ASSASSINATION SUSPECT CHARGED
The suspect in an apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump has appeared in federal court and been charged with two gun-related crimes, Reuters reports. The day after he was allegedly spotted with a rifle at the former president’s golf course in Florida, Ryan Routh was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Reuters says the counts allow the authorities to keep Routh in custody as the investigation continues. The Associated Press states “additional and more serious charges are possible”.
AP also reports court documents allege the suspect spent nearly 12 hours near Trump’s golf course before being confronted and fired upon by the Secret Service. On Monday (local time), the Martin County Sheriff’s Office released bodycam footage of Routh’s subsequent arrest in a neighbouring county, which the BBC carries. The broadcaster also recaps Monday’s court appearance, claiming Routh’s hearing lasted less than 10 minutes during which the 58-year-old “smiled and laughed”. Another hearing is set for next Monday.
US President Joe Biden praised the Secret Service and declared: “Let me just say there is no — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, and those of you who know me know this — in America, there is no place for political violence.”
Trump, meanwhile, posted on X that Sunday “was certainly an interesting day!” He also thanked the Secret Service and authorities for keeping him safe and wrote (in all-caps): “THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
The New York Times reports Trump on Monday also accused Democrats of using “inflammatory language” and urged his rivals to tone down their speech, despite also calling them the “enemy from within” and “the real threat”.
The incident on Sunday has raised fresh questions about the Secret Service’s ability to protect the presidential candidates after Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania in July. The Guardian reports Biden told reporters on Monday: “The Secret Service needs more help.”
The New York Times said Sunday’s incident had not yet resulted in any changes to Trump’s campaign schedule and he is due to “appear on a livestream to introduce a new cryptocurrency business at 8pm Eastern time Monday”. Trump has posted a link to said stream on X.
‘LOSING OUR WAY’
Back at home, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Sydney today talking about the merits of two signature housing reforms, Help to Buy and Build to Rent. As has been consistently reported, both measures, which are before the Senate, have faced criticism from the Coalition and Greens and look destined to fail unless one side moves from their position. The AAP quotes the PM as saying “home ownership should be a rite of passage” and continuing to call on the Coalition and Greens to stop “blocking” his government’s legislation.
The AFR also reports the legislation has “little prospect” of passing the Senate after Albanese and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil called the Greens’ conditions during the negotiations unworkable (see yesterday’s Worm for a recap of those conditions). The paper suggested the fact neither side was willing to move indicated “both sides were happy to see the bill fail this week, adding fuel to a pre-election war of words on housing supply and affordability”.
While Albanese tries, seemingly in vain, to try and break the housing deadlock, business leaders reportedly have a few words for the prime minister today. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Business Council of Australia chief Bran Black will tell Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers at the council’s annual dinner this evening that the country is “losing our way”. The business chiefs are unhappy with Labor’s workplace rules, the paper reports, and Black is set to declare: “Rather than feeling confident in our growing national prosperity, many CEOs feel we are losing our way. Instead of taking the big steps on the things that matter, we are taking incremental but noticeable steps backwards.” The comments come a week after Tania Constable, CEO of Minerals Council of Australia, called on the government to reverse what she called “reckless” workplace reform.
The Australian has led on Black’s draft comments overnight and quotes him as preparing to claim CEOs are “far more cautious about hiring after the government’s raft of recent workplace changes”. The paper says he will also promise to call out “red herring” populist policies ahead of the next federal election and criticise the Coalition over the Nationals-led push to break-up Australian companies, as well as having a go at the Greens’ “Robin Hood” tax proposals.
Elsewhere, the broadsheet reports the government’s plan to ban children from using social media faces delays and the decision on what age the ban will be set at may not be made until late this year.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
Everyone has tried it and almost always failed. Now an ambitious shopper has gone viral over his attempts to beat the Aldi cashiers.
Leroy Lupton has recorded himself trying to pack his bags before the cashiers at his local Aldi have finished scanning the items. The Guardian reports his efforts have clearly struck a chord as the clips have now been watched two million times on TikTok.
The paper said the 33-year-old initially started recording the videos to show his friends but later posted them on social media in the style of the video game Street Fighter.
Leroy was apparently inspired to try and beat the cashiers after becoming overwhelmed with the groceries during a shop at his local Aldi in Lancaster, England. He told the Press Association: “All of the items were flying at me and piling up, and I’m thinking this ain’t normal.”
The music teacher soon realised he was not alone and decided to document his efforts after being impressed with the cashiers’ “athleticism”. Viewers have now started giving him tips in the comments and criticising his technique when he comes undone, The Guardian added.
Say What?
It will forever be ‘Tito Time’ for us.
Tito Jackson’s family
In a statement on Instagram, Jackson’s sons paid tribute to the musician who died this week aged 70. Tito found fame with his brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael in the renowned Jackson 5 pop group.
CRIKEY RECAP
This week, Rupert Murdoch will take his own children to court in scenes reminiscent of the hit HBO drama Succession. Reminiscent, perhaps, because the show was based on the Murdoch family itself (ironically, the show is only available to watch in Australia on the Murdoch-owned streaming service Binge). Much like the television saga, the family drama engulfing the world’s most powerful media conglomerate has taken many a twist and turn.
As the court case begins this week in the provincial gambling haven of Reno, Nevada, the future of the Murdoch empire hangs in the balance.
Like all racism, Peter Dutton’s racism is a shape-shifting, malleable entity, flitting from African gangs menacing Melbourne restaurant-goers to sinophobic COVID-19 conspiracy theories, to “disastrous” Muslim parliamentary candidates in western Sydney. Dutton’s racism is adaptable, much like that of Pauline Hanson who initially warned Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians” in her first maiden speech in 1996, and then “swamped by Muslims” in her second, 20 years later.
It is pointless, then, to expect consistency from racists. But there are two stable themes in Dutton’s particular brand. The first is its opportunism. The second is its adherence to the nation’s foundational racism against First Nations peoples. Dutton boycotted the Apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008, only to express regret for having done so in 2023, claiming he had been motivated by his experience in the Queensland police force, where he says he witnessed domestic violence against Indigenous women and children (but not, apparently, white women and children). Fifteen years after the Apology, Dutton once again blew the anti-Aboriginal dog whistle, claiming the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament would have “an Orwellian effect, where all Australians are equal, but some Australians are more equal than others”.
The one form of racism Dutton wants us to know he very clearly opposes is antisemitism — but again, it’s a particular brand of antisemitism. He seems to conflate the genuine rise in antisemitism with solidarity with Palestinians and criticism of the State of Israel, even going so far as to label the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s pursuit of the leaders of Israel “antisemitic”.
I was there when the Land Forces 2024 International Land Defence Exposition (to use its full, banal, title) began in Melbourne/Naarm on Wednesday — yes, as a demonstrator. I was there to protest against the violence perpetrated around the world by some of the people inside the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre; violence that is carried out using the weapons the delegates would be proudly displaying, buying and selling. By the end of the day I saw and experienced a level of violence — almost entirely from the police — that I never imagined would occur in Melbourne.
After Wednesday, there are now three topics: the protesters, the policing, and the event itself. Shamefully, but unsurprisingly, the media response has been almost entirely devoted to the first.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Elon Musk writes, then deletes, a post musing about threats to Biden and Harris (The New York Times) ($)
Death toll reaches 16 as ‘dramatic’ flooding in central Europe continues (The Guardian)
Titanic submersible disaster hearing reveals final words heard from doomed crew (The i paper)
Appeals court hears arguments over potential TikTok ban in United States (al-Jazeera)
Japan celebrates record Emmy wins for ‘Shogun’ (Associated Press)
THE COMMENTARIAT
The environment was meant to be ‘back on the priority list’ under Labor. Instead, we’ve seen a familiar story — Adam Morton (Guardian Australia): Albanese has intervened to reject the idea of doing a deal with the Greens and other cross-benchers who want changes that, to many people, would seem the logical domain of nature laws — better coverage of native forest logging and the inclusion of climate change as an issue that should be considered when developments are assessed.
The prime minister was once in favour of the latter. Back in 2005 he introduced a private member’s bill for a “climate trigger” against which projects would be measured. He now rejects it, arguing existing climate legislation is enough. He has also told the West Australian he would consider the EPA’s role to be limited to compliance.
His preference is to do a deal with the Coalition that would limit the EPA’s powers, which is what the mining industry wants. Small problem: the Coalition is led by a man who thinks an EPA is unnecessary.
This paints a pretty grim picture for nature, wherever things land.
The world is on edge as the Fed gets set for its biggest decision in decades — Stephen Bartholomeusz (The Sydney Morning Herald): Complicating the decision-making (although Powell and the Fed would never admit it) is the US election and the big-spending, deficit and debt-expanding policies of the protagonists.
The grab bag of policies Kamala Harris has promised would have far less impact on inflation than the radical trade and immigration policies Donald Trump has said he will pursue, but both suites of policies would add something — in Trump’s case a lot — to the inflation rate and could force the Fed into an early reversal of the course it might otherwise follow over the next year or so.
That might provide another motivation, albeit an unstated one, for a central bank that wants and needs to be seen as apolitical to be cautious in the early phase of the rate-reduction cycle.
