One way of thinking about current politics is to see it as an interaction between, 1. the distrust of the establishment - having been revealed again & again to be self-serving & corrupt (such revelations of course served up by media organisations seeking advantage from such revelations); 2. a sense of helplessness & lack of control - in the face of a political economy that seems done to us rather than by us! Hence the appeal of outsiders with simple ideas about 'doing something'! #politics

I'm not sure what the Tangerine Tyrant thought he was doing by prompting a significant redaction before the release of the Epstein Papers yesterday; rather than helping the innocent, all it does is stoke speculation & in his case, likely confirm to many, that his claim of non-involvement in Epstein's world after they argued, are lies that would have been revealed by the non-redacted documents. Given his often deft hand in shaping public argument its a strange miss-step #EpsteinPapers #Trump

Meanwhile in France, the chaos of President Macron's mishandling of government formation continues. PM Sébastien Lecornu, has managed to pass some budgetary elements (by abandoning Macron's plan to raise the pensionable age), but had failed to pass the overall state budget for 2026. France has a mechanism to roll-forward the previous year's budget to avoid state shutdown, but it also means no new budgetary moves can be made until the new budget is passed. The mess continues #France h/t FT