Joan Greve

Recent Articles

The Guardian •

‘Like choosing between a hedgehog and a porcupine’: US braces for presidential election no one wants

In past years, the first phase of the general election has involved at least one of the presidential nominees introducing themselves to the broader public and presenting their case for taking the country in a new direction. But that has been rendered unnecessary this year: former president Donald Trump and president Joe Biden are very familiar to the American electorate – and they are broadly unpopular.

“I think this is the worst election in my lifetime,” said George Argodale, a Nikki Haley sup
The Guardian •

Joe Biden delivers feisty State of the Union address with vision for his second term

Joe Biden confirmed a new US mission to deliver aid to Gaza and repeatedly took aim at Donald Trump in his State of the Union address on Thursday, offering a pointed preview of the general election in November.

Biden’s most significant announcement came toward the end of his roughly hour-long speech, when he confirmed that the US military would establish a “temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza” capable of receiving large shipments of water, food and medicine. Biden pledged t
The Guardian •

‘We’re going to lose our grasp on democracy’: divided GOP voters weigh in on US aid to Ukraine

When Donald Trump declared he would allow Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to Nato members who fail to meet funding commitments, world leaders and Democratic lawmakers reacted with shock and alarm. But Douglas Benton, a 70-year-old Republican voter from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was quite pleased.

“Yes. I’m glad that Trump said we wouldn’t back you up if [Russian president Vladimir] Putin decides to take your ass over. We don’t care because you didn’t pay up,” Benton said. “If eve
The Guardian •

Senate blocks bipartisan $118bn bill on US-Mexico border and Ukraine

The Senate blocked a bipartisan border and national security bill from advancing on Wednesday, as Democrats accused Republicans of bending to the political wishes of Donald Trump at the expense of their constituents.

The vote was 49 to 50, with 45 Democrats and four Republicans supporting the bill’s advancement. Sixty votes were needed to begin debate on the bill.

Most of the Republican conference opposed the bill’s advancement after complaining that the legislation did not go far enough in ad
The Guardian •

Nikki Haley rides Iowa momentum, but likely for second place

One day before the Iowa caucuses, Nikki Haley addressed an energized crowd at a barbecue restaurant in Ames, just a few miles from Iowa State University. Despite the freezing temperatures, the room was filled to capacity with campaign volunteers, journalists and a few undecided caucus-goers.

“This is truly cold,” Haley said. “But we’re going to keep on going anywhere and everywhere. We’re going to go all the way until the last hour because we know what situation we’re in.”

Haley’s own situatio
The Guardian •

The major tests US gun control activists face in 2024

The grim statistics around mass shootings underscore a haunting reality for the US: despite recent legislative efforts at the state and federal levels, gun violence remains alarmingly common across the country.

But gun safety groups say they remain undaunted in 2024, when they plan to push for more change through state legislatures and executive actions. And as voters turn their attention to a crucial election year, gun safety groups are also prepared to press candidates on their plans to curb
The Guardian •

Democrats won Virginia on abortion. Can it also win them the White House?

Days before Josh Cole won his toss-up race, the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s house of delegates predicted that his party would perform well on election day, largely because the issue of abortion had motivated many voters to turn out at the polls.

“There are people who are absolutely passionate about reproductive freedom and making sure that an abortion ban doesn’t come to Virginia,” Cole said.

Four days later, Cole was proven right, defeating Republican candidate Lee Peters to represent
The Guardian •

Abigail Spanberger flexes her political power in a battleground state: ‘I could see her as president’

As two dozen volunteers prepared to knock doors on an unseasonably warm afternoon in late October, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger reminded them that their work helped flip her battleground House seat in 2018. She predicted it would pay off again for Virginia Democrats this year.

“It is how we have won in hard races across Virginia and across the country, and it is certainly why I feel confident that we are on the right path headed towards November 7,” Spanberger said, speaking to campaign vol
The Guardian •

Republican Mike Johnson elected House speaker after weeks of chaos

Republican Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected speaker of the House on Wednesday, winning the top job in a party-line vote and ending a standoff that had stretched on for more than three weeks.

In the floor vote, Johnson won the support of all 220 Republicans who cast a ballot, while all 209 Democrats present voted for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Due to four absences in the chamber, Johnson needed 215 votes to become speaker.

Delivering his first speech as the 56th speaker of
The Guardian •

House remains without speaker as Jim Jordan falls short of votes in first ballot

The House of Representatives was unable to elect a new speaker on Tuesday, as the hard-right congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio struggled to win the gavel following the historic ouster of the Republican Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.

In the first round of voting, 20 Republicans opposed Jordan, while 200 Republicans supported the judiciary committee chair. The result left Jordan far short of winning the speakership, given that he can only afford four defections within his conference and still ca
The Guardian •

Hard-right House Republicans are against Ukraine aid – and they seem to be in charge

As he excoriated Kevin McCarthy over his leadership of the House Republican conference last week, hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz accused the then speaker of cutting a “secret side deal” with Joe Biden to provide additional funding to Ukraine amid its ongoing war against Russia.

“It is becoming increasingly clear who the speaker of the House already works for, and it’s not the Republican conference,” Gaetz, who represents a solidly Republican district in Florida, said in a floor speech at the
the Guardian •

McCarthy worked with Democrats to pause the US shutdown. Now his job is at stake

In more normal political times, the successful prevention of a government shutdown might be cause for celebration. For Kevin McCarthy, it may instead mark the beginning of the end of his speakership.

After failing to pass a more conservative stopgap spending bill on Friday, the House Republican speaker introduced a different proposal extending government funding for 45 days and allocating $16bn for disaster relief aid. That bill the House on Saturday in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 335
the Guardian •

‘This is good news’: Biden signs stopgap funding bill to avert US shutdown

Joe Biden signed a bill on Saturday to extend government funding for 45 days, averting a federal shutdown with just an hour to spare.

Biden praised Congress for approving the bill with bipartisan support in both chambers, even as he criticised House Republicans for refusing to collaborate with Democrats until the last possible minute.

“Tonight, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate voted to keep the government open, preventing an unnecessary crisis that would have inflicted needless pa
the Guardian •

Jimmy Carter to celebrate 99th birthday with digital mosaic from well-wishers

When Jimmy Carter entered hospice in February, his family feared he might have only days left to live. Eight months later, the 39th US president will celebrate his 99th birthday on Sunday.

The Carter Center – the Atlanta-based human rights organization that the former president founded with his wife, Rosalynn, shortly after he left the White House in 1981 – is celebrating the occasion in a unique way. More than 14,000 people have submitted birthday messages and pictures for a digital mosaic hon
the Guardian •

Rivals accuse Trump of being ‘missing in action’ at second Republican debate

The absence of Donald Trump played a central role in the second Republican primary debate of the 2024 election season, as seven White House hopefuls tried and mostly failed to shake up a race in which the former president remains the clear frontrunner.

Two of Trump’s rivals attempted to capitalize on his absence by criticizing him for skipping the debate, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in Simi Valley, California. DeSantis mocked Trump as “missing in action”, sayin
the Guardian •

Virginia governor urges Republicans to vote early despite Trump’s skepticism

Early voting begins on Friday in Virginia, where every seat in the state senate and house of delegates will be up for grabs in some of the most consequential US elections of 2023. The process has found a somewhat surprising champion in Virginia: the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin.

In previous years, the idea of a sitting governor rallying fellow members of his party to vote early would have been considered routine. But Donald Trump’s baseless claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 presi
the Guardian •

Climate activists kick off rallies against fossil fuel in week of action in New York

Progressive lawmakers and climate activists rallied at the Capitol on Thursday to demand an end to fossil fuel usage, previewing a planned march in New York on Sunday ahead of the United Nations’ climate ambition summit on 20 September.

“Clearly saving the planet is the most important issue facing humanity,” the Democratic senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, said. “But here’s the ugly and brutal truth: right now, humanity is failing. The planet is crying out for help.”

The rally was one of some 20
the Guardian •

A US governor tried to ban guns amid ‘relentless’ violence. The lawsuits followed swiftly

Last week, 11-year old Froylan Villegas was fatally shot outside a minor-league baseball stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A month earlier, five-year-old Galilea Samaniego died after she was struck by a bullet while lying in bed in an Albuquerque trailer park. Two weeks before Samaniego’s death, 13-year-old Amber Archuleta was shot and killed in Questa, a small town about 150 miles north of Albuquerque.

The spate of violence spurred the Democratic governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisha
the Guardian •

Virginia’s off-off-year election is next big test for reproductive rights

As she addressed about 120 Democratic voters at a rally in rural Orange, Virginia, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger made a point to impress upon her constituents just how much is on the line this fall.

“This is personal. And politics is personal,” Spanberger told the crowd. “This year more than any other year, this election matters.”

Stepping up to the podium, one of the Democrats endorsed by Spanberger, the state senate candidate Jason Ford, warned that Republican victories in November could
the Guardian •

Trump’s Georgia arrest reduces Republican rivals to a sideshow

Less than 24 hours after the first primary debate of the 2024 election season concluded, viewers of America’s cable news programs could be forgiven if they forgot the event had occurred at all.

Rather than focusing on the post-debate coverage and analysis typically seen during past election cycles, CNN and MSNBC turned their attention on Thursday evening to Donald Trump’s arrest in Fulton county, Georgia, for charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. News of Trump’s
the Guardian •

Republicans feud over Trump, abortion and climate in first 2024 primary debate

Republican presidential candidates clashed over Donald Trump’s legal woes during the first primary debate of the 2024 campaign season, underscoring the former president’s absence from the event and casting a spotlight on his potential vulnerabilities in a general election rematch against Joe Biden.

Nearly an hour into the debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Fox News hosts Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier asked the eight candidates on the stage whether they would still support Trump as the Republ
the Guardian •

Why is Trump desperate to move the Georgia trial to federal court?

After news broke on Monday night of Donald Trump’s indictment in Fulton county, Georgia, attention quickly turned to the possible spectacle of a trial unfolding on television as a former president attempts to rebut charges of racketeering and conspiracy over his efforts to overturn the results of an election.

But before the district attorney Fani Willis can have the opportunity to make her case against Trump with the cameras rolling, she must first clear a key procedural hurdle to keep the case
the Guardian •

Trump’s Georgia charges are a win for voting rights leaders

After nearly three years, two statewide recounts and a violent attack on the US Capitol, Donald Trump is finally facing criminal charges over his relentless campaign to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the battleground state of Georgia.

On Monday, the former president and his allies were indicted on a total of 41 counts in Fulton county, Georgia, where the district attorney, Fani Willis, has been investigating the former president and his associates since 2021. The 13 charges against Trump
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