just able to sit down and have a nice, good conversation. Be relatable. Crack some jokes. He’s a funny guy. It’s refreshing.” A new team and a ground game gamble Unlike past campaigns marked by backstabbing and turnover, Trump's operation was widely praised for being his most competent and disciplined, with credit given to Florida operative Susie Wiles, who will now serve as his White House chief of staff. Haunted by lessons from 2020, aides were careful to save money for the race's final stretch even as they were dramatically outraised by Democrats and shelled out millions on legal expenses. And they took risks, including outsourcing a large portion of their paid get-out-the-vote operation to outside groups, taking advantage of an FEC ruling that allowed unprecedented coordination with a PAC formed by billionaire Elon Musk, his newest benefactor, and Charlie Kirk's Turning Point group. Ten days of chaos As the race headed into the race's final stretch, Trump's team continued to project confidence, even as public polling showing a dead heat. They were on offensive, scheduling rallies in Democratic states like Virginia and New Mexico, as well as what was intended to be the marquee event of the campaign's end: a rally at New York's Madison Square Garden. But the event — which Trump had talked of for years — was derailed long before he even took the stage as a series of pre-show speakers delivered vile, crude and racist insults, including a comedian who called Puerto Rico “a floating pile of garbage.” Trump was livid, angry that the event had been overshadowed by vetting failures and he was being attacked for something he hadn't said. While aides insisted they saw no impact on their polling — their internal data had him leading through the final three weeks of the race, albeit with a razor-thin margin — even Trump's most diehard supporters expressed concerns that the fallout was resonating with undecided friends and family members. “A couple of them were making the comment that he was against Puerto Rico or he’s racist and I’ve been trying to educate them,” said Donna Sheets, 51, a caregiver who lives in Christiansburg, Virginia, describing friends who had yet to make up their minds in the race's final stretch. But yet again Trump caught a break. Biden, in a call organized by a Hispanic advocacy group, responded to the insults by calling Trump's supporters “garbage.” Trump quickly seized on the gaffe, coming up with the idea of hiring a garbage truck to ride in. Aides quickly scrambled to find a truck and print a “Trump” campaign decal to tape to its side. They also presented him with an orange worker's vest — which he decided he liked so much that he continued to wear it onstage at a subsequent rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Supporters began showing up at his rallies wearing their own vests and garbage bags. Still, Trump continued what felt, at times, like self-sabotage. He doubled down on his controversial pledge to “protect women," saying he would do so whether they “like it or not.” He railed against former Rep. Liz Cheney, saying she would be less inclined to send Americans into war if she experienced what it felt like to be standing with nine rifles “trained at her face.” And on the Sunday before the election, at a rally in Pennsylvania, an exhausted Trump, fully unleashed, abandoned his stump speech altogether to deliver a profane and conspiracy-laden diatribe in which he said he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after his 2020 loss and wouldn't mind much if reporters were shot. The performance was so unhinged that Wiles was spotted coming out to stare at Trump as he spoke. While aides were alarmed, they urged him to stick with the plan. Trump, onstage the next day, seemed to acknowledge their efforts as he repeated a familiar complaint about how he’s not allowed to call women “beautiful” anymore, and then asked that it be struck from the record — saying, “So I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I, Susan Wiles?” Victory As his top aides huddled upstairs in his office at Mar-a-Lago, Trump spent much of election night holding court with friends and club members as well as Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — leaders of a new Make America Great Again majority that bears little resemblance to the Republican Party of old. While aides described him as confident, Trump watched the TVs that had been set up in the ballroom intensely as he mingled. This was more than an election, friends noted. He was fighting for his freedom. He will be able to end the federal investigations he faces as soon as he takes office. After Fox News had called the race, Trump emerged, flanked by campaign staff and family. “This will forever be remembered as the day the American people regained control of their country,” he said.

Yemen's Houthi rebels shot down what bystanders described as an American drone early Friday, potentially the latest downing of a U.S. spy drone as the militants continue their attacks on the Red Sea corridor. The U.S. military acknowledged the videos circulating online showing what appeared to be a flaming aircraft dropping out of the sky and a field of burning debris in what those off-camera described as an area of Yemen's al-Jawf province. The military said it was investigating the incident, declining to elaborate further. It wasn't immediately clear what kind of aircraft was shot down in the low-quality night video. The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles capable of downing aircraft such as the Iranian missile known as the 358. Iran denies arming the rebels, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in seaborne shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi rebels despite a United Nations arms embargo. The Houthis have been a key component of Iran's self-described “Axis of Resistance" during the Mideast wars that includes Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas and other militant groups. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for downing the aircraft. However, it can take their fighters hours or even days after an incident before they acknowledge it. Since Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the rebels have shot down MQ-9 Reaper drones in Yemen in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024. The U.S. military has declined to offer a total figure for the number of drones it has lost during that time. Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the U.S. military and the CIA over Yemen for years. The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. The tempo of the Houthi sea attacks also has waxed and waned over the months. In October, the U.S. military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by the Houthis.

With her selection as President-elect Donald Trump 's incoming White House chief of staff, veteran Florida political strategist Susie Wiles moves from a largely behind-the-scenes role of campaign co-chair to the high-profile position of the president's closest adviser and counsel. She's been in political circles for years. But who is Wiles, the operative set to be the first woman to step into the powerful role of White House chief of staff? She has decades of experience, most of it in Florida The daughter of NFL player and sportscaster Pat Summerall, Wiles worked in the Washington office of New York Rep. Jack Kemp in the 1970s. Following that were stints on Ronald Reagan's campaign and in his White House as a scheduler. Wiles then headed to Florida, where she advised two Jacksonville mayors and worked for Rep. Tillie Fowler. After that came statewide campaigns in rough and tumble Florida politics, with Wiles being credited with helping businessman Rick Scott win the governor's office. After briefly managing Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's 2012 presidential campaign, she ran Trump's 2016 effort in Florida, when his win in the state helped him clinch the White House. She has a history with Ron DeSantis Two years later, Wiles helped get Ron DeSantis elected as Florida's governor. But the two would develop a rift that eventually led to DeSantis to urge Trump's 2020 campaign to cuts its ties with the strategist, when she was again running the then-president's state campaign. Wiles ultimately went on to lead Trump’s primary campaign against DeSantis and trounced the Florida governor. Trump campaign aides and their outside allies gleefully taunted DeSantis throughout the race — mocking his laugh, the way he ate and accusing him of wearing lifts in his boots — as well as using insider knowledge that many suspected had come from Wiles and others on Trump’s campaign staff who had also worked for DeSantis and had had bad experiences. Wiles had posted just three times on X this year at the time of her announcement. Shortly before DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race in January, Wiles made a rare appearance on social media. She responded to a message that DeSantis had cleared his campaign website of upcoming events with a short but clear message: “Bye, bye.” She shuns the spotlight — most of the time Joining up with Trump's third campaign in its nascent days, Wiles is one of the few top officials to survive an entire Trump campaign and was part of the team that put together a far more professional operation for his third White House bid — even if the former president routinely broke through those guardrails anyway. She largely avoided the spotlight, even refusing to take the mic to speak as Trump celebrated his victory early Wednesday morning. Read: Canada's Trudeau revives a Cabinet-level panel to address concerns about a Trump presidency But she showed she was not above taking on tasks reserved for volunteers. At one of Trump’s appearances in Iowa in July of last year, as the former president posed for pictures with a long line of voters, Wiles grabbed a clipboard and started approaching people waiting to get them to fill out cards committing to caucus for Trump in the leadoff primary contest. “If we leave the conference room after a meeting and somebody leaves trash on the table, Susie’s the person to grab the trash and put it in the trash can,” said Chris LaCivita, who served as campaign co-chair along with Wiles. Another of her three posts on X this year was in the closing days of the campaign, clapping back after billionaire Mark Cuban remarked that Trump didn’t have “strong, intelligent women” in his orbit. After Wiles’ selection as White House chief of staff, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Trump backer, quipped on X that the president-elect had chosen a “strong, intelligent woman” as his chief of staff. She can control some of Trump's worst impulses Wiles was able to help control Trump’s worst impulses — not by chiding him or lecturing, but by earning his respect and showing him that he was better off when he followed her advice than flouted it. At one point late in the campaign, when Trump gave a widely criticized speech in Pennsylvania in which he strayed from his talking points and suggested he wouldn't mind the media being shot, Wiles came out to stare at him silently. Trump often referenced Wiles on the campaign trail, publicly praising her leadership of what he said he was often told was his “best-run campaign.” “She’s incredible. Incredible,” he said at a Milwaukee rally earlier this month. Will she have staying power? In his first administration, Trump went through four chiefs of staff — including one who served in an acting capacity for a year — in a period of record-setting personnel churn. A chief of staff serves as the president’s confidant, helping to execute an agenda and balancing competing political and policy priorities. They also tend to serve as a gatekeeper, helping determine whom the president spends their time and to whom they speak — an effort under which Trump chafed inside the White House. Trump has repeatedly said he believes the biggest mistake of his first term was hiring the wrong people. He was new to Washington then, he has said, and didn’t know any better. But now, Trump says, he knows the “best people” and those to avoid for jobs.

US Senator Bernie Sanders has issued a harsh critique of the Democratic Party following Kamala Harris’ defeat in the presidential election to Donald Trump. In a statement, Sanders, who aligns with Democrats, criticized the party’s campaign, calling it “disastrous,” reports ABC News. He argued that it should come as no surprise that a Democratic Party which has neglected working-class Americans now faces abandonment by these very voters. “First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well,” Sanders said. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right,” he added. Sanders, a longtime advocate for progressive policies who sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020., reflected on the continued economic instability faced by Americans, citing issues like income inequality, wealth disparity, and the absence of guaranteed paid family and medical leave, the report said. He also criticized the ongoing military aid to Israel, despite opposition from many Americans. “Today, despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans, we continue to spend billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government's all-out war against the Palestinian people which has led to the horrific humanitarian disaster of mass malnutrition and the starvation of thousands of children,” Sanders said. “Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not,” Sanders remarked, according to ABC News. He suggested that serious political discussions were now required about the future of those advocating for grassroots democracy and economic justice.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks to the nation in what will be his first appearance on camera in the aftermath of Donald Trump ’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris. Control over the U.S. House of Representatives hangs in the balance, teetering between a Republican or Democratic majority with dozens of races left to be called. The Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate early Wednesday. Trump’s presidential transition starts now. Here’s how it will work Trump’s impending return to the White House means he’ll want to stand up an entirely new administration from the one that served under President Joe Biden. His team is also pledging that the second won’t look much like the first one Trump established after his 2016 victory. The president-elect now has a 75-day transition period to build out his team before Inauguration Day arrives on Jan. 20. One top item on the to-do list: filling around 4,000 government positions with political appointees, people who are specifically tapped for their jobs by Trump’s team. That includes everyone from the secretary of state and other heads of Cabinet departments to those selected to serve part-time on boards and commissions. Around 1,200 of those presidential appointments require Senate confirmation, which should be easier with the Senate now shifting to Republican control. Neither party has a dominant pathway to House majority The House contests remain a tit-for-tat fight to the finish, with no dominant pathway to the majority for either party. Rarely, if ever, have the two chambers of Congress flipped in opposite directions. Each side is gaining and losing a few seats, including through the redistricting process, which is the routine redrawing of House seat boundary lines. The process reset seats in North Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama. Much of the outcome hinges on the West, particularly in California, where a handful of House seats are being fiercely contested, and mail-in ballots arriving a week after the election will still be counted. Hard-fought races around the “blue dot” in Omaha, Nebraska and in far-flung Alaska are among those being watched. Updates on the last two presidential races left to be called With a win in Wisconsin early Wednesday, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. But his exact margin of victory is still unclear — there are two presidential races that the AP has yet to call: Arizona: Officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County said late Wednesday they’ve got more than 700,000 ballots left to count, which means the races for president and senate were too early to call. In all, AP estimates there are at least a million ballots to be added to the results in Arizona. County election officials are expected to firm up those numbers on Thursday. Nevada: AP estimated late Wednesday evening that there are more than 200,000 ballots left to count in Nevada — including more than 130,000 in Clark County. Given the narrow margins in the races for president and U.S. Senate, both are too early to call. The AP will further review results released by Nevada election officials on Thursday. Decision Desk updates on key Senate races Arizona: Officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County said late Wednesday they’ve got more than 700,000 ballots left to count, which means the races for president and senate were too early to call. In all, AP estimates there are at least a million ballots to be added to the results in Arizona. County election officials are expected to firm up those numbers on Thursday. Nevada: AP estimated late Wednesday evening that there are more than 200,000 ballots left to count in Nevada — including more than 130,000 in Clark County. Given the narrow margins in the races for president and U.S. Senate, both are too early to call. The AP will further review results released by Nevada election officials on Thursday. Control of the US House hangs in the balance with enormous implications for Trump’s agenda The U.S. House majority hung in the balance Wednesday, teetering between Republican control that would usher in a new era of unified GOP governance in Washington or a flip to Democrats as a last line of resistance to a Trump second-term White House agenda. A few individual seats, or even a single one, will determine the outcome. Final tallies will take a while, likely pushing the decision into next week — or beyond. After Republicans swept into the majority in the U.S. Senate by picking up seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted his chamber would fall in line next. “Republicans are poised to have unified government in the White House, Senate and House,” Johnson said Wednesday. Biden will deliver a Rose Garden address at 11 a.m. ET The remarks to the nation will be Biden’s first appearance on camera in the aftermath of Trump’s decisive victory over Harris. How Trump spent his first day as president-elect Donald Trump spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory phone calls from his defeated opponent, world leaders and President Joe Biden as he began the process of turning his election victory into a government. Trump was keeping a low profile, staying out of the public eye after addressing supporters in Florida during the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump to concede the race and to congratulate him, while Biden invited the man he ousted from the White House four years ago to an Oval Office meeting to prepare to return the keys. Biden’s chief of staff later Wednesday nudged the Trump team to sign the required federal agreements necessary to begin an orderly presidential transition, a White House official said.

A fast-moving wildfire fueled by heavy winds was tearing through a community northwest of Los Angeles for a second day Thursday after destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee when it exploded in size in only a few hours. The Mountain Fire prompted evacuation orders Wednesday for more than 10,000 people as it threatened 3,500 structures in suburban communities, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. The fire was at 0% containment late Wednesday, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. The National Weather Service said a red flag warning, which indicates conditions for high fire danger, would remain in effect until 6 p.m. Thursday. Winds were expected to decrease significantly by Thursday night, the weather service said. Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees amid the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds. There were more than 30,000 customers without power statewide early Thursday, including about 3,000 in Ventura County and about 4,000 Los Angeles County, according to poweroutage.us. The Mountain Fire was burning in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive fires over the years. A thick plume of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky Wednesday, blanketing whole neighborhoods and limiting visibility for firefighters and evacuees. The fire grew from less than half of a square mile (about 1.2 square kilometers) to more than 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in little more than five hours. Late Wednesday, it was about 22 square miles (57 square kilometers), the Ventura County Fire Department said in a social media post. Efforts to battle the blaze continued through the night on the ground and with night flying helicopters. At least 800 firefighters were assigned to the blaze and hundreds more were arriving from around the state, the department said. Damage estimates were expected to begin Thursday, but the department said numerous structures were impacted. First responders pleaded with residents to evacuate. Deputies made contact with 14,000 people to urge them to leave as embers spread for miles and sparked new flames. Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson described crews racing with their engines to homes threatened by the flames to save lives. “This is as intense as it gets. The hair on the back of the firefighters’ neck I’m sure was standing up,” he said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Two people suffered apparent smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals Wednesday, fire officials said. No firefighters reported significant injuries. Officials said they were using all resources, including water-dropping helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping fire retardant, but it was still burning out of control. Andrew Dowd, a Ventura County fire spokesperson, said he did not have details of how many structures had been damaged. Meanwhile to the south, Los Angeles County Fire Department crews were scrambling to contain a wildfire near Malibu’s Broad Beach as authorities briefly shut down the Pacific Coast Highway as flames burned near multimillion-dollar properties. Residents were urged to shelter in place while aircraft dropped water on the 50-acre (20-hectare) Broad Fire. By late Wednesday, the fire was at 60% containment and its forward progress was stopped, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said in a statement. Fire officials said two structures burned. With predicted gusts up to 50 mph (80 kph) and humidity levels as low as 9%, parts of Southern California could experience conditions ripe for “extreme and life-threatening” fire behavior into Thursday, the weather service said. Wind gusts topped 61 mph (98 kph) on Wednesday. Forecasters also issued red flag warnings until Thursday from California's central coast through the San Francisco Bay Area and into counties to the north, where strong winds were also expected. Utilities in California began powering down equipment during high winds and extreme fire danger after a series of massive and deadly wildfires in recent years were sparked by electrical lines and other infrastructure. On Wednesday, more than 65,000 customers in Southern California were without power preventatively, and upwards of 20,000 in Northern California. Wednesday's fires were burning in the same areas of other recent destructive fires, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the the 2017 Thomas Fire, which destroyed more than a thousand homes and other structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both blazes.

 A 12-year-old boy was among five people who died in the fiery crash of a small business jet near a suburban Phoenix airport, authorities said Wednesday. Preliminary information indicated the six-seater HondaJet HA-420 aircraft was headed to Provo, Utah, when it aborted takeoff at the Falcon Field airport in Mesa on Tuesday afternoon. The plane crashed through the airport's metal fence before colliding with a vehicle that was traveling on a road west of the airport, according to authorities. Aviation International News said data shows the HondaJet accelerated to more than 153 mph on a 5,100-foot runway before taxiing about 1,300 feet from the end of the runway. The jet then slowed to about 118 mph by the runway’s end. Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for Flightradar24 that shows air traffic in real time, said the HondaJet was traveling 78.25 mph at its last recorded position before the crash. It was not immediately clear why the plane was not able to take off. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation with help from the Federal Aviation Administration and Mesa authorities. Four of the five passengers aboard the jet died at the scene, Mesa police said Wednesday. The unidentified pilot was hospitalized with serious burn injuries. Those aboard the plane included 12-year-old Graham Kimball and his 44-year-old father, Drew Kimball. The two other victims were Rustin Randall, 48, and Spencer Lindahl, 43, who were both listed as managers of Ice Man Holdings LLC, a company based in Mesa. The driver of the vehicle also died at the scene. Authorities were withholding the person's name pending positive identification.

American presidential elections are a moment when the nation holds up a mirror to look at itself. They are a reflection of values and dreams, of grievances and scores to be settled. The results say much about a country’s character, future and core beliefs. On Tuesday, America looked into that mirror and more voters saw former president Donald Trump, delivering him a far-reaching victory in the most contested states. He won for many reasons. One of them was that a formidable number of Americans, from different angles, said the state of democracy was a prime concern. The candidate they chose had campaigned through a lens of darkness, calling the country “garbage” and his opponent “stupid,” a “communist” and “the b-word.” The mirror reflected not only a restive nation's discontent but childless cat ladies, false stories of pets devoured by Haitian immigrant neighbors, a sustained emphasis on calling things “weird,” and a sudden bout of Democratic “joy" now crushed. The campaign will be remembered both for profound developments, like the two assassination attempts on Trump, and his curious chatter about golfer Arnold Palmer's genitalia. Even as Trump prevailed, most voters said they were very or somewhat concerned that electing Trump would bring the U.S. closer to being an authoritarian country, where a single leader has unchecked power, according to the AP VoteCast survey. Still, 1 in 10 of those voters backed him anyway. Nearly 4 in 10 Trump voters said they wanted complete upheaval in how the country is run. In Trump’s telling, the economy was in shambles, even when almost every measure said otherwise, and the border was an open sore leeching murderous migrants, when the actual number of crossings had dropped precipitously. All this came wrapped in his signature language of catastrophism. His win, only the second time in U.S. history that a candidate won the presidency in non-consecutive terms, demonstrated Trump's keen ear for what stirs emotions, especially the sense of millions of voters of being left out — whether because someone else cheated or got special treatment or otherwise fell to the ravages of the enemy within. That's whom Americans decisively chose. The centuries-old democracy delivered power to the presidential candidate who gave voters fair warning he might take core elements of that democracy apart. After already having tried to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power when he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mused that he would be justified if he decided to pursue “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” This, in contrast to the oath of office he took, and will again, to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” as best he can. One rough and decidedly imperfect measure of whether Trump might mean what he says is how many times he says it. His direct threat to try to end or suspend the Constitution was largely a one-off. But the 2024 campaign was thick with his vows, rally after rally, interview after interview, that if realized would upend democracy’s basic practices, protections and institutions as Americans have known them. And now, he says after his win, “I will govern by a simple motto: promises made, promises kept.” Through the campaign, to lusty cheers, Trump promised to use presidential power over the justice system to go after his personal political adversaries. He then raised the stakes further by threatening to enlist military force against such domestic foes — “the enemy from within.” Doing so would shatter any semblance of Justice Department independence and turn soldiers against citizens in ways not seen in modern times. He’s promised to track down and deport immigrants in massive numbers, raising the prospect of using military or military-style assets for that as well. Spurred by his fury and denialism over his 2020 defeat, Trump’s supporters in some state governments have already engineered changes in how votes are cast, counted and affirmed, an effort centered on the false notion that the last election was rigged against him. On Tuesday, Trump won an election in the time of a Democratic administration. The effort to revise election procedures will now be fought out by states in his time. Yet another pillar of the system is also in his sights — the non-political civil service and its political masters, whom Trump together calls the deep state. He means the generals who didn’t always heed him last time, but this time shall. He means the Justice Department people who refused to indulge his desperate effort to cook up votes he didn’t get in 2020. He means the bureaucrats who dragged their heels on parts of his first-term agenda and whom Trump now wants purged. Trump wants to make it easier to fire federal workers by classifying thousands of them as being outside civil service protections. That could weaken the government’s power to enforce statutes and rules by draining parts of the workforce and permit his administration to staff offices with more malleable employees than last time. But if some or all of these tenets of modern democracy are to fall, it will be through the most democratic of means. Voters chose him — and by extension, this — not Democrat Kamala Harris, the vice president. And by early measures, it was a clean election, just like 2020. Eric Dezenhall is a scandal-management expert who has followed Trump's business and political career and correctly predicted his wins in 2016 and now. He also foresaw that the criminal cases against Trump would help, not hurt, him. Sussing out what Trump truly intends to do and what might be bluster is not always easy, he said. “There are certain things that he says because they cross his brain at a certain moment,” Dezenhall said. “I don't put stock in that. I put stock in themes, and there is a theme of vengeance.” So it remains to be seen whether America will get two special days Trump has promised. Upon taking office again, he said, he’ll be a “dictator,” but only for a day. And he’s promised to let police stage “one really violent day” to crack down on crime with impunity, a remark his campaign said he didn’t really mean, just as his people said he wasn’t serious about subverting the U.S. Constitution. The voters also gave Trump's Republicans clear control of the Senate, and therefore majority say in whether to confirm the loyalists Trump will nominate for top jobs in government. Trump controls his party in ways he didn't in his first term, when major figures in his administration repeatedly frustrated his most outlier ambitions. “The fact that a once proud people chose, twice, to demean itself with a leader like Donald Trump will be one of history’s great cautionary tales,” said Cal Jillson, a constitutional and presidential scholar at Southern Methodist University whose new book, “Race, Ethnicity, and American Decline,” anticipated some of the existential issues of the election. “Donald Trump’s actions will be as divisive, ill-considered, and mean-spirited in his second term as in his first,” he said. “He will undercut Ukraine, NATO, and the U.N. abroad and the rule of law, individual rights, and our senses of national cohesion and purpose at home.” From the political left, any threats to democracy were not on the mind of independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont when he offered a blistering critique of the Democratic campaign. “It should come as no surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working people would find that the working class has abandoned them," he said in a statement. “Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing?” He concluded: “Probably not.” For his part, Trump says he is intent on restoring democracy, not tearing it down. There was nothing democratic, he and his allies assert, in seeing military leaders defy the elected commander in chief, whether the issue was troop deployments or his wish for a splashy military parade. Or in seeing Democratic presidents establish immigration policy and vast student loan relief though executive action, bypassing Congress. But that case is built from the ground up on the lie of a stolen 2020 election, his machinations to stall the certification of that vote and his mob’s bloody attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He comes to office intending to pardon some of the people convicted for that riot and perhaps clear himself of criminal cases against him. Guardrails remain. One is the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority loosened the leash on presidential behavior in its ruling expanding their immunity from prosecution. The court has not been fully tested on how far it will go to accommodate Trump’s actions and agenda. And which party will control the House is not yet known. The Republican’s victory came from a public so put off by America’s trajectory that it welcomed his brash and disruptive approach. Among voters under 30, just under half went for Trump, an improvement from his 2020 performance, according to the AP VoteCast survey of more than 120,000 voters. About three-quarters of young voters said the country was headed in the wrong direction, and roughly one-third said they wanted total upheaval in how the country is run. By Trump's words, at least, that's what they'll get.

California was lashed by powerful winds Wednesday that fed a fast-moving wildfire, which destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee as forecasters warned of the potential for “extreme and life-threatening” blazes. Northwest of Los Angeles, the Mountain Fire exploded in size and prompted evacuation orders for more than 10,000 people as it threatened 3,500 structures in suburban communities, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo, according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom. The area east of the Pacific coast city of Ventura will receive federal assistance after a request from Newsom was granted, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday. The blaze was burning in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive fires over the years. A thick plume of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky Wednesday, blanketing whole neighborhoods and limiting visibility for firefighters and evacuees. The fire grew from less than half of a square mile to 16 square miles (62 square kilometers) in little more than five hours. Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson described crews racing with their engines to homes threatened by the flames to save lives. “This is as intense as it gets. The hair on the back of the firefighters’ neck I’m sure was standing up,” he said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. At one spot, flames licked the burning remains of a home. Its roof was reduced to only a few charred shingles. Two people suffered apparent smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals, fire officials said. No firefighters reported significant injuries. The erratic winds and limited visibility grounded fixed-wing aircraft, and gusts topped 61 mph (98 kph), said weather service meteorologist Bryan Lewis. Water-dropping helicopters were still flying. First responders pleaded with residents to evacuate. Deputies made contact with 14,000 people to urge them to leave as embers spread up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away and sparked new flames. “This fire is moving dangerously fast,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said. Aerial footage from local television networks showed dozens of homes in flames across several neighborhoods as embers were whipped from home to home. Other footage captured horses trotting alongside evacuating vehicles. Jade Katz, who said she is disabled and does not drive, waited for a friend to pick her up near her Camarillo Heights home with a suitcase full of medication and Bella, her Great Dane service dog. But the friend couldn’t reach her, so first responders sent a squad car to escort her out Wednesday afternoon as a helicopter dropped water on the house across from her home. “On the way out of the neighborhood, there were five or eight houses that had already burnt to the ground,” said Katz, 35, who was sitting in a car with housemate Shannon Kelly, 28. They plan to spend the night with a friend in Los Angeles. Officials said they were using all resources, including water-dropping helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping fire retardant, but it was still burning out of control Wednesday afternoon. Andrew Dowd, a Ventura County fire spokesperson, said he did not have details of how many structures had been damaged. Gus Garcia, who owns a ranch south of the fire, said he's waiting to see whether conditions will change to decide if he should evacuate his horses and cattle. Around 12:30 p.m., his animals were still safe and he was trying to stay out of the way as others got their livestock out. His ranch is surrounded by others with horses and alpaca, and Garcia said his neighbors in the canyon did not seem panicked. "The horse community, they prepare for this because it’s always a possibility up here,” he said. Meanwhile to the south, Los Angeles County Fire Department crews scrambled to contain a wildfire near Malibu’s Broad Beach as authorities briefly shut down the Pacific Coast Highway as flames burned near multimillion-dollar properties. Residents were urged to shelter in place while aircraft dropped water on the 50-acre (20-hectare) Broad Fire. It was 15% contained around 12:30 p.m. with forward progress stopped. Fire officials said two structures burned. The National Weather Service office for the Los Angeles area amended its red flag warning for increased fire danger with a rare “particularly dangerous situation” label, and officials in several counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees amid the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds. With predicted gusts between 50 mph (80 kph) and 100 mph (160 kph) and humidity levels as low as 8%, parts of Southern California could experience conditions ripe for “extreme and life-threatening” fire behavior into Thursday, the weather service said. Forecasters also issued red flag warnings until Thursday from California's central coast through the San Francisco Bay Area and into counties to the north, where strong winds were also expected. Utilities in California began powering down equipment during high winds and extreme fire danger after a series of massive and deadly wildfires in recent years were sparked by electrical lines and other infrastructure. On Wednesday, more than 65,000 customers in Southern California were without power preventatively, and upwards of 20,000 in Northern California. Wednesday's fires were burning in the same areas of other recent destructive fires, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the the 2017 Thomas Fire, which destroyed more than a thousand homes and other structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both blazes.