The dust is slowly settling on last week’s US election and the consequences of Donald Trump’s victory are becoming clear.
In a special edition of the Guardian Weekly, our Washington bureau chief David Smith and diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reflect on how Trump 2.0 is likely to play out for the US and for the rest of the world.
We look at the role played by the president-elect’s key supporter, Elon Musk, and ask what the world’s richest man can now expect back in return. We also trace the rise of the vice-president elect JD Vance, who is now just a heartbeat away from the presidency.
And senior US political reporter Joan E Greve considers the Democrats – bereft, broken and facing an internal civil war after a campaign that ended in disaster.
Perhaps a question above all others though is what the result reveals about the country the US has become. Andrew Gumbel delves into the psyche of modern America and asks whether the return of Trump signals the end of the American dream as we know it.
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Five essential reads in this week’s edition
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Spotlight | Odour of oil and return of Trump hang heavy over Cop29
As the annual UN climate summit got under way in Azerbaijan this week, Fiona Harvey sizes up the hopes for progress
2
Science | Unravelling the paradoxes of plankton
Scientists are sequencing the DNA of microscopic marine life – to help us learn more about ourselves, reports Brianna Randall
3
Feature | When adult children cut the cord
Grownups who cut of f contact with their family are often trying to break away after a traumatic childhood. But sometimes the estrangement can be totally unexpected for parents. By Gaby Hinsliff
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Opinion | Trump unleashed will be even worse than last time’s dress reherarsal
From a public health crisis to the end of Nato, the threats are clear, writes Jonathan Freedland
5
Culture | Sportswriters and arts critics swap jobs
How does the English National Opera compare to the Premier League … or the NFL to a West End musical? Our sports and culture experts found out
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What else we’ve been reading
A troubling news cycle; the onset of winter (not you southern hemisphere, you’re coming out the other side); your dunked biscuit just dropped into your mug? Sometimes all you need is a good book to restore your faith in humanity. Novelist Francesca Segal has your (paper) back. Neil Willis, production editor
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Other highlights from the Guardian website
• Audio | Has poppymania gone too far?
• Video | Spanish floods: the scale of destruction in Valencia
• Gallery | Punk rock memories – in pictures
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Get in touch
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the magazine: for submissions to our letters page, please email weekly.letters@theguardian.com. For anything else, it’s editorial.feedback@theguardian.com
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